Where: UD Arena.
Note to fans: With the city of Dayton’s rescinding of the mask mandate, UD also is no longer mandating masks. Signs on the doors at the arena will say, “Masks are strongly recommended.”
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
TV: Spectrum News and ESPN+/1290.
Radio: 1290 and 95.7 WHIO.
Series: Dayton leads 2-0. It beat the Flames 64-57 on Dec. 23, 2011, and 75-41 on Nov. 29, 2014. Both games took place at UD Arena. Dayton is 52-36 against the Horizon League. It beat Northern Kentucky 66-60 last season.
Coaches: Anthony Grant, entering his fifth season, is 78-41 at Dayton. Luke Yaklich, entering his second season with the Flames, coached them to a 9-13 record last season. He was previously an associate head coach under Shaka Smart at Texas and also worked on John Beilein’s staff at Michigan
Probable Dayton starters
Name, Ht., Class, Pos.
R.J. Blakney, 6-6, R-Fr., G
Koby Brea, 6-6, R-Fr., G
Kobe Elvis, 6-2, Fr., G
Toumani Camara, 6-8, So., F
DaRon Holmes II, 6-10, Fr., F
Probable UIC starters
Kevin Johnson, 6-0, Gr., G
Damaria Franklin, 6-3, Sr., G
Jamie Ahale, 6-5, Gr., G
Michael Diggins, 6-8, Gr., F
Jace Carter, 6-5, Fr., G
About Dayton: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 93 percent chance of winning this game and predicts a 78-62 score. The website makes Dayton a big favorite in all eight of his non-conference home games. Its lowest probability comes against Lipscomb. It has an 89 percent chance of winning that game on Nov. 17. ... Dayton has won 16 straight season openers since losing 73-66 to Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 21, 2004. ... Zimi Nwokeji was the only scholarship player who did not play in Dayton’s 94-60 exhibition victory against Cedarville on Nov. 1. Grant said he missed the game with an upper body injury. As of Thursday, he had not returned to practice.
About UIC: The Flames were picked to finish eighth out of 12 teams in the Horizon League preseason poll. ... Johnson spent the last four seasons at Nicholls State. He averaged 11.3 points per game last season. ... Franklin is a transfer from Tennessee Tech. He averaged 13.3 points last season. He’s one of three players on the roster from Chicago. ... Diggins is the team’s top returning scorer. He averaged 10.8 points last season. ... One of Yaklich’s assistant coaches is Dee Brown, who was the Sporting News National Player of the Year in 2005, his junior season at Illinois. ... Henry Stark, who spent four seasons as a student manager at Dayton, is the director of operations at UIC. He was a graduate manager last season.
Looking ahead: This is the first of four non-conference home games for Dayton before it travels to Orlando, Fla., for the ESPN Events Invitational in the last week of November. The Flyers play UMass-Lowell at 6 p.m. Saturday.
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