Just two plays to show the transformation from “Kav In Ouch!” to “Kav In Awe.”
“There’s one play in my time here that I really wish I could have back,” the 6-foot-9 junior center said with a smile leading up to today’s much-anticipated Xavier game at UD Arena.
“It was against Leheigh my freshman year. I was gonna rip the baseline, but when I made my move I tripped over my own foot and fell. I hit the floor face first and chipped my tooth.
“I came back to the huddle and BG (then-UD coach Brian Gregory) looks at me and he’s like, 'Where’s your tooth?’ And I’m like, 'I think it’s out there somewhere on the court.’
“That was pretty embarrassing. All the guys on the team made fun of me. With part of my front tooth missing, they said I looked like a hillbilly. Eventually the tooth got glued back together or something, but the guys haven’t forgot that play.”
But they all remember this one a lot better:
It happened last month against Alabama and it made the entire UD Arena crowd — and especially the Flyers players — roar with jubilant disbelief.
Kavanaugh stole the ball from a Tide player at the 3-point line and began a furious, fast-break dribble in the opposite direction. Once he crossed midcourt, he did something no one expected.
“I just had one guy in front of me waiting to take a charge,” he said. “But then I heard Josh (Benson) yelling 'I’m wit ya Big Kav’ and I took that as my cue to throw the lob pass to him.”
The alley-oop toss was perfect. The stunned Benson, who later admitted he was shocked to see Kavanaugh make the heave, leaped heavenward, grabbed the ball and slammed it down for the most memorable dunk of this 13-5 season.
“Afterward all the guys were pumped,” Kavanaugh said. “But the next day at practice the coaches they said if I hadn’t completed that pass I’d probably be running all day.”
Two plays — hillbilly to King of the Hill — tell you plenty about the most dramatic change of fortune for any Dayton Flyer this season.
His first two years at UD, Kavanaugh — who had starred for Jim Staley at Centerville High School — played sparingly, if at all, was yelled at constantly in practice and was often criticized by fans who didn’t understand.
“All of us who know Matt really felt for him,” said Staley. “We were constantly asked if we thought he could play at the UD level. People just assumed he couldn’t, but they didn’t know what they were talking about.
“So many kids get pigeon-holed or branded, but sometimes it’s not the kid at all. It’s the system they’re in and how they’re being used. I don’t want this to come off as a criticism of (Brian) Gregory, but the old regime was perimeter oriented. They didn’t throw the ball to the block.
“Then Archie Miller comes in this year and they throw the ball inside and Matt has really blossomed.
“I think this season has been total vindication for Matt Kavanaugh.”
This year Kavanaugh has started all 18 games. He leads the team in rebounding (5.8 per game) and free-throw percentage (83.3), is third in field-goal percentage (55.9) and sixth in scoring (8.6).
Last Saturday he had his best game ever, leading the Flyers with 23 points and nine rebounds in a 79-75 victory over La Salle.
“The new system has definitely helped me out personally,” Kavanaugh admitted. “I got a fresh start. The biggest thing is that instead of pulling me out, they’ve let me play through my mistakes and it’s built my confidence.”
Staley said Kavanuagh finally is able to show what he has to offer: “It’s not just the size, it’s the fact he has heart and really tries hard and works hard. And he’s fundamentally sound.”
The most telling thing, Staley said — and something that may show itself again today when Kavanaugh goes up against Kenny Frease, Xavier’s 7-foot senior center — is that “he’s always been good at answering a challenge.
“When he was here, we played three years straight in Flyin’ to the Hoop and each time he was supposed to be going up against a guy who would destroy him.
“As a sophomore he went against a couple of 6-8 kids for (Akron) St. Vincent-St. Mary who were highly recruited and he outscored them and we won easily.
“His junior year we played (national power) Findlay Prep. They were undefeated and he had 28. The next year we played the No. 2 team in the nation and Matt had 36 against some kid who was rated one of the Top 10 center recruits in the nation.”
Now that Kavanaugh is showing shades of his old self, his high school pal, Dan Cox, has people wondering where they can get a “KAV IN AWE” shirt like the one he wears in the front row of the Red Scare section.
So with all the attention are female admirers flocking to him as well?
“Aaah, no,” Kavanaugh said with a bit of baseline stumble. “I’m still going solo or whatever you call it. (Luke) Fabrizius is probably No. 1 with the ladies. I definitely haven’t cracked the top five there yet.”
But this is the season of change for him, so maybe he’ll get an alley-oop boost on that front, as well.
Kavanuagh just smiled.
It was a perfect smile, his repaired front tooth — like his reputation — showing no sign of a crack.
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