Takeaways from URI vs. Dayton
URI utterly destroyed Dayton 81-56, to capture the Atlantic 10 regular season championship (outright).
1. Jeff Dowtin has turned into a monster since his game at Saint Bonaventure.
Dowtin had an excellent 25-point effort (7-14 FG and 11-12 FT) at La Salle and proceeded to drop a solid and efficient (9-11 FG and 1-2 FT) 20 points vs. Dayton. Ever since his critical free throw miss at Saint Bonaventure in the final 18 seconds of the game, #11 appears to have turned a corner and upped his game to another level.
2. URI got blocked A LOT in the first half.
The one thing that Dayton did well on the Friday night was blocking the soft layups at the rack. The Flyers officially totaled four blocks and probably unofficially blocked about six or seven URI shot attempts. Most of Dayton's defensive damage at the rim was done in the first half though and URI took clear control of the game in the second half.
3. E.C. Matthews may have broken out of his shooting slump from deep.
Matthews shot 2 of 4 from the perimeter and his shot looked better than it has in the past couple of months of conference play. If #0 can light up the scoreboard at the right time, his team is bound to progress into at least the second weekend of the 2018 NCAA tournament. E.C. Matthews has turned into a volume scorer late in his collegiate career and all of the Rhody fan base will pray that he gets on a hot streak and stays on it.
4. The Ryan Center was electric when URI went on their first legitimate run in the second half.
Once the Rams went on a run at the beginning of the second half and jumped out to a 46-38 lead after a 7-0 run, the home crowd gave their team all of the momentum that they needed to secure the win. Looking into the future, Rhody MBB needs the Ryan Center to not only show out for this Tuesday's senior night but they need the attendance and the hype of the crowd to stay at a maximum level in all future seasons.
5. Rhody had ample success turning a young Dayton team over.
Dan Hurley's team helped to cause 22 Dayton turnovers and that was a major driving force for their blowout win. While the Rams had just eight turnovers of their own, they won the turnover battle with ease. Having fourteen more possessions than your opponent will go a long way towards a victory. If the Rams can keep up their trend of winning the turnover battle in each game in postseason play, they increase their chances of going deep into the NCAA tournament bracket.
