Dayton Men’s Basketball Hosts VCU Tuesday At 5 P.M. ET

Pop-up Game Replaces Scheduled Contests For Both Teams Pushed Aside By Covid Protocols

DAYTON – The University of Dayton Flyers will return to Blackburn Court on Tuesday when VCU visits UD Arena.  Game time is 7 p.m. ET.   It will be UD’s second straight game with a “surprise” opponent for the Flyers, due to regularly scheduled opponents being subject to Covid protocols.

Dayton is 11-5, and 7-4 in the Atlantic 10 after Friday’s 74-65 win over George Mason. UD’s starting backcourt of Jalen Crutcher (21), Ibi Watson (20) and Elijah Weaver (13) combined for 54 of the 74 points.  Mustapha Amzil had 10 points, while Jordy Tshimanga had 14 rebounds.

The game will carried by WHIO Radio, televised by the CBS Sports Network and streamed on the CBS Sports App.  Streaming audio, video and stats will be available at DaytonFlyers.com.

#TRENDING

• UD made a small bit of history on Friday, defeating an opponent twice in the same season by the same score (74-65 over George Mason on Jan. 2 and Feb. 5).

• Moving into a bigger role this year, Jalen Crutcher got the kind of attention during the preseason that he is getting from opponents during the season.  He was on the Naismith, Wooden, NABC and Bob Cousy Award Watch Lists, as well as the Lute Olson mid-season list.

• Crutcher, a four-year starter, was ranked the 12th-best player in the country by ESPN, 16th in CBSSports.com’s top college basketball players.  The Athletic rated him sixth among its top 20 guards in the country.  He was also named Second Team Preseason All-America by Stadium. 

• Keep in mind that Crutcher was UD’s co-MVP last season, with consensus national PoY Obi Toppin. Crutcher is the first Flyer with 1,200 career points, 500 assists and 200 three-pointers.

• Crutcher lived up to his nickname of “Clutcher” in Dayton’s first six wins, scoring UD’s final points in the last seconds of regulation or overtime at the line. At Saint Louis, he scored 13 in the first half, was shut out for the first 15:59 of the second half, and then after Saint Louis tied the game, he scored 14 points in the final 4:01 to pave the way to a five-point road win.

• Ibi Watson is second on the team in scoring (15.5) and minutes (38.7), and percentage-wise, is nearly a 50-40-80 guy.  He shoots 45% FG, 41% from 3-pt. and 82% from the line.

•If a “true freshman” is a player who signed the previous year and is playing without redshirting, can you call a player who signed in November and scores 22 points in December start a “truer freshman?” We call him Mustapha Amzil, and the 22 points he scored in first college game were the most at UD in 14 years.  He then had 15 vs. GMU (with 6 reb & 4 asst).

• Amzil was A-10 Rookie of the Week exactly 50 days after he signed with UD on Nov. 16.

• He was named A-10 Rookie for the third time (the only multiple RotW this year) on Feb. 8.

• Jordy Tshimanga pulled down 16 rebounds at Fordham, the most by a Flyer in three years.   He is averaging 8.9 rebounds in his last nine contests.  He has reached double digits in some way in the last 4 of the last 5 games:  10 points at VCU, 10 rebounds at SLU, 11 points vs. URI and 14 rebounds vs. George Mason.

• In eight games as a starter, Elijah Weaver has 56 points, 36 assists and 18 turnovers.

• Coach Anthony Grant was the consensus national coach of the year in 2019-20. 

UP NEXT

• The Flyers are back home on Saturday, Feb. 13 against St. Joe’s.  Game time is 2 p.m. ET.

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS