Dayton will play BYU or Miami in the championship game or consolation game at 7 p.m. or 9:30 p.m. Nov. 28.
The event will take place at the State Farm Field House, formerly known as the HP Field House, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. It’s located in Kissimmee, Fla., near Orlando and a short drive from Disney World.
Here’s what fans should know about the tournament:
Ticket info: Tickets are now on sale at Ticketmaster.com. According to a UD press release, ‘All tickets include two back-to-back games within the same bracket. New in 2025, all tickets will include reserved seat assignments. There will be no general admission tickets. Fans can select their seats using Ticketmaster’s interactive map."
History lesson: Dayton is 8-1 in three appearances at the Florida tournament, winning two championships and finishing runner-up.
Dayton last played in the ESPN Events Invitational in 2021, beating Miami, Kansas and Belmont to win the championship.
Dayton played in the same event in November 2015 when it was called the Advocare Invitational. It beat Iowa and Monmouth before losing to Xavier in the championship game.
Dayton also played at the same arena in 2011 when the event was called the Old Spice Classic. It beat Wake Forest, Fairfield and Minnesota to win the championship that year.
Dayton is 10-11 in seven November tournaments in coach Anthony Grant’s eight seasons. This will be the first four-team tournament Dayton has appeared in during Grant’s tenure.
Series history: Dayton has not played Georgetown since the 1984 NCAA tournament. The Hoyas won 61-49 at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in the Elite Eight and then beat Kentucky and Houston to win the national championship.
That was the third matchup in the series. Dayton beat Georgetown 80-74 at the UD Fieldhouse in January 1952. Georgetown won the second matchup 81-72 in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament at UD Arena in 1989.
Credit: David Jablonski
Big East matchup: The game against Georgetown will be the second game against a Big East opponent in a nine-day stretch for Dayton. It plays at Marquette on Nov. 19.
Dayton was 2-0 against the Big East last season, beating Connecticut in the Maui Invitational and Marquette at UD Arena.
Dayton has won four straight games against the Big East since losing to Xavier in 2015. It beat Butler in the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2018 and St. John’s in the Charleston Classic in 2023.
Scouting report: Georgetown is entering the third season under coach Ed Cooley, who last coached against Dayton in the 2015 NCAA tournament with Providence, losing 66-53 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.
Georgetown finished 9-23 in Cooley’s first season. It finished 18-16 last season, ending a streak of five straight non-winning seasons.
Georgetown returns one double-digit scorer from last season: junior guard Malik Mack (12.9 points per game). Another key returner is sophomore forward Caleb Williams, who started 14 games.
Georgetown lost six players to the transfer portal and added eight.
Other possible opponents: Dayton has not beaten BYU in three tries. BYU won the first matchup 62-43 in the NIT in 1951 at Madison Square Garden. BYU won 70-62 at the UD Fieldhouse in 1959.
Dayton last played BYU in the seventh-place game at the Battle for Atlantis in 2022. The Flyers lost 79-75 in overtime after blowing a 23-point lead.
BYU finished 26-10 last season. It has posted winning records 20 seasons in a row and has played in the NCAA tournament 11 times in that stretch.
BYU’s roster includes 6-foot-9 freshman forward A.J. Dybantsa, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025, according to ESPN.
• Dayton is 8-1 against Miami. The first eight matchups took place between 1956 and 1989.
The teams have played once in the last 36 years. The Flyers won 76-60 in the first round of the ESPN Events Invitational in 2021.
Miami finished 7-24 last season. It was the worst season in school history in terms of winning percentage. Coach Larrañaga retired in December. Bill Courtney took over as interim coach.
Miami hired Jai Lucas, an associate head coach at Duke the last two seasons, in March.
Other games: Dayton will play in the four-team Magic Bracket in Florida. Four other teams will play on the same two days in a separate bracket at the same location.
Richmond will play Furman at 11 a.m. in the first game of the Imagination Bracket on Nov. 27. Illinois State will play Charlotte in the second game.
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