Where: Mullins Center, Amherst, Mass.
TV/Radio: NBC Sports Network; 1290 and 95.7 WHIO
ARCHDEACON: Inside the Dayton-Rhode Island showdown
Probable Dayton starters
Obi Toppin, 6-9, R-So., F, 19.7
Jalen Crutcher, 6-1, Jr., G, 14.7
Trey Landers, 6-5, Sr., G, 11.0
Ryan Mikesell, 6-7, R-Sr., F, 9.2
Rodney Chatman, 6-1, R-Jr., G, 7.9
Probable UMass starters
Tre Mitchell, 6-9, Fr., C, 16.2
Carl Pierre, 6-4, Jr., G, 13.1
Sean East, 6-3, Fr., G, 9.6
Sambo Diallo, 6-7, So., F, 6.8
Preston Santos, 6-6, Fr., G/F, 4.3
» TOP GUARDS: Crutcher outshines Fatts Russell
Last game: Dayton beat Rhode Island 81-67 on Tuesday. UMass beat George Mason 69-67 on Sunday at the Mullins Center.
Series history: Dayton leads 15-14. Dayton won the first matchup this season, 88-60 at UD Arena on Jan. 11. UMass swept two games in the 2017-18 season. Dayton swept two games last season, winning 72-67 at UD Arena and 72-48 at UMass.
Coaches: Anthony Grant is 57-31 in his third season at Dayton. Matt McCall is 34-55 in his third season at UMass.
About Dayton: Dayton has a 92 percent chance of winning this game, according to KenPom.com, which predicts a 83-67 score. … Dayton has won 13 games in a row. It's the first 13-game winning streak for the program since it won 13 straight in the 2007-08 season. The 22-2 record is Dayton's best through 24 games since 1957-58. That team was also 22-2 and reached 23-2 before losing its third game. … Jalen Crutcher moved into 42nd place on the Dayton career scoring list Tuesday. He has 1,057 points. … Toppin recorded his seventh double-double of the season Tuesday with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Landers had a career-high 14 rebounds and 10 points. It was his second double-double. …
About UMass: The Minutemen rank 13th out of 14 teams in the A-10 in scoring defense (72.9 points per game). Dayton leads the conference in points per game (81.6). … UMass ranks 174th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Dayton is fifth. … Mitchell leads all A-10 freshmen in scoring. … Santos scored a season-high 17 points in the last game on 7-of-9 shooting. He blocked a layup attempt with 12 seconds left to help preserve the victory.
Looking ahead: Dayton plays at Virginia Commonwealth at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday (CBS Sports Network).
About the Author
