The first game, on a date to be announced, will take place at UC’s Fifth Third Arena this season. Cincinnati will play at Dayton in the 2026-27 season.
Dayton lost 66-59 to Cincinnati last December. A year earlier, Dayton beat Cincinnati 82-68 in the first meeting between the programs in 13 years.
Cincinnati finished 19-16 overall and 7-13 in the Big 12 last season. It lost 10 players to the transfer portal this spring and has added six transfers.
Guard Jizzle James, who will be a junior next season, is the team’s top returning scorer (12.7 points per game). Guard Day Day Thomas, a graduate student, is another returning double-digit scorer (10.2).
Entering the fifth season for coach Wes Miller, Cincinnati has not played in the NCAA tournament since 2019 when it made its ninth straight appearance in coach Mick Cronin’s final season.
Cincinnati leads the series 61-32. Twenty one of Dayton’s victories in the series came before 1960. Since the 1957-58 season, Cincinnati has a record of 43-11 against Dayton.
The Flyers and Bearcats played every season and sometimes twice a season from 1954 to 1995. When the Great Midwest Conference disbanded after the 1994-95 season, UC joined Conference USA while UD moved to the Atlantic 10 Conference. They didn’t play again until 1998 when No. 3 Cincinnati beat Dayton 53-51 at Gund Arena in Cleveland.
Dayton hasn’t played at Fifth Third Arena since 2010 when the Flyers beat the Bearcats 81-66 in the second round of the NIT.
The Bearcats haven’t played Dayton at UD Arena since a 65-55 victory on Dec. 4, 2004. It was the last game UD played against a UC team coached by Bob Huggins.
Cincinnati is one of four known opponents on Dayton’s 2025-26 non-conference schedule.
Dayton will open the season Nov. 3 against Canisius University, according to a report by Rothstein.
Dayton has one other game in the first week. It will play University of Maryland, Baltimore County on Saturday, Nov. 8, at UD Arena, according to a report by college basketball analyst Rocco Miller.
Dayton’s non-conference schedule also will include a game at Marquette. The date of that game has not been announced.
In addition, Dayton will play in the ESPN Events Invitational on Nov. 27 and Nov. 28. The possible opponents are Georgetown, Brigham Young and the University of Miami.
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