Dayton Basketball: 3 key storylines to important non-con matchup with Marquette

By coming to University of Dayton Arena on Saturday, Marquette will be triggering a few firsts. The sixth-ranked Golden Eagles will be the first Big East team to play Dayton on their home floor since 2011, they will also be a highest-ranked opponent to play there since 2007 (fourth-ranked Dayton played there in 2020), and Coach Shaka Smart will return for the first time since he was VCU's coach in 2016.

While Marquette will certainly walk in as the favorite, the Flyers have already proven that they can hang around with a team of that ilk after beating Marquette's Big East rival UConn and putting up a better fight against Iowa State, who has beaten both teams already this season.

There is a lot of the line for a Dayton team seeking to gain a signature top of the resume win that will no longer be available come January. But Marquette certainly won't want to turn down a good Q1 victory themselves. It promises to be a great battle, so let's dive into three keys.

1. Containing Kam Jones

In Dayton's two losses, they struggled mightily to contain UNC's RJ Davis (30 points, 11 free throw attempts) and Iowa State's Keshon Gilbert (24 pts, 14 fta) and keep them off the foul line. There's no shame in your defense getting ripped apart by a pair of the half-dozen best guards in college basketball. Only problem is that Marquette's Kam Jones is having a better season than both.

A top twenty scorer (20.3 ppg) and passer (6.5 apg), Jones' six foot five-inch frame pose a unique challenge compared to the smaller Davis and Gilbert in creating a big size mismatch with both Malachi Smith and Posh Alexander (both will still likely get a crack at Jones). That leaves Enoch Cheeks to take the burden early on.

Dayton Coach Anthony Grant has shown a preference all season to continue to guard opposing stars one on one and with Marquette's lineup of shooters, there is no reason to believe that will change. However, since Chase Ross (39.3%) is the only one of those other Golden Eagles who is not struggling from three, perhaps that could change mid-game if the bricks continue.

2. Can Marquette Dominate (Not Just Win) The Turnover Battle?

Marquette ranks third in the nation in turnover differential, taking the ball away 7.7 more times per game than they give it up. The one problem is that only eight teams commit less turnovers on a nightly basis than Dayton. The Golden Eagles have thrived on this being a central part of their identity all season long, outright dominating in the possession battle in huge games (+11 versus Wisconsin, +9 versus Purdue, +5 versus Maryland).

However, they were -1 in the Iowa State game, and the Cyclones happen to sit a mere one spot ahead of Dayton on that least turnovers leaderboard. There aren't many weak spots to target amidst the key players, especially now that Enoch Cheeks has gone from a sloppy 1.6 turnovers per game in a lower usage role last season to just 1.0, while becoming the Flyers' leading scorer.

Malachi Smith and Nate Santos can both occasionally make some reckless plays, but Marquette will need to swarm the backup big men. Amael L'Etang and Hamad Mousa are very prone to freshman mistakes, and while Isaac Jack has fantastic hands while going for the ball, he does like to emerge up through traffic. On the other end, expect Marquette to rarely give it up, since Dayton is second to last in the Atlantic 10 in forcing turnovers themselves.

3. The Whistle

It's not that Dayton will be looking for a generous home whistle (although it certainly wouldn't hurt), but a tightly called-game could be a huge advantage for the Flyers. Smith gets to the line at an elite level (thanks to the relentless driving from him, Alexander and Cheeks), as does starting center Zed Key on post-ups. And with Marquette's reserve frontline not being able to match Key's size, any foul trouble for Ben Gold could spell disaster for the Golden Eagles.

While Marquette's three-point happy offense doesn't even make the top three hundred in free throw rate, a tight whistle does leave a serious risk for Dayton (see the UNC loss), especially if Key falls victim to foul trouble, having to hand things over to L'Etang and Jack, potentially giving Marquette a big boost in the turnover department.

Bonus: Shaka Smart vs UD Arena Crowd

It will have no bearing on the actual game for a savvy veteran like Smart, but no non-Xavier coach has been more despised in this building in the twenty-first century than VCU's former leader and the reaction he will draw throughout with only amplify the intensity of the environment. I'm imploring CBS to really put thought into maximizing the positioning of the floor microphones.