What to know about Saturday’s game against George Washington

Protecting the home court and limiting losses on the road in conference play is the key to topping the standings in the A-10. The Dayton Flyers accomplished one of those goals last season, finishing 9-0 at UD Arena in conference games, but lost four times in nine tries on the road.

Dayton’s first A-10 road test of the 2024-25 season comes at noon Saturday against George Washington (11-3) at the Charles E. Smith Center in Washington, D.C. in the second A-10 game of the season. It will be the first true road game of the season for Dayton (11-3). The Flyers have played 10 home games and four games on neutral courts.

“It’s conference play, so we understand every game we have to expect to get our opponents’ best,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Tuesday after a 74-60 victory against La Salle, “so we have to be prepared to bring our best. We understand that it’s a different environment, and so the energy will be different for us. It comes down to having a mature team, a team that has good leadership and a team that understands we’ve got to do the hard stuff all the way through, whether it’s at home or on the road.”

Here are 10 things to know about the matchup:

1. Series history: Dayton leads the series 23-18. UD won 83-61 last season at UD Arena.

Two years ago in Dayton’s last visit to George Washington, it lost 76-69. No one from George Washington who played in that game remains with the team. Malachi Smith is the only Dayton player remaining from that game.

Prior to the 2023 game, Dayton had won six straight games in the series and three straight at the Smith Center since an 87-81 loss in the final game of the 2017 regular season.

2. Tough place to play: Dayton is 6-14 at the Smith Center since 1996. George Washington is 8-0 at home this season. It has won 18 straight non-conference home games. Last season, though, the Revolutionaries were 3-6 at home in A-10 games.

George Washington ranks 13th out of 15 teams in the A-10 in average attendance (1,599). Two years ago, it drew a crowd of 2,380 for Dayton.

“These games are kind of tough just because we have to pick up our energy and our intensity,” Smith said. “It’s probably not going to be a big crowd, like we’re used to playing in front of, but this is what we’ve got to do to get the A-10 championship.”

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3. State of the program: George Washington, which was picked to finish 13th in the A-10 preseason poll, is trying to end a streak of seven straight non-winning seasons in coach Chris Caputo’s third season. It finished 16-16 two years ago and 15-17 last season. The program last reached the NCAA tournament in 2014.

4. Disappointing start: In its A-10 opener Tuesday, George Washington trailed Richmond 32-21 in the first minute of the second half. It then outscored Richmond 31-7 in a 10-minute stretch to build a 52-39 lead.

Richmond (6-8) responded with its own comeback and outscored George Washington 9-0 in the last 90 seconds to win 66-61 in Richmond.

5. Schedule strength: George Washington’s non-conference strength of schedule ranked last in the country out of 364 teams, according to KenPom.com. It beat two teams ranked in the top 200 of the NCAA Evaluation Tool: No. 130 Illinois State; and No. 182 Hampton. It lost 83-71 to No. 108 Kansas State, the top-ranked opponent on its non-conference schedule. Its worst loss was to No. 255 American.

6. Transfer portal loss: Maximus Edwards, a 6-foot-5 guard, transferred to Duquesne after averaging 11.5 points in two seasons at George Washington. He’s averaging 6.1 points this season.

7. Top returner: Darren Buchanan, a 6-foot-7 sophomore forward, leads the team in scoring (15.1) after ranking second last season (15.6). He scored 13 points against Dayton last season.

8. Top transfers: Gerald Drumgoole, a 6-5 sixth-year guard, ranks second on the team in scoring (13.8). He played last season at Delaware. Earlier in his career, he spent two seasons at Pittsburgh and then two at Albany. He made 7 of 13 3-pointers against Richmond and scored 27 points.

• Rafael Castro, a 6-10 junior forward, ranks third in scoring (10.1) and first in rebounding (9.0). He played limited minutes the last two seasons at Providence. Castro had Dayton in his final three but committed to Providence in September 2020.

9. Strengths and weaknesses: George Washington ranks second in the A-10 in scoring (78.5 points per game). Dayton is fifth (77.6).

George Washington ranks 11th in the A-10 in 3-point shooting percentage (32.5). It made 10 of 32 3s (31.2%) against Richmond. Dayton ranks fourth in the A-10 (35.2) but has shot under 30% in four straight games.

10. Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 78% chance of winning and predicts a 78-69 score. Dayton ranks 30th in the Pomeroy ratings. George Washington is No. 138.

• Dayton ranks 44th in the NET. It is the highest-ranked A-10 team. No. 150 George Washington is the 10th highest-ranked A-10 team.

This is a Quad 3 game for Dayton and a Quad 2 game for George Washington.

Dayton is 2-3 in Quad 1 games, 1-0 in Quad 2, 2-0 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4. George Washington is 0-0 in Quad 1, 0-0 in Quad 2, 1-1 in Quad 3 and 9-2 in Quad 4