Dayton Game

[Charleston Pony]

Dayton with a 10 rebound advantage

[Terry Webster]

This is a tough place to play. Being down by 5 at half isn't bad at all. It would be nice if the refs would start calling the illegal screens on Dayton.

[Charleston Pony]

Didn't realize how young this Dayton team is. Camara is a JR but everyone else FR or SO

[Charleston Pony]

Odigie missing his 1st shot and then picking up an immediate foul is not the start we wanted

[Charleston Pony]

Just need somebody to start hitting shots or this one is going to get out of control quickly

[Charleston Pony]

Mustangs showing signs of life. Nice bucket by Williamson and then a fast break 2 from Smith.

[Charleston Pony]

Williamson has come to life and joins Nutall and Phelps in double figures after making his last 3 buckets. Nice put back to get SMU to within 4 points. Williamson now has 3 offensive boards

[Charleston Pony]

Odigie in foul trouble but with his having 9 boards it looks like he's going to stay in this game

[Charleston Pony]

Frank the Tank giving Odigie a breather for the home stretch. Odigie now has 11 boards. He and Williamson have been really tough leading this comeback

[Charleston Pony]

Odigie doing everything but making shots. Now 2-11 inside

[crispy_taco]

Odigie doing everything but making shots. Now 2-11 inside

Can’t believe he missed that last post hook

[Charleston Pony]

Odigie doing everything but making shots. Now 2-11 inside

Can’t believe he missed that last post hook

He just can't hit the wall tonight

[Charleston Pony]

ugly finish but our guys fought hard to make it exciting for the home crowd; game was more competitive than the final score will indicate

[Topper]

Intense game! Sorry we lost but we learned a lot about the team. Gave great effort against high quality opponent at a tough road arena.

[JasonB]

Way, way better than I anticipated. Dayton is legit top 25. I thought we would lose by 20 and it really wouldn't be competitive. To be within a bucket with under 5 left is a way better than I thought.

Defensive effort is great and the defensive positioning will get better as the season goes along. Our press will also get more effective as the season goes along.

Offensively, I thought our sets were awful in the first half for the most part, and then when we did get it down low, Odigie forced shots when he had a kick out. We have got to find a way to establish a low post game. In the second half, the spacing opened up a little and the team just "started to play" like Lanier talked about in his last post game. Much better flow.

The important part about this game was that at the end, you had Phelps, Nutall, and Williamson on try to make plays on the offensive end where they decided they wanted to take the onus on them to try and win the game. Nutall talked in an earlier interview about not waiting for someone else to take a game over, and instead realizing that you need to take the game over. I think all three of those guys we got glimpses of taking a more aggressive stance on the offensive side of the court.

- Phelps struggled against a really good defensive team and forced some shots. But he is going to be a GREAT player. We don't have a comp like him in recent SMU history. He has Sterling's body, but is way more fluid, athletic, and a way better handler. A complete Dude.

- Nutall I think tonight was a big, big step forward for him. He is starting to play more aggressively, and we really need that. He just looked calm and more athletic out there than in the past. I think there are real signs there.

- Williamson - look, sometimes he doesn't track defensively, and loses the intensity on a rebound. So I get why a coach might have gotten impatient with him at Louisville and demanded perfection. But he really does a lot of good things out there, plays good defense most of the time, goes hard after moth rebounds, and has athletic length that is missing on the team. The shot he had towards the end off the dribble was impressive and surprised me. Definitely is a quality starter in the league.

- Jalen we need a little more out of. Got unlucky on a drive late, but he isn't really involved on the offensive side of the ball. Love his defense and love his length, but if we aren't going to penetrate and dish, then he needs to create off the bounce. Ideally, he would be coming off the bench until he does that.

- Odigie - I like the effort, the physicality. Been missing here for a while. He has got to finish those shots. He would win a jumping contest with Jasey, but not sure by how much. If he was coming off the bench, he would be an amazing impact player. But he is a below average starter unless he can make those shots.

- Todorovic - better on D than last year, but still a little slow. The offense just isn't really clicking for him because there is no drive and dish. We are going to need to either start drive and dish or work it inside and force help... if the other team is forced to play zone, he is a nightmare because he is instant. Same with Jalen Smith. But as long as teams run man and either don't help or we don't kick it when they do help, he and Smith are not as useful as they could be.

- Ambrose-Hylton - good defensive length off the bench, not much on the offensive end. Again, what you would expect from an Alabama transfer.

- Agunanne - lacks athleticism but has size and puts in the effort. Good piece for a couple minutes off the bench.

- Njie - has athleticism to eventually contribute and nice size, but not physical yet, doesn't have the right positioning defensively, and not part of the offense yet. Future contributor.

- Wright - 3 quick fouls, but looked a lot better to me tonight than in the first game. He has something, but needs to work on his defense to get more run.

- Koulibali - defense is supposed to be his calling card, but still hasn't shown much there. Out of control on the offensive side. The game still needs to slow down for him.