SALT LAKE CITY β After his team came back from a 17-point deficit with less than eight minutes remaining to beat Nevada 63-60 on Thursday, Dayton coach Anthony Grant was asked if he had any early thoughts about facing No. 2 seed Arizona next.
Not surprisingly, he did not. He was kind of preoccupied in the moment, naturally.
βObviously this game just finished,β Grant said. βWhat weβll do is weβll let the guys get back to the hotel, weβll watch some film tonight. The coaches will be up late tonight studying Arizona. Itβs a quick turnaround for both teams. Weβll try to learn about each other the best we can and weβll be ready to go on Saturday.β
While the Wildcats earned the right to a less-taxing game in the first round by earning the Westβs No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed, beating Long Beach State 85-65 earlier Friday, the No. 7-seeded Flyers will be riding a wave of good momentum into the second-round game Saturday.
βWhat a battle. What a battle. Just really proud of our guys,β Grant said. βThey never quit, showed tremendous resiliency. Theyβve done that a few times this year where the chips werenβt in our favor. They found a way.
βIβm extremely proud of the fight, the grit, the determination that our group showed tonight. β¦ Iβm proud of the way they believed in each other, believed in what weβre doing.β
Nevada shot 48.3% in the first half to take a 34-25 halftime lead and was cruising most of the second half with a double-digit lead. Former Oregon State guard Jerod Lucas hit a 3-pointer to give Nevada a 56-39 lead with 7:39 left before the Flyers caught fire.
Then Dayton erased that entire lead with a 17-0 run that included three 3-pointers from Koby Brea, tying the game at 56 with 2:45, then hung on when Enoch Cheeks made a layup and two free throws in the final 34 seconds. Nevada missed two 3-point attempts on its final possession.
βItβs just a mindset, understanding that thereβs still a lot of time on the clock,β Brea said. βWe can make something happen. Itβs just believing in each other, understanding that in order for us to do that comeback, we have to do it on the other side of the floor, get stops on defense. That will make it possible for us to get some points on the board, as well. Just take it one possession at a time.β
Dayton held Nevada to just 37.9% shooting in the second half, while the Wolf Pack also had eight turnovers. Dayton scored 16 total points off 12 Nevada turnovers over both halves.
Dayton standout forward DaRon Holmes, the one-time Arizona recruiting target out of Goodyear, led the Flyers with 18 points and nine rebounds.
βWe have a team that can get hot at any moment,β Holmes said. βEven by metrics, if you just look at it. We got hot when we got hot.β