Dayton Men’s Basketball News: Flyers are the favorite to win conference; Atlantic 10 Season Begins At Davidson Tonight

By Marisol Nicholson

GAME NOTES FOR DAVIDSON GAME

https://daytonflyers.com/documents/2024/1/1/Davidson_Game.pdf

 

DAYTON — The  University of Dayton men’s basketball team will begin its 28th season in the Atlantic 10 Conference Wednesday when the Flyers visit Davidson.  Game time is 7 p.m. ET.

Wednesday’s game will be carried by WHIO Radio, televised by the CBS Sports Network and streamed at CBSSports.com.  Streaming audio, video and live stats is available at DaytonFlyers.com.

Dayton, 10-2, earned a hard-fought 78-69 win over Longwood behind a stat-sheet-filling effort by DaRon Holmes II.  Holmes had 27 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocked shots.  Koby Brea and Kobe Elvis each had 12 points, and Javon Bennett added 11.  Elvis and Bennett each also had four assists.

 #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 is now the Dayton career record holder for blocked shots (175) and dunks (197).
• He is the only player in D-I who has at least 25 blocks, 25 dunks and 25 assists.  Holmes has 28, 26 and 33 respectively.   He also has 10 threes and is shooting .435 (10-23) from deep.
• 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 needed 10 games to match what he scored in two years at Pitt (116 points in 54 G).
• Koby Brea leads the nation in 3-pt. FG% (min. 2.5 per game.).  Brea is shooting .508 (38-75).
• Santos and Brea are currently 1-2 in the A-10 in 3-pt. FG% (min. 1.5 made per game).  Santos is shooting .526 (20-38).
• Brea is fourth at UD in career 3-pt. FG% (.415, 162-390).  Negele Knight is third (.425).
• Kobe Elvis was named the A-10 Co-Player of the Week after scoring 27 points in the UC win.  He was 14-for-14 from the line in that game, the third-best single-game performance at UD.
• Elvis is second nationally in FT% (.971, 34-35).  He also leads the A-10 in A/T ratio  (3.5)
• 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.

UP NEXT
• Dayton is back home against UMass on Sunday, Jan. 7.  Game time is 1 p.m. ET.
• Sunday’s game will be televised on ESPN2.

 

COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS