Men’s basketball closes the non-conference schedule vs. UC in Cincinnati

DAYTON — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will close out its tough non-conference schedule with UD’s third game in seven days. The Flyers will play No. 19 UC in the Simple Truth Hoops Classic presented by CareSource. Game time at the Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati is 8:30 PM ET.

Dayton, ranked 22nd, is 10-2 on the year. UC is 8-1 after Saturday’s 68-65 Xavier win.

The Flyers would score eight of the game’s final 11 points in the final 75 seconds of Tuesday’s 66-65 win at home over UNLV. Malachi Smith assisted on Nate Santos’ trey, and scored a breakaway layup, then on an “and-one” with eight seconds left to pull off the win. Santos’ led four Flyers in double figures with 14 points.

The UC game will be broadcast by WHIO Radio, televised on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN+. Streaming audio, video and live stats will be on DaytonFlyers.com.

#TRENDING
• Nate Santos was named First Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 after being named to the third team after last season. The 6-7 forward from Geneva, Ill., was the Flyers’ second-leading scorer (11.7) and rebounder (6.3) last year. He was also second on the team in 3-pointers. FG% (.418, 51-122). Santos finished fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting and 10th in rebounding in 2023-24.
• Santos’ 6-for-6 shooting performance from deep against Lehigh is tied for best in the nation. It’s also the second best ever in UD, behind Shawn Haugh’s 8-for-8 in 1993-94.
• Nice Alexander was named to the Second Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 and to the Preseason All-Defensive Team. Alexander is a fifth-year transfer who already has 1,000 career points and 500 career assists. The fourth recruit from New York City in the Anthony Grant‘s tenure at UD, he led the Big East in steals in each of the last four seasons (three at St. John’s and one at Butler). Last year at Butler, Alexander averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. match. He was 16th in the nation in steals per. match. In his three years at St. John’s, he averaged 10.9, 13.8 and 10.2 points a game.
• Enoch cheeks was also named to the A-10 Preseason All-Defensive Team. He led the team in steals (40), was second in blocked shots (21) and was third in rebounding (4.7) in his first season at UD after transferring from Robert Morris. The Providence, RI native was the 2023-24 winner of UD’s Steve McElvene Award. Cheeks was consistently assigned opponents’ top perimeter player on defense. In the 25 games (out of 33) where the top Flyer opponent player was a guard or wing, that player was held below his average 17 times. He started in all 33 games and averaged 8.1 points per game. game (9.5 in A-10 games).
• The Dayton roster includes five players who have earned all-conference recognition in their past – junior forward Nate Santos (Atlantic 10), junior Enoch cheeks (Horizon League). junior Javon Bennett (Northeast meet), redshirt junior Malachi Smith (Atlantic 10) and fifth-year senior Nice Alexander (Big East).
• Amaël L’Etang was named A-10 Rookie of the Week on November 25. He scored 11 points (4-6 FG) in 13 minutes against New Mexico State.
• Cheeks was named the Dec. 2 A-10 Player of the Week after averaging 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds against North Carolina, Iowa State and UConn in Maui.
• Cheeks is fifth in the A-10 in rebounding (7.5).
• Smith is second in the A-10 in assists (5.9) and fourth in 3-pointers. FG% (.480, 12-25).
• Nice Alexander is first in the ratio between aid and turnover (4.2).
• Zed key is fifth in FG% (.657 46-70). He is also tied for most dunks in DI (28).
• As a team, Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.96) and FG% (.495, 328-662) and is second in 3-pt. FG% (.364, 99-272). UD is sixth nationally in A/T ratio.
• UD ranked 20th in average attendance in NCAA Division I last season, averaging 13,407 fans per game in 2023-24. Of schools in the top 25 in attendance, only Kansas, Purdue, Michigan State and UConn also sold out every game on the season.
• Dayton has already announced that it has sold out every game for the upcoming 2024-25 season, including both exhibition games that have already been played. It will be the fourth year in a row that UD has sold out every home game. That streak is now 67 games.
• This is also UD Arena’s 55th anniversary season. The arena underwent a $76.2 million transformation project that was completed in time for the 2019-20 season.
• Dayton’s 25-game home winning streak is tied for fourth-longest in Division I, behind Houston (27), Drake and UConn (26), and tied with Samford.
• The Flyers wear “DJD” on their left shoulder strap in memory of Don Donoher. Coach Donoher died last April at the age of 92. He was the first man to coach his alma mater in the NCAA Tournament after appearing in it as a player. He is a member of the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame and is Dayton’s all-time winningest coach (437 wins). He was the 2017 winner of the USBWA’s Dean Smith Award.

UP NEXT
• UD’s next game is the A-10 opener against La Salle at home on Tuesday, December 31st.
• Basketball falls on New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m. ET.