The University of Dayton men’s basketball team relied heavily on its starters in a 74-62 upset of No. 16 Alabama on Wednesday — four first-stringers played at least 30 minutes — but the Flyers probably wouldn’t have prevailed if not for sub Josh Parker.

The senior guard made five of his first six shots and tossed in 17 points overall to give the team a lift. He said a pep talk from coach Archie Miller helped.

“I just wanted to come out and play hard for my team,” he said. “I haven’t been playing my best. But coach just stressed to take good shots. If you take good shots, most of the time they go in.”

Parker hasn’t been able to completely shake a tendency to press too much since he’s been at UD.

“Josh is a great kid,” Miller said. “No one on our team more than him wants to do well, and no one wants to win more than him. If you had 10 of him, you’d have a heckuva team because you’re going to get their best.

“Him and I have talked about this: Josh’s shot selection in so many cases hurts his confidence throughout games. Sometimes — I don’t want to say he tests the waters — but it’s not OK to take quick shots. He took it to heart. He played his best game of the season, the best game since I’ve been around him.”

Miller was grateful for the series with Alabama, noting that few BCS teams are willing to play the Flyers at home. UD is 15-5 against BCS schools since 2007.

“Coach (Anthony) Grant has his program among the SEC elite. They’re going to have a great season,” Miller said. “I’ll be quite honest, not a lot of teams want to play in here. For Alabama to come here is a credit to him and the confidence he has in his team. I’ll leave it at that. It’s good to have this type of game.”

Both coaches gave much of the credit for the victory to two 3-pointers from Kevin Dillard after the Tide whacked a 17-point deficit to four with 8:20 left.

“We knew they’d make a run,” Miller said. “We had self-inflicted holes in us again. We had errors executing our press offense and errors executing our offense. That’s how Alabama plays. Alabama creates a different tempo and finds your weak link.

“When KD hit those two shots, he took the air out and said, ‘It’s going to be OK.’ ”

Grant received a nice ovation when introduced before the game.

Visitor: Don Donoher, the longtime UD coach, came over to UD Arena during the Crimson Tide’s shoot-around on Wednesday afternoon to see Grant and ex-assistant Dan Hipsher.

Donoher reportedly spoke to the players, telling them Grant could hoop a little bit himself back in the day.

Crowd noise: The UD students were engaged. They had poster-sized pictures of Donoher, school president Dan Curran and Orville and Wilbur Wright, the original Flyers. They also heckled ’Bama players with chants of “LSU.”

Honored: Former UD football coach Mike Kelly was formally recognized during a break in the second half for being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He was given a standing ovation.

Recruit watches: Coveted sophomore recruit Vince Edwards of Middletown attended the game with his brother, Bill Edwards Jr., and visited with the team in the locker room afterward.