DAYTON — Suddenly, the focus of the Rhode Island-Dayton basketball game has shifted.

Until last weekend, the contest between the Rams and Flyers on Tuesday night at 7 at the UD Arena was a match between two teams fighting to be at, or near, the top of the Atlantic 10 standings. They are perhaps the two most athletic teams in the conference, two clubs that have been playing well enough to create postseason aspirations.

After what happened Saturday, matters have changed. Now, it’s a game that could reflect how the teams handle adversity, a game both teams need to win to maintain their position for tournament hopes.

Rhode Island (15-3, 3-2) was beaten at Xavier Saturday. That was not exactly a surprise since the Rams have never won at the Cintas Center. Still, it was a setback for a team with high hopes.

Dayton hit an even bigger roadblock. The Flyers (14-5, 3-2) were shocked by Saint Joseph’s, 60-59, on Hawk Hill. It certainly was not what was expected from a team that was the preseason pick to win the conference and be in the Top 25 nationally.

After the game, Flyers coach Brian Gregory was openly unhappy with his players.

“When you play like that, you don’t deserve to win,” Gregory said. “It was a poorly coached game and a poorly played game. … I’d have been more upset if we won the game because it would go against what we believe.

“Our defense was atrocious,” he said. “We couldn’t guard the ball and we didn’t give any help. They turned it into a one-on-one game.”

There was more.

“We take too many bad shots,” Gregory told the Dayton Daily News. “We take too many threes early in possessions and we have guys trying to make plays that, right now, they’re not capable of making.”

Clearly, Gregory was using the tactic of challenging his players to step up, challenging them to come out with fire in their next game. Rhode Island just happens to be the next team on the schedule. And the game just happens to be back at the UD Arena, where the Flyers have won their last 30 games, the third-longest active streak in the country.

Rhody coach Jim Baron said his team is preparing to face Dayton’s best effort. The Rams dealt with a similar situation Saturday with mixed success. They played a good first half and led throughout, but then could not stop the Musketeers’ charge in the second half.

“We’ve got to put two good halves together. That’s going to be the real important issue with this game,” Baron said. “The next step for this team is consistency.”

Doing that is harder on the road, in front of a sellout crowd urging on the opponents. Baron feels it is a challenge his team can deal with by refining its game.

“We’ve got to do the little things, whether it’s rebounding or making free throws,” the Rhody coach said. The Rams have not shot free throws well in both their A-10 losses. They rebounded well for a half against Xavier, but not the second half. And Dayton is a better rebounding team than Xavier.

One thing the teams have in common, perhaps the biggest issue that has hindered their strong seasons, is outside shooting.

After making only 3 of 22 treys in the loss at Saint Joseph’s, Dayton is down to 32.5 percent for the season behind the arc, 28.4 in the A-10 games thus far. Rhode Island was only 2-for-15 on 3-pointers in the loss at Xavier, dropping its percentages to 31.7 for the season and 27.9 in A-10 play.

A key for Dayton is the health of Luke Fabrizius. He is a 6-foot-9 sophomore who has been the team’s best outside shooter. He is hitting 49 percent, 23-for-53, on 3-pointers. However, he has an injured right knee. He hurt it in early December and missed time. He re-injured it last week and missed the team’s upset loss at Saint Joseph’s Saturday night. He is questionable for tonight.

Gregory was complimentary about URI, saying he wonders why the team so often falls under the radar when people discuss the A-10 powers. He called URI a Top-25 team.

While Gregory was being nice to the Rams, it is not likely the 13,000 fans expected to be at the game will be quite so kind.

pkenyon@projo.com