Here’s what I wrote:
The Dayton Flyers are used to the spotlight — in a figurative sense at least.
Running out onto the floor under an actual spotlight in front of 12,265 fans, as the starters did Saturday, that’s something they’ll have to get used to.
“It kind of surprised me when the lights shut off,” senior center Josh Benson said. “We didn’t know it was coming. We just had our mind set on playing a good game.”
The new pre-game introductions may have surprised the Flyers, but Arkansas State did not. Dayton led 34-27 at halftime, stretched its lead to 15 in the opening minutes of the second half and cruised to a victory in the season opener at UD Arena.
***
Dayton does not run onto the court under a spotlight these days. It took the court Monday for the 2025-26 opener against Canisius in the typical way, following the cheerleaders and Rudy Flyer out of the tunnel as “Get Ready for This” by 2 Unlimited plays.
Javon Bennett, who has played in more games for the Flyers than any other current player, was at the front of the line of players who ran onto the court for the first of 31 regular-season games.
Dayton played as well as I’ve seen it play in the last 14 openers, winning 88-48, but it also played what could turn out to be the worst opponent it has seen in an opener in recent memory.
Canisius ranks 351st out of 365 Division I teams in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. It is the fourth opening opponent in the last six seasons that has ranked below 300, and it is the lowest-ranked of those opponents.
Coach Jim Christian, who won 20 or more games in all eight seasons he coached in the Mid-American Conference (six at Kent State, two at Ohio), is now 3-29 in two seasons at Canisius.
“I think we walked out disappointed,” Christian said in a postgame interview shared on social media by Canisius, “and we wanted to play a little more physical game. We wanted to play better defense. We’ve been such a better team in practice and were a better team in our first two scrimmages. I think we just got caught up in the moment today.”
Canisius lost to two Atlantic 10 Conference teams in Christian’s first season: 87-78 at home to St. Bonaventure; and 72-60 at Loyola Chicago. Canisius plays the Bonnies, who are located 74 miles south of the Canisius campus in Buffalo, N.Y., every year.
This was far from the worst loss of the last two seasons for Canisius, however. It lost 108-37 at Maryland last season.
Dayton put the game away with a 51-point first half, which followed a 63-point second half in an exhibition game against Bowling Green nine days earlier.
“They just kind of wore us down, Christian said. ”In the first half, we only had six turnovers, and in the second half, we had 13 turnovers — a lot of them unforced. They were trapping us. We were just making bad decisions with the basketball."
Promising debut for Rutgers transfer
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Kyler Ludlow, the new Doug Hauschild at Dayton, showed up to the opener with a protective boot on his foot. I kidded him that I was going to post something on X about “important breaking injury news regarding the Flyers,” but I couldn’t tease the fans like that. They’ve been through enough injury news over the years.
Ludlow, an assistant director of athletics communication, is the primary media contact for the men’s basketball program. He took over when Hauschild retired earlier this year after 42 years in the position.
While Ludlow was battling an injury, the Flyers got a bit healthier as Rutgers transfer Jordan Derkack returned to the court after missing two exhibition games with an unspecified injury. He showed off his playmaking ability soon after entering the game, intercepting a long pass by Canisius, leading the fast break and throwing a lob to Bryce Heard for a layup.
On the next play, Derkack did it again. He stole a bounce pass near the basket by Canisus, took the ball the other way and passed to Amaël L’Etang, who scored on a layup.
Dayton fans witnessed what Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell saw when he recruited Derkack, who entered the transfer portal for the first time in 2024 after two seasons at Merrimack.
“He’s another guy who has really good size and has great hands,” Pikiell told the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook before the 2024-25 season. “He gets his hands on a lot of balls, and he’s a really good defender. Just creative and crafty and he’ll probably be our leader in steals just because he anticipates and has a really good feel for it.”
Derkack did not lead Rutgers in steals (0.7 per game), but he’s second in steals through one game for Dayton. He had three against Canisius, while Georgia transfer De’Shayne Montgomery recorded six in his first game as a Flyer.
Derkack also had four assists in the first half. He played point guard when the starting point guard, Javon Bennett, was on the bench. Two years ago, Derkack tied for the team lead in assists per game (3.9) in his final season at Merrimack.
