Dayton basketball: Flyers will play Memphis next season, according to report

It’s the fourth known game on 2026-27 schedule
Memphis guard Landers Nolley II (3) drives on Dayton guard Ibi Watson (2) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the NIT Tournament, Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Denton, Texas. Memphis won 71-60. (AP Photo/Matt Strasen) 2021 Dayton NIT.jpg

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Memphis guard Landers Nolley II (3) drives on Dayton guard Ibi Watson (2) in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the first round of the NIT Tournament, Saturday, March 20, 2021, in Denton, Texas. Memphis won 71-60. (AP Photo/Matt Strasen) 2021 Dayton NIT.jpg

The Dayton Flyers will play Memphis in the 2026-27 season, according to a report Tuesday by Matt Norlander, of CBS Sports.

The game will be played at a neutral site that has not yet been selected, Norlander reported, and it will be part of a Atlantic 10 Conference vs. American Conference doubleheader. Saint Louis will play South Florida in the other game.

The scheduling partnership will also include games in the 2027-28 season, Norlander reported, but those matchups have not been decided. There will be two games in the 2026-27 season and maybe more in the 2027-28 season.

Dayton and Memphis have played once. In the 2021 National Invitation Championship, Memphis beat Dayton 71-60 in the first round at UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas.

Memphis is 13-18 this season after seven straight 20-win seasons under coach Anfernee Hardaway. This will be the program’s first losing season since 1999-2000. It finished 29-6 last season and reached the NCAA tournament for the third time in four seasons.

Dayton is 3-5 against the American Conference. It last played an American Conference team in the first round of the 2025 NIT, beating Florida Atlantic 86-79 in Boca Raton, Fla.

Dayton also split a four-game series with Southern Methodist from 2020-23.

In Dayton’s two other games against the American, it lost 72-67 to Tulsa in December 2018 at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Ct., and it lost 75-64 to Connecticut in November 2014 at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

The A-10 series with the American is the first of its kind since the A-10 announced a scheduling partnership with the Mountain West Conference in December 2018. That would have included a game between Dayton and Nevada on Dec. 6, 2020.

In Sept. 2020, however, the A-10 series with the Mountain West was postponed until the 2020-21 season because of the pandemic. The agreement then fell apart. The games never took place.

A-10 Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade, who’s retiring after this academic year, talked about scheduling partnerships at A-10 Media Day in October. She discussed getting together with multiple conferences with four teams from each conference playing. She said it’s important to get creative.

“We have to have strong non-conference schedules,” McGlade said, “and you have to win those games. You have to get them on your schedules to start with.”

Memphis is the fourth known opponent on Dayton’s 2026-27 non-conference schedule. There has been no announcement about whether Dayton will play in a November tournament as it has on an annual basis, except for the 2020-21 season, for many years.

At least three other games are known, though the dates have not been announced.

• Cincinnati will play at Dayton. It will be the fourth matchup in four seasons for the Bearcats and Flyers and the first at UD Arena.

• Dayton will play at Florida State on a date to be announced. The Flyers beat the Seminoles 97-69 in December at UD Arena.

• Dayton will also play a game at Liberty, which beat Dayton 64-61 at UD Arena in December.

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