Facing Dayton on Wednesday will be a tall order for the UMass men’s basketball team.

The Flyers, which will visit the Mullins Center at 7 p.m. (CBS Sports Network) are the fourth-tallest team in the country led by 6-foot-10 center Daron Holmes II. They feature nine players taller than 6-6 and five that crack 6-9.

“The problem is when teams are long across the board it makes passing and shooting really hard,” UMass coach Frank Martin said. “It’s the first time we’ve played a team that’s really this big on the perimeter.”

Dayton (18-9, 10-4 Atlantic 10) put that bulk to good use. The Flyers boast the league’s stingiest defense allowing 60.7 points per game, and opponents shoot just 39 percent from the floor and 28.2 percent from 3-point range. All three marks lead the conference. They pair that with an A-10-best 46.9 shooting percentage.

The Flyers block 4.59 shots per game, second most in the league.

Opponents also grab the fewest rebounds in the league against Dayton (30.9), which will test UMass’ league-best offensive rebounding numbers (12.6 per game). The Minutemen are No. 2 in the league in total rebounds per game (38).

Holmes ranks fifth in the league scoring 17.6 points per game and grabs eight rebounds per game, fourth in the A-10. He’s the only A-10 player in the top five of both statistics and shoots 59.2 percent from the floor (N0. 2). Holmes’ 1.8 blocks per game are tied for the league lead. His 73 dunks lead the country.

“We gotta make the game really hard for him,” Martin said. “He’s an athlete that’s been made to run, and he loves to run. When you give him space, he pops. This has to be a good old-fashioned boxing match where we have to deliver blows to the ribs to get him to drop his hands.”

Those numbers combined with Dayton’s success have put him on the mid-season USBWA Oscar Robertson Player of the Year watch list and into the Top 10 finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame's Karl Malone Award.

He’s one of three Flyers selected to preseason All-A-10 teams along with Toumani Camara (14.1 points, nine rebounds per game) and Malachi Smith (64 assists), who were both on the second team.

Smith and Kobe Elvis were injured in the early part of the season, but have integrated back into Dayton’s rotation and helped the Flyers win their last three games to rise to second in the A-10 standings.

Martin and Dayton coach Anthony Grant have known each other since high school and split four meetings when Martin was at South Carolina and Grant coached Alabama. They haven’t met on the court since February 2015.

“It’s my least favorite game to coach,” Martin said.

UMass (14-13, 5-10) has lost its last six games against Dayton. The Minutemen’s last win in the matchup came Feb. 3, 2018 in Amherst.

They snapped a five-game losing streak after beating Rhode Island at the Ryan Center on Saturday, which moved UMass from 14th to 13th in the league standings above the Rams. The Minutemen are a half game back of Davidson for 12th.

The top nine teams receive a bye in the opening round of the conference tournament, which starts Tuesday, March 8.

“We’re getting later in the season, we’re not getting any of hte games we lost back,” UMass guard T.J. Weeks Jr. said. “At this point we are in survival mode trying to win every game.”

INJURY UPDATE – UMass forward Matt Cross suffered a grade two MCL sprain against Loyola Chicago last week, Martin said. The Beverly native is already walking and sliding but not running or sprinting yet.

“I think he’ll play this year, I’m optimistic,” Martin said.

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>