“He’s a versatile guy,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said. “You can play him in a variety of different roles, and we plan to do that.”
Big game next week for Dayton
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Dayton plays another team it should beat with ease, Maryland, Baltimore County, at 2 p.m. Saturday. The Flyers have won 27 straight non-conference home games since a three-game losing streak to UMass Lowell, Lipscomb and Austin Peay in November 2021.
Three days later, though, the schedule turns challenging. Dayton plays at Cincinnati at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Flyers and Bearcats split games the last two seasons at the Heritage Bank Center in downtown Cincinnati. Now they’ll play two games on campus — first at UC’s Fifth Third Arena.
This will be a homecoming of sorts for me. My dad Jeff is a 1975 UC graduate, and we had season tickets during the glory years of the Bob Huggins era in the 1990s.
We attended a couple of games during the Tony Yates years in the late 1980s but didn’t consistently attend games until the 1991-92 season when the Bearcats made the Final Four. The season after that when they made the Elite Eight, we had season tickets for the first time.
The moments that stand out for me at Fifth Third Arena were:
• Nick Van Exel’s buzzer beater to beat UAB 40-38 in 1993 in the famous slow-down game by UAB coach Gene Bartow.
• Lenny Brown’s buzzer beater for Xavier to beat No. 1 Cincinnati 71-69 in 1996.
• UC freshman Dontonio Wingfield’s 30-point performance in his college debut against Butler in 1993.
We were such big fans in those days that the day after that performance by Wingfield, we drove to Chapel Hill, N.C., to see UC play the Tar Heels in what was the second game for another pair of standout freshmen: Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.
I haven’t been to Fifth Third Arena since covering a Wright State game there in 2012. I’m not sure when my dad last saw a game there, but he’s going with me Tuesday. I bought him a $20 ticket on StubHub.com.
Cincinnati beat Dayton 66-59 last season. Day Day Thomas is the only UC player who played against Dayton last year who is still on the UC roster in the 2025-26 season. UC beat Western Carolina 94-63 in its opener Monday.
Fast Break
Here’s other news that might interest Flyer fans:
🏀 Cameron Holmes, the youngest brother of former Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II, will announce his college decision Sunday. Cameron will choose between Arizona, Dayton and North Carolina.
Dayton offered a scholarship to Cameron three years ago during his freshman season, but it surprised many people — myself included — when he put Dayton in his final three because he talked about the recruiting process several times this year with national recruiting analysts and didn’t mention Dayton.
DaRon made a pitch to Dayton fans to try to get his brother to choose the Flyers. That made it seem Dayton has a real chance to land Cameron, but it would still be a shock if the Flyers land him. He would be the highest-ranked recruit in UD history. He’s ranked No. 33 in the 2026 class by On3.com. DaRon was No. 49.
🏀 Former Flyer Brian Roberts interviewed Dayton coach Anthony Grant for his podcast, the Frequent Flyer, which is available on YouTube.
🏀 I saw the name Petras Padegimas mentioned on X by a Dayton fan this week. The fan wondered why he didn’t play in the season opener for Mercer.
I hadn’t thought about Padegimas, who played his freshman season at Dayton in 2023-24, in a while, so I looked into it. In the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, I learned Padegimas has torn his ACL twice since leaving Dayton. He missed all of last season with the first team, and he is sidelined at the start of this season. His coach said in the Blue Ribbon preview that he could return in January.
🏀 Alter graduate RJ Greer, the son of Dayton associate head coach Ricardo Greer, scored 13 points in 15 minutes in his college debut for Davidson on Monday. The Wildcats beat Division III DeSales University 87-63.
🏀 After two seasons at Dayton, Isaac Jack is playing his final season at Pacific. He started the opener Wednesday against Life Pacific and had four points and six rebounds in 15 minutes in an 83-56 victory.
🏀 Another former Flyer, Mike Sharavjamts, is playing for his fourth team in four years. He started for South Carolina and had four points, five rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes in a 91-72 victory.
🏀 What do you want to know about the Flyers?
I want to hear from you. Reach out to me directly at david.jablonski@coxinc.com with your questions and feedback on the team or this newsletter.
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