By Cord Rankin
GAME NOTES
https://daytonflyers.com/documents/2024/11/27/UConn.pdf
LAHAINA, Maui — The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will play three consecutive games against teams ranked in the AP Top 12 for the first time in 74 years when the Flyers play UConn in their last 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 Top 12 teams in a row was at 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 to go, but Iowa State made eight straight free throws to turn away 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 on the Valley Isle is now 9-5. The Flyers won Maui Invitational Championship in 2003. The tournament is returning 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 at 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-pt. FG% (.418, 51-122). Santos was fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting, and 10th in rebounding in 2023-24.
• Posh Alexander was named 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 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. He was 16th in the nation in steals per game. 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 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, R.I. native was the 2023-24 winner of UD’s Steve McElvene Award. Cheeks was consistently assigned the opponents’ top perimeter player on defense. In the 25 games (out of 33) where the Flyer foe’s top player was a guard or wing, that player was held under his average 17 times. He started in all 33 games and averaged 8.1 points per game (9.5 in A-10 play).
• 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 Conference), redshirt junior Malachi Smith (Atlantic 10) and fifth-year senior Posh Alexander (Big East).
• Amaël L’Etang was named the A-10 Rookie of the Week on Nov. 25.
• Enoch Cheeks is third in the A-10 in steals per game (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 a capacity crowd of 13,407 fans a game in 2023-24. Of schools in the top 25 in attendance, only Kansas, Purdue, Michigan State and UConn also sold out every game of the season.
• Dayton has already announced it has sold out every game for the upcoming 2024-25 season, including both exhibition games that have already been played. This will be the fourth consecutive year UD has sold out every home game. That streak is now 64 games.
• This is also the 55th anniversary season of UD Arena. The Arena underwent a $76.2 million transformation project that was completed in time for the 2019-20 season.
• The Flyers are wearing “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. A member of the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame, he 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 7 p.m. ET.
COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS
