Young Dayton Flyers squad picking up notable wins
DAYTON, Ohio — NCAA Division I women’s and men’s basketball has already started and the Dayton Flyers men’s basketball program is ready for the long road that awaits them. The men’s team is 5-3 on the season so far after picking up wins against UIC, Miami (FL), Kansas, Belmont and Alabama State.
The Flyers have a strong cast of players on their team. Toumani Camara, a true sophomore out of Brussels, Belgium has been leading the team in points per game with 11.3 and rebounds per game with 6.8. Elijah Weaver and DaRon Holmes have both contributed a lot to this team. Weaver is tied for the best three-point percentage on the team, while Holmes leads the team in minutes per game and is third best scorer on this team behind Camara and Weaver, with 9.4 points per game.
With many new faces on this Flyers team, there seems to be a new identity within this team.
“It has been good,” Toumani Camara said. “I mean it’s a brand new team so we have a lot of new faces. The most important [part] is just learning the new system. It’s not easy, so we just have to take it brick by brick.”
The Flyers losses on the year have come from UMass-Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin-Peay. After dropping three straight games, the Flyers came together and went 3-0 at the ESPN Event Invitational beating notable division one programs Miami (FL), Kansas and Belmont.
“That’s what I think is special about this team,” freshman DaRon Holmes said on their comeback. “We are always there for each other.
“Everyday because they are so young and they are hungry, they bring a new energy everyday,” Elijah Weaver, a redshirt junior on the Flyers, said. “They just try to get after it, trying to learn and it’s fun being around that. It helps me play. I know I am the senior, I’m the older guy but watching them come in everyday with the same intensity, same fire and the will to learn, has definitely been helping,”
Malachi Smith is one of those young players that Weaver was talking about.
“Off the court it has been fun,” Smith said. “We all like being around each other and I think that is good for on the court so it translates to good team chemistry. So then on the court we are just comfortable playing with each other. We just want to see each other win,”
The true freshman out of the Bronx, NY has stepped up his game ever since he stepped onto the Flyers campus.
It’s clear that this team is young and has a lot to learn. The Flyers have four true freshmen, eight redshirt freshmen, one true sophomore and one redshirt sophomore. But, with all these young products, the Flyers have already picked up notable wins against Miami (FL) and division one juggernaut Kansas. However, this Flyers team has yet to play anyone in conference. So, the important games have yet to begin. Regardless, this team is poised and ready for what lies ahead.
This is an unedited user writing submission. The views, information, or opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Best Version Media or its employees.