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How Dayton's efficiency led to school's first Elite Eight

Dayton was able to defeat No. 3 seed Louisville, and in turn, reach the school's first Elite Eight. The Flyers' pace, possessions and efficiency on the offensive end, were key ingredients in their recipe of success on Saturday.

By Ray Floriani
Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

Dayton punched a ticket to the Elite Eight upsetting Louisville, from the ACC, in the Albany Regional semifinal. The Flyers of the Atlantic Ten opened a second half lead, saw Louisville cut it to one, before closing out the impressive 82-66 victory. Dayton is now 28-6 and will face top seed UCONN on Monday. Louisville closes out the campaign 27-7. The pace and possessions:

Possessions

Dayton - 76

Louisville - 73

Bbstate.com termed the pace ‘moderate'. Seemed to be on the faster side as neither team was content to walk it up the floor.

Offensive efficiency

Dayton - 108

Louisville - 91

What Dayton did well. Defend. The Flyers only forced Louisville into a 12.3% turnover rate. They did limit the Cardinals of the ACC to an eFG percentage of 32%. Included in that figure was 1 of 15 (7%) shooting, on the part of Louisville, from long distance. Not just a case of Jeff Walz's club misfiring on its own. They were defended and contested as Dayton did a solid job on close outs and making field goals hard to come by.

What Louisville did well. Rebound and force turnovers. They missed shots but created second chances by hitting the offensive boards. Louisville grabbed 20 offensive rebounds ‘winning' the offensive rebounding percentage battle 42-36%. Defensively they forced Dayton into an above average 23.6% turnover rate.

Leading scorers and efficiency:

Andrea Hoover, Dayton 26 points, 30 Eff. The 4 turnovers by Hoover, the lone negative in an outstanding efficient showing.

Bria Smith, Louisville 12 points, 17 Eff.

Jude Schimmel of Louisville struggled shooting (no misprint) 4 of 23 (1 of 9 from three). The senior guard scored 11 points but wound up with a -7 efficiency due to her afternoon of cold shooting.

Hoover was 15 of 15 from the line for the Flyers who shot 26 of 30 (87%) as a team.

Only 8 of Dayton's 27 field goals were assisted. That showed the Flyers had the ability to successfully take Louisville off the dribble.

Final number. Two. That is two straight wins for Jim Jabir's group over elite teams (Kentucky and Louisville) from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

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