Dayton Men’s Basketball Back Home to Host George Mason For Second Time This Season

Flyers & Patriots Square Off To Replace Richmond On The Schedule

DAYTON — The University of Dayton Flyers will return to Blackburn Court on Friday, when George Mason visits UD Arena.  Game time is 7 p.m. ET.  

Dayton is 10-5, and 6-4 in the Atlantic 10 after a 69-64 loss at Duquesne on Tuesday.  Jalen Crutcher led the Flyers with 28 points, six assists and three steals, while Mustapha Amzil and R.J. Blakney each added 11.  Amzil also had 11 rebounds for his first career double-double. 

The game will carried by WHIO Radio, televised on ESPN2 and streamed on the ESPN App.  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 (15.2) and minutes (38.6), and percentage-wise, is nearly a 50-40-80 guy.  He shoots 45% FG, 40% from 3-pt. and 85% 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.

• After playing a total of 18 minutes with no points or rebounds in his first four games of the year, redshirt freshman Zimi Nwokeji has averaged 21.0 minutes, 6.9 points and 2.7 rebounds in the last nine games.  His second-half dunk at GW was No. 5 on SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.

• Jordy Tshimanga pulled down 16 rebounds at Fordham, the most by a Flyer in three years.   He is averaging 8.3 rebounds in his last eight contests.  He has reached double digits in some way in the last 3 of the last 4 games:  10 points at VCU, 10 rebounds at SLU, 11 points vs. URI.

• In seven games as a starter, Elijah Weaver has 43 points, 32 assists and 15 turnovers.

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

UP NEXT

• Dayton will play at UMass on Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 7 p.m. ET. 

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

GAME PREVIEW COURTESY DAYTON MEDIA RELATIONS