53 Reasons: The home winning streak

Follow the blog between now and the season opener against Southeast Missouri State on Nov. 13. I will have four to five updates per week.

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NOTE TO READERS: I want to salute the fans at some point in this series. Here's my idea: Email me a photo of your favorite piece of UD memorabilia (david.jablonski@coxinc.com). It could be a ticket stub, a T-shirt, a poster, a newspaper page, a photo of you at a game, etc. And write a paragraph or two or more about the story behind it: where you got it, what it means to you, why it's special, etc. Also tell me how long you've been a fan, how and why you started rooting for the Flyers. I will include the story and the text in a blog entry. The best photo and entry wins an 8x10 print of Vee Sanford's shot against OSU or Jordan Sibert's shot against Boise. Your choice.

No. 40: The home winning streak

The Flyers have not lost at UD Arena since Archie Miller was coaching this team when he was 15 and getting rides to games from his dad.

Sorry to exaggerate, but Archie was pretty young when he got this job (he still is) and it has been a while since the Flyers lost at home.

Dayton enters the 2015-16 season with a 22-game winning streak at UD Arena. That counts the last five games of the 2013-14 season, 16 regular-season games last season and the victory over Boise State in the First Four. It's the seventh-longest active streak in Division I.

Dayton hasn't lost at home since Langston Galloway banked in a 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to give St. Joseph's a 60-57 victory on Jan. 29, 2014. The Flyers were 13-8 after that loss. They're 40-12 since.

The 22-game home winning streak is the second longest in school history. The Flyers won 21 straight from 1959-1961. They won 30 straight from March 8, 2008, to Jan. 26, 2010.

If Dayton wins all its non-conference home games this season, it would tie the 30-win mark against Arkansas on Dec. 30. It would then have a chance to break the record in its A-10 home opener against Massachusetts on Jan. 6.

In the 22 home games before this streak began, the Flyers were 16-6. They lost their last three home games in that stretch to Saint Louis, VCU and St. Joseph's.

The fans help the Flyers win. The winning makes the fans come. OK, UD fans come no matter what, but I think they raised the decibel level last season in part because everyone loved the Dayton Seven.

“When we’ve been at home, we’ve given them reason to cheer," Archie Miller said in February. "They’ve played extremely hard. One of the reasons they do that is because of the environment in there. This year, more than any year I’ve been here, the environment has been top notch. It’s by far the best venue in the league."

Here are some other fun facts about the winning streak: