Men’s basketball says “Aloha” to the Maui Invitational with Wednesday’s game vs. UConn

LAHAINA, Maui — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will play three straight games against teams ranked in the AP Top 12 for the first time in 74 years when the Flyers play UConn in their final game of the 2024 Maui Invitational.

UD lost by a total of seven points to 12th-ranked North Carolina (92-90) on Monday and fifth-ranked Iowa State (89-84) on Tuesday, and will play No. 2 UConn in the tournament’s seventh-place game.

The only other time Dayton has played three straight Top 12 teams was in the 1951 NIT against No. 12 Arizona, no. 9 St. John’s and no. 11 Brigham Young.

The game was tied 81-81 with 1:20 left, but Iowa State made eight straight free throws to deny Dayton’s upset bid. Malachi Smith led the Flyers with a career-high 22 points with nine assists. Enoch cheeks added 16 points, Zed key had 15 and Nate Santos 12.

UD is 5-2 on the year while UConn is 4-2.

UD’s record at Valley Isle is now 9-5. 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 UConn game will be broadcast by WHIO Radio, televised on ESPN2 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 is third in the A-10 in steals per games (2.5).
• Malachi Smith is fourth in assists (5.6) and fifth in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.3).
• As a team, Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.83).
• 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 next game is at home at UD Arena against Western Michigan on Tuesday, Dec. 3.
• Game time is at 19 A.M.