NCAAB Game Preview - Dayton at George Mason

Tue Feb 25, 2020 7:00 PM EST

Dayton reached another milestone in a season of milestones on Saturday.

Obi Toppin surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career in a come-from-behind home victory over Duquesne. On Jan. 29, Jalen Crutcher topped the 1,000-point barrier against the Dukes. Trey Landers is next in line with 912 points, which would be a rare feat for the program to have three players hit the four-digit career mark in the same season.

The No. 4 Flyers have a plethora of streaks on the line heading into Tuesday night's road game against George Mason in Atlantic 10 Conference play. The Flyers 25-2 (14-0) are the highest-ranked opponent ever to play in EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va.

After Baylor, Gonzaga and San Diego State all lost on Saturday, the Flyers moved into a tie for the nation's longest active winning streak at 16. It equals the program's longest in a season, previously achieved by the 1957-58 team, and the longest by a conference team since Rhode Island also won 16 in a row in the 2017-18 season.

The Flyers are closing in on a number of records, notably the mark for victories set by the 1951-52 team that finished 28-5.

They avoided an upset on Saturday by outscoring the Dukes 30-11 in the opening 12 minutes of the second half.

"To put it mildly, it was a tale of two halves," Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. "The first half, we were out of character. Credit to Duquesne. They came in with great focus. They did a good job of being disruptive, attacking. The second half, our guys kind of flipped it."

Landers said Saturday's win was a good learning lesson for the Flyers.

"Every team is going to go on runs," Landers said. "It's all about weathering the storm. We haven't been through much adversity this year. It's really rare for us to be down in the first half. We just had to come together."

George Mason (15-12, 4-10) also is on a streak of its own, but one vastly different from Dayton's current run. The Patriots lost six of seven games in a key stretch to fall out of the conference race but posted a 72-67 road defeat over VCU on Feb. 12.

The Patriots followed with two straight road losses to spoil a chance to build some momentum before rebounding with a 62-55 win over Saint Joseph's on Saturday. Junior Javon Greene led the Patriots with 20 points and eight rebounds, and AJ Wilson added 13 points, six rebounds and four blocks.

"This is a satisfying win for us," George Mason coach Dave Paulsen said. "We've really tried to establish how we react when adversity strikes.

"Defensively, we just really stepped it up and really made (Saint Joseph's) work for everything. To hold that team to 33 percent is just a really gritty effort."

--Field Level Media