BUFFALO, N.Y. — Nearly 30 minutes of game time had passed, and Jerami Grant still hadn’t attempted a field goal.

Two days after torching Western Michigan for 16 points, Grant was rendered useless on Saturday against Dayton. He played 34 minutes, but took just three shots and fouled out.

There were many reasons No. 3-seed Syracuse (28-6, 14-4 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 11-seed Dayton (25-10, 10-6 Atlantic 10) 55-53 in the Round of 32. Tyler Ennis started 2-of-12. C.J. Fair shot 4-of-14. Trevor Cooney was ice cold from downtown.

But Grant blamed himself.

“It was just a horrible game for me,” Grant said. “It was definitely probably my fault we lost the game tonight.”

He said Dayton double-teamed him in spurts, something he hasn’t seen much of this season. The Flyers flustered him with their activity and prevented him from getting into the flow of the game, and he didn’t get the same looks he usually does.

Grant — a player who usually stands out with his high-flying heroics and ridiculous athleticism — blended in against Dayton.

“It was tough,” Grant said. “I really couldn’t get a lot of touches.”

He barely even looked for his shot, but that was mostly a product of the Flyers’ lockdown defense.

When Grant finally got a shot off at the 10:28 mark of the second half, he swished a mid-range jumper to cut SU’s deficit to one. Five minutes later, he hit a layup after an offensive rebound to slice Dayton’s lead to two.

But he didn’t attempt a shot the rest of the game. Afterward, as he sat wide-eyed in his chair in the locker room, Grant said Syracuse was the better team.

Dayton’s defense clamped down on the Orange all night long, though.

“They were throwing a bunch of different guys at all us, fresh guys,” Cooney said, “and they go deep on the bench. They’re a good team.”

The problems were copious for Syracuse, but Grant said his lack of production was the No. 1 issue.

“It was just a bad game for me,” Grant said. “I let my team down today.”

Published on March 23, 2014 at 2:50 pm

Contact Trevor: tbhass@syr.edu | @TrevorHass