Dayton vs. Southern: What to know about tonight’s game

Teams meet for the first time since 1997

Who: Dayton (7-5) vs. Southern University (6-6)

Where: UD Arena.

When: 7 p.m.

TV/Radio: Spectrum News 1/95.7 and 1290 WHIO.

Series: Southern leads 3-2. All five games have been played at UD Arena. Dayton won the last meeting 91-56 on Jan. 27, 1997.

Last game: On Saturday, Dayton lost 76-68 at Mississippi. On Sunday, Southern won 78-76 at Kent State.

Coaches: Anthony Grant is 85-46 in five season at Dayton. Sean Woods is 38-57 in four seasons. Woods, who played at Kentucky from 1989-92, was previously the head coach at Mississippi Valley State and Morehead State.

Probable Dayton starters

Name, Ht., Class, Pos., Points per game

DaRon Holmes II, 6-10, Fr., F, 10.4

Toumani Camara, 6-8, So., F, 10.2

Malachi Smith, 6-0, Fr., G, 10.1

Kobe Elvis, 6-2, Fr., G, 5.8

R.J. Blakney, 6-6, R-Fr., G, 6.5

Probable Southern starters

Tyrone Lyons, 6-7, Jr., G/F, 14.8

Jayden Saddler, 6-1, Sr., G, 10.8

Terrell Williams, 6-6, So., F, 9.3

Damien Sears. 6-7, Sr., F/C, 5.2

Brendon Brooks, 5-10, Sr., G, 2.8

About Dayton: KenPom.com gives Dayton a 91 percent chance of winning this game and predicts a 76-61 score. ... Dayton ranks 15th in the country in 2-point field-goal percentage (56.6) and 219th in 3-point field-goal percentage (32.2). ... Dayton ranks 102nd in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Southern ranks 235th. In the Ken Pomeroy ratings, Dayton is 95th, and Southern is 276th.

About Southern: Saddler played at Mount Zion Prep Academy, where former Dayton star Obi Toppin spent a post-graduate year before enrolling at UD. ... P.J. Byrd, who has started eight games, played in all 32 games for VCU as a freshman in the 2018-19 season before playing the last two seasons at Colorado State. ... Southern was picked to finish fifth out of 12 teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll. The Jaguars finished 8-11 last season and have had one winning season in the last five years. They last played in the NCAA tournament in 2016 when they lost to Holy Cross in the First Four at UD Arena.

Looking ahead: Dayton plays Rhode Island (8-3) in its Atlantic 10 Conference opener at 7 p.m. Dec. 30 in Kingston, R.I. That’s the first of 18 A-10 games. Rhode Island cancelled its game Sunday against College of Charleston because of multiple COVID-19 positive tests on its roster. As of Monday morning, it had not announced the status of its next game against Brown on Wednesday.

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