By Bane Rossi
Saturday’s Game Tips At 2 P.M. ET
12/1/2023
DAYTON FLYERS GAME NOTES
https://daytonflyers.com/documents/2023/12/1/GSU_Game.pdf
DAYTON —The University of Dayton men’s basketball team returns to UD Arena on Saturday. Grambling State comes to town. Game time is 2 p.m. ET. This is the first of three home games in eight days for the Flyers.
Saturday’s game will be carried by WHIO Radio, televised on Ballys Sports Ohio and streamed on ESPN+. Streaming audio, video and live stats is available at DaytonFlyers.com.
Dayton, 5-2, got a tough 65-63 win at SMU on Wednesday. He shot six of eight from beyond the arc. Koby Brea scored a career-high 22 points off the bench, including seven of Dayton’s last eight points. DaRon Holmes II added 20 points, seven rebounds, six assists and three blocked shots. Dayton was fouled a total of 11 times, and Holmes drew eight of them.
#TRENDING
• Dayton is the preseason favorite in the Atlantic 10 in the annual vote of the league’s coaches and selected media. The Flyers received 20 of the 25 first-place votes cast.
• DaRon Holmes II was named Preseason First Team All-Atlantic 10 and to the Preseason All-Defensive Team. He was the only player on the first team and the defensive team.
• Last season, he was also First Team All-A-10 and on the All-Defensive Team as well the Most Outstanding Player of the 2023 Men’s Basketball Championship (21.7 ppg., 10.1 rpg., 4.0 bpg.).
• Holmes is on three prestigious preseason watch lists — Atlanta Tip-Off Club’s Naismith Award, the Los Angeles Athletic Club’s John R. Wooden Award and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Karl Malone Award.
• Holmes led UD in scoring (18.4), and was second in rebounding (8.1) in 2022-23 He was the only player in the A-10 to be in the top five in both. He also led the A-10 in blocked shots (1.94).
• Holmes had the most dunks in D-I in the regular season (89) in 2022-23. He led all freshmen and was sixth overall with 81 in 2021-22. UD’s first bucket of the year was a Holmes dunk.
• Nate Santos was named to the Charleston Classic All-Tournament Team. UD finished second in Charleston. He was also named Atlantic 10 Co-Player of the Week on Nov. 20.
• Santos is third in the A-10 in 3-pt. FG% (.588, 10-17). He is also fourth in the A-10 in rebounding (7.9).
• Kobe Elvis is second in the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.4) and fifth in assists per game (also 4.4).
• Malachi Smith was injured seven minutes into the opener, and after successful surgery on a torn lateral meniscus in his right knee on Nov. 8, he will miss the rest of the 2023-24 season.
• Dayton’s second-place finish at the Shriners Children’s Hospitals Charleston Classic was the third time in the last four MTEs that Dayton has played in that the Flyers reached the championship game (and 25th in school history). UD was second in the 2019 Maui Jim Maui Invitational, and won the 2021 ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
UP NEXT
• The Flyers play UNLV at home on Wednesday, Dec. 6. Game time is 9 p.m. ET.
• UD then will host Troy on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 12:30 p.m. ET.
COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS
