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Dayton Daily News, Ohio
Dayton basketball notes: Flyers show improved rebounding in opener
- Story byDayton Daily News, Ohio
- Dayton basketball notes: Flyers show improved rebounding in opener
There aren't quite as many videos of the Dayton Flyers dancing in front of their cell phone cameras on the Internet as there are clips of them playing basketball, but there are a lot.
Jaiun Simon, Landen Joseph, Aiden Derkack, Malcolm Thomas, Zaide Lowery and Evan Dickey all are active on TikTok, where dancing videos are only a small part of the entertainment menu.
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Of course, the big goal for all those players is dancing in March. Dayton took the first step toward that possibility with an 89-58 victory against the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Monday, Nov. 2, in the season opener at UD Arena.
Dayton won in part because of a 50-28 rebounding advantage. That was an area of weakness last season when Dayton had a negative rebounding margin (0.8 per game).
Improving in that area will be important, Dayton coach Anthony Grant said.
"In order to be the type of team that we want to be, we've got to be able to rebound the ball at a high level," he said. "They did a good job of attacking and sending multiple guys to the glass. When we were able to get rebounds, we were able to attack and transition and create points off of those opportunities."
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Aiden Derkack and Amaël L'Etang led Dayton with 21 and 20 points, respectively, and they tied for the team lead with 11 rebounds. Grant Randall and Jaiun Simon each had six.
"I'm 7-1," L'Etang said. "I've got to grab them. That's my role. I'm trying to get all of them. That's the only area where I'm trying to be selfish in the court. Just get as many as I can. If we get the rebounds like we did today, we'll be able to run the court and get open shots."
Injury update: Cincinnati transfer Jalen Haynes was not in uniform Monday. He also missed the three exhibition games as he continues to recover from offseason knee surgery.
Grant said Haynes, who did not practice all summer, returned to practice last week.
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"He's back on the floor," Grant said. "Now it's just a matter of him developing his timing and rhythm and just continuing to progress. But it's good to have him back out there."
Former Flyers: Petras Padegimas, who was a freshman at Dayton in the 2023-24 season, made his first appearance in a game since the 2024 NCAA tournament on Monday, scoring two points in 11 minutes for Mercer in a 90-53 victory against Reinhardt.
Padegimas missed the last two seasons after suffering knee injuries in the offseason.
• De'Shayne Montgomery, Dayton's second-leading scorer last season, will miss four to six weeks with a foot injury. He's playing his fourth season of college basketball at his fourth different school, Louisville.
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• Javon Bennett, Dayton's leading scorer last season, scored five points in 13 minutes for Gonzaga in a 78-72 victory against Purdue on Monday. He earned a fifth year of eligibility through a lawsuit filed in Ohio on behalf of a number of players from the class of 2022.
