Dayton will open season against OVC opponent for second straight year

Here are 10 things to know about the schedule:

1. Exhibition games: Dayton fans will get their first glimpse of the Flyers against outside competition on Oct. 22 when the Flyers and Ohio State Buckeyes play a charity exhibition game at UD Arena.

Dayton will play another exhibition game six days later on Oct. 28 against Cedarville University. Dayton beat Cedarville 94-60 in an exhibition game before the 2021-22 season. It beat the Division II Yellow Jackets 93-60 in another exhibition game before the 2019-20 season.

2. OVC again: Dayton beat an Ohio Valley Conference team, Lindenwood, 73-46 in its season opener last season. SIUE also plays in the OVC. It finished 19-14 last season and 9-9 in the OVC. It was its first winning season since moving to Division I in the 2008-09 season.

3. New opponents: Dayton will play SIUE for the first time. Another first-time opponent is Oakland University, which will visit UD Arena on Dec. 20. Oakland was 13-19 last season and 11-9 in the Horizon League.

Dayton also will play Longwood University for the first time. It visits UD Arena on Dec. 30. Longwood was 20-12 last season and finished third in the Big South Conference with a 12-6 mark.

4. Dates revealed: While UD fans knew the Flyers would play Southern Methodist and UNLV this season in the second game of two-game series, the dates weren’t known until Tuesday.

Dayton will play SMU in Dallas on Nov. 29. The Flyers beat the Mustangs 74-62 at UD Arena in the second game of last season. SMU was 10-22 last season and 5-13 in the American Athletic Conference.

UNLV will play at UD Arena on Dec. 6. In the third game last season, Dayton lost 60-52 at UNLV, which finished 19-13 and 7-11 in the Mountain West Conference.

5. Road games: Dayton will play two true road games. In addition to the game at SMU, it plays at Northwestern on Nov. 10 in the second game of the season. That’s the start of a two-game series. Northwestern will play at UD in the 2024-25 season.

6. Fourth visit: Another non-conference opponent is Grambling State, which visits UD Arena on Dec. 2.

Grambling is 0-3 at UD Arena with losses in 2005, 2006 and 2019. Dayton started a 20-game winning streak with an 81-53 victory against the Tigers on Dec. 23, 2019.

Grambling was 17-15 last season and 11-7 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

7. Second visit: Dayton will play Troy University on Dec. 9 at UD Arena. The teams have met once before, also in Dayton. The Flyers beat the Trojans 87-70 on Dec. 2, 2008.

Troy finished 20-13 last season and 11-7 in the Sun Belt Conference.

8. Ohio flavor: Dayton will play two Ohio colleges in non-conference action. It will face Youngstown State on Nov. 24 at UD Arena in the first game after the Charleston Classic (Nov. 16, 17 and 19) and Cincinnati on Dec. 16 at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati.

9. NET info: Dayton ranked 77th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool last season. Here’s how its non-conference opponents ranked: No. 37 Northwestern; No. 63 Cincinnati; No. 94 UNLV; No. 127 Youngstown State; No. 134 Troy; No. 164 Longwood; No. 186 Grambling; No. 209 SMU; No. 221 SIUE; and No. 276 Oakland.

10. UD Arena connection: Oakland, the alma mater of former UD coach Brian Gregory, played its first NCAA tournament game at UD Arena in 2005, beating Alabama A&M 79-69.

Dayton’s 2023-24 non-conference schedule

Date, Opponent, Time, Location

Sunday, Oct. 22, Ohio State (exhibition), TBA, UD Arena

Saturday, Oct. 28, Cedarville (Exh.), TBA, UD Arena

Monday, Nov. 6, SIUE, TBA, UD Arena

Friday, Nov. 10, Northwestern, TBA, Evanston, Ill.

Thursday, Nov. 16, TBD*, TBA, Charleston, S.C.

Friday, Nov. 17, TBD*, TBA, Charleston, S.C.

Sunday, Nov. 19, TBD*, TBA, Charleston, S.C.

Friday, Nov. 24, Youngstown State, TBA, UD Arena

Wednesday, Nov. 29, SMU, TBA, Dallas, Texas

Saturday, Dec. 2, Grambling State, TBA, UD Arena

Wednesday, Dec. 6, UNLV, TBA, UD Arena

Saturday, Dec. 9, Troy, TBA, UD Arena

Saturday, Dec. 16, Cincinnati, TBA, Cincinnati, Ohio

Wednesday, Dec. 20 Oakland, TBA, UD Arena

Saturday, Dec. 30, Longwood, TBA, UD Arena

* Shriner’s Children’s Hospitals Charleston Classic at TD Arena. Possible opponents: Houston; LSU; North Texas; St. John’s; Towson; Utah; and Wake Forest.

# Hoops Classic Presented by Altafiber (Heritage Bank Center).