Staff file photo / Neel Madhavan. Ursuline junior point guard Dashaun Will goes up for a shot in the lane against Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin in the district final on March 9 at Warren G. Harding High School.

YOUNGSTOWN — Ursuline’s defense has come a long way since the start of the 2023-2024 season back in December.

There’s a pretty simple metric that illustrates just how much the Fighting Irish have improved on the defensive end of the floor. The first time Ursuline played Canfield on Dec. 9, the Cardinals scored 60 points and shot 53.3% from the floor, including 47.8% from beyond the three-point arc.

When the Irish met the Cardinals again, this time in last weekend’s Division II regional final, Ursuline limited Canfield to just 35 points and a 32.6% shooting percentage from the floor, including 15.4% from three.

“I got a great glimpse of how far we’ve come because we played Canfield earlier in the season,” Ursuline coach Keith Gunther said. “I thought we were a bad defensive team after watching that film. You think you’re decent at that point. But when I watch that game, and see where we’ve come, we’ve progressed gradually.”

Ursuline’s defensive improvement over the course of the season is one of the biggest reasons why the Irish find themselves in this weekend’s Division II final four in Dayton for the first time since 1994. Ursuline (24-3) will face Archbishop Alter (21-7) in the state semifinal at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday morning at UD Arena.

As he has over the latter stretch of the season, Gunther reiterated how Ursuline’s overtime loss to Austintown Fitch on Feb. 2 was the turning point this year for the Irish, especially on the defensive end. In Ursuline’s 12 straight wins since that fateful game, the Irish are giving up just 39.0 points per game.

“We realized at that point that we weren’t playing team ball, we were trying to outscore everybody and we had a couple of brutal practices,” Gunther said. “We made some adjustments and the kids bought in from there. We were going to be aggressive in everything that we did. We were going to try to make it tough for everybody to score, and ever since then, the tables turned on how we’ve played and we’ve had a lot of success since then.”

Those defensive numbers have been even better in the postseason. In Ursuline’s six playoff games, the Irish are allowing 31.7 points per game. Through the last three playoff games, which includes the district final, regional semifinal and regional final, Ursuline’s opponents have combined to shoot 35.8% (49-of-137) overall against the Irish.

“I think we understand that offense sells tickets, that’s our motto, and defense wins championships,” Gunther said. “We’re a team that’s just decided that we’re a gritty defensive team. I think once the kids see you have success doing that, then they buy in and say, ‘oh we see what he means; we see how this works.’

“Our identity has been that we’re going to shut teams down first. We feel like it’s going to be a close game if we’re playing just okay offensively, and if we’re playing well offensively, and we’re playing defense, the score is going to have a pretty decent margin of victory for us.”

The success of Ursuline’s defense starts with the play of junior point guard Dashaun Will.

All season long, Will has drawn the defensive assignment of the opposing team’s best guard, whether they be a scorer or one of the team’s primary ball handlers. When he’s successful, he’s able to take away a significant scoring option for an opponent or he’s at least able to disrupt the flow of the opposing offense.

“He’s really been the guy that sets the tone for us,” Gunther said. “He’s so quick. He’s so athletic. He’s strong. … He hasn’t really gotten in foul trouble, and you have to understand how hard that is.”

But on the flip side, in addition to his defensive assignment, he’s also tasked with running the offense for the Irish on the other end of the floor. His growth in his role has been another catalyst for Ursuline’s success.

“He’s finally realized how important the point guard is,” Gunther said. “I told him, right now, you’re the best point guard in the area and one of the best point guards in Northeast Ohio because he understands now how great of an asset the point guard is.”

But in the rare instances that an opposing player drives by Will or fellow guard Jaylen Gunther, or a pass finds its way behind wings Noah Bell or Geno Lucente, the Irish have one last line of defense waiting in the paint — 6-foot-7 senior center Jaden Payne.

With Payne’s size and athleticism, he’s often able to erase, or at the very least, affect or disrupt, an opponent’s shot or layup.

“He doesn’t always have to block the shots, it’s just the fact that his presence where he might block the shot, so he changes everything coming in there,” Keith said. “From an offensive standpoint, he’s probably getting 16-17 points per game throughout the tournament. When we watch the gritty games in the tournament, when there’s a really big rebound, he’s going to get it. From the focal point of who’s our guy that I would think would be on everybody’s scouting report first, I would think he’s the guy that every (opposing) team is trying to get under control.”

The Archbishop Alter team that the Irish will face is making its 11th appearance in the state final four, and is seeking its fourth state title in program history.

The Knights love to shoot the three ball and hit them at a high rate. Alter puts plenty of length and size on the floor with three juniors that each range from 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-8, but the Knights are led by four-star prospect RJ Greer, who has offers from Michigan, Florida, NC State, Penn State and Cincinnati.

“They’re a very well-coached team with great size that can really shoot the ball,” Gunther said. “They love to get it up and down if they can and they got depth, so they’re probably the most complete team that we’ve seen since probably Akron (Archbishop) Hoban. Just one of those teams where we feel like it’s going to be a gritty, tough game. But we feel like if we put a good defensive gameplan together, it’ll be a back and forth matchup. And hopefully, if the ball is falling for us, and we play great team defense, we’ll be able to come out with a victory.”

While Ursuline faces Archbishop Alter, the other Division II state semifinal is between Shelby and Maysville. The winners of the two games will face one another for the Division II state championship.

“I don’t want this experience to be over. I feel like we can take another step,” Gunther said. “If I thought we were playing Goliath or somebody I thought was way better than us, I’d tell you. But I don’t feel that way. I feel like the four teams that are left are pretty close in talent and pretty equal. And it’s just going to be who’s gritty, who can make shots and who can finish out their gameplan.”

Have an interesting story? Contact Neel Madhavan by email at nmadhavan@tribtoday.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @NeelMadhavan.