DAYTON – The University of Dayton Flyers will close out the regular season with a pair of road games, beginning Wednesday at Saint Joseph’s. Game time is 6 p.m. ET.
Dayton is 12-7, and 8-6 in the Atlantic 10 after Friday’s 76-53 Senior Day win over Saint Louis. UD’s five seniors accounted for 50 of the Flyer points, led by Jalen Crutcher’s 19 and Ibi Watson’s 14. Mustapha Amzil added 10 points.
The game will carried by WHIO Radio and streamed on ESPN+. Streaming audio, video and stats will be available at DaytonFlyers.com.
#TRENDING
• 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 (15.7) and minutes (38.4), and percentage-wise, is nearly a 50-40-80 guy. He shoots 46% FG, 42% from 3-pt. and 78% from the line.
• Rodney Chatman returned to action at Rhode Island, after missing 11 games with a torn tendon in his right hand. He started in the SLU win, getting nine points and five assists.
• Zimi Nwokeji’s 29-point outburst at Rhode Island was the second-most in UD history, and the most in more than 25 years. (Shawn Haughn had 30 vs. SLU on 2/13/94).
•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 first 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 9.1 rebounds in his last 11 contests.
• Dayton’s 12-7 record includes four losses by two points or less.
UP NEXT
• UD concludes the regular season at St. Bonaventure on Monday, March 1. Game time is TBD.
• The Atlantic 10 tournament will play its preliminary rounds March 3-6 in Richmond, Va., with the A-10 championship game on Sunday, March 14 at the University of Dayton Arena.
COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS
