The magical run by the Dayton Flyers will continue for now. A mid-major from Ohio isn’t suppose to beat Ohio State, Syracuse and Stanford, but Dayton continues to prove us wrong.
In all fairness to the Flyers, them beating Ohio State wasn’t much of a surprise and Syracuse has been vulnerable all year. Also, real basketball fans know Stanford isn’t really that good, but none of that takes away from the run Dayton is on.
Last night, Dayton just looked like the better team. The Flyers assisted on 19 of their 28 made baskets, while Stanford only had 10 dimes. Dayton shot 48% from the field, compared to Stanford’s 37%. While watching the game, you never felt Stanford was a serious threat. Dayton led 42-32 at halftime and played even with Stanford the rest of the way.
Jordan Sibert led Dayton with 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. The Flyers will meet Florida Saturday night for a chance to reach their second final four in school history.
Scottie Wilbekin was the story late for the nation’s top team. After scoring only three points in the first half on 1-of-7 shooting, Florida’s captain scored ten second half points on 4-of-6 shooting.
The fact Wilbekin scored ten points in the second half is not important, it’s how he scored that ten. Every time it seemed like UCLA was knocking on the door, Wilbekin answered. It wasn’t just Wilbekin, however. Michael Frazier II dropped 19 points, 15 of them came via the long ball.
UCLA fought hard, but they just weren’t mentally tough enough to take down the Gators. The Bruins had an assist to turnover ratio of 12:8. They also shot a dismal 3-of-18 from distance. You just aren’t going to beat Florida playing like that.
Dayton-Florida is set to tip at 6:09 eastern time Saturday night.