Men’s basketball plays Iowa State on Tuesday at the Maui Invitational

LAHAINA, Maui — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team looks to bounce back Tuesday in the consolation round of the 2024 Maui Invitational. After dropping a tough 92-90 decision to 12th-ranked North Carolina in the first round on Monday, the Flyers will now play No. 5 at Iowa State. Game time is 8:30 PM ET.

Both teams suffered their first defeat of the season on Monday by two points. Dayton is 5-1 on the year, while Iowa State is 3-1 after Monday’s 83-81 loss to fourth-ranked Auburn.

UD raced out to a 51-33 halftime lead, but North Carolina flipped the script in the second half by outscoring Dayton 59-39. A potential game-tying three pointer with six seconds left Nate Santos was ruled two on review and the Tar Heels escaped with the win.

Santos led six Flyers in double figures with 15 points. Amaël L’Etang added 13 points in 12 minutes of action. Malachi Smith added 12 points, Enoch cheeks and Nice Alexander each had 11 and Zed key got 10 points. Alexander had six assists.

UD’s record at Valley Isle is now 9-4. The Flyers won the Maui Invitational Championship in 2003. The tournament returns to the Lahaina Civic Center after playing the 2023 tournament in Honolulu following the tragic wildfires that devastated the area in August 2023.

The Iowa State 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 was fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting and 10th in rebounds in 2023-24.
• 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, was the 2023-2024 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.
• Enoch cheeks leads the A-10 and is seventh nationally in steals per match (3.0).
• Malachi Smith is sixth in assists (5.0) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.3).
• As a team, Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.88).
• 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 64 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.
• 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
• Dayton’s third game in Lahaina will be against Colorado or UConn.
• Dayton’s next home game is against Western Michigan on Tuesday, Dec. 3.