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UD falls right back out of rankings

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By Doug Harris, Staff Writer 7:32 PM Monday, November 23, 2009

The University of Dayton dropped out of both major college basketball polls into the “others receiving votes” category Monday, Nov. 23. And unless some struggling starters regain last season’s form, the Flyers may have trouble getting back into that lofty territory.

Marcus Johnson had a season-high 14 points in an 83-75 loss to Kansas State on Sunday, but his outside shot has been AWOL. A preseason second-team All-Atlantic 10 pick, the senior guard is just 1-for-15 on 3-pointers and 5-for-14 from the foul line.

Point guard London Warren was second in the A-10 in assist-turnover ratio last season, finishing with 154 dishes and 66 miscues in helping the Flyers finish 27-8. But he has almost as many turnovers (13) as assists (17) in four games for the 2-2 Flyers. And Rob Lowery, essentially a co-starter last year at the point, is expected to get the OK soon to test his reconstructed knee in game situations, but he’s still going to need time before getting extended minutes.

“We have a couple guys who have not played well at all,” UD coach Brian Gregory said. “We’ve got to get those guys playing better and respond to some of the deficiencies we’re showing.”

The biggest shortcoming has been rebounding. The Flyers emerged from the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Classic with a two-game losing streak, mostly because they were bludgeoned on the boards. They were outrebounded by a total of 28 by KSU, Villanova and Georgia Tech.

“We’ve played four top-30 teams probably (opening against Creighton), and we haven’t played well,” Gregory said.

“In the past, we’ve been able to match up pretty well. One of the reasons is we usually embrace that physical game when you have to defend with your chest and rebound with your hips and knock some people around.”

Next Game

Who: Dayton (2-2) vs. Towson (1-1)

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

TV: None

Radio: WHIO-AM (1290) and WHIO-FM (95.7)

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