• “Dec. 6, 1969: UD Arena opens with a 72-70 win over Bowling Green. Flyer guard Pat Murnen scores the first basket in arena history.”
• “Oct. 30, 1982: Bob Barker, the host of the ‘Price is Right,’ appears for an evening of fun and games. The event sold out and has been said to be ‘the hottest ticket in arena history.’”
• March 7, 2020: The university concludes its 50th anniversary season of UD Arena with a 76-51 win over George Washington, completing a perfect 18-0 Atlantic 10 regular-season championship, led by consensus national player of the year Obi Toppin."
The Dayton Flyers, winners of 30 straight non-conference home games at UD Arena, have rode their home-court advantage to many victories in 57 seasons.
Away from home, Dayton has enjoyed few courts more than the one at the State Farm Field House — formerly known as the HP Field House — at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Kissimmee, Fla.
Dayton is 8-1 at the arena in three November tournament appearances. It beat Wake Forest, Fairfield and Minnesota to win the Old Spice Classic in 2011. In 2015, it beat Iowa and Monmouth before losing to Xavier in the AdvoCare Invitational championship. In 2021, it beat the Miami Hurricanes, Kansas and Belmont to win the ESPN Events Invitational.
The tournament did not change names this year but includes four teams instead of eight. Dayton (5-1) plays Georgetown (5-0) in the first round at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and will play Brigham Young (4-1) or the University of Miami (5-1) in the second game Friday.
“I think it’s a good opportunity,” said Dayton coach Anthony Grant on Saturday after a 74-55 victory against North Carolina Central. “It’s a little different the way the tournament is set up now with just two games. The competition will be really good. The challenge is playing back-to-back games. We’ll take it one game at a time. We’ll try to use this week to get as prepared as we can for Georgetown — they’re playing really good basketball right now — and then we’ll take it from there.”
Here’ s a breakdown of the four-team field:
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Favorite: BYU (4-1) ranks eighth in the Ken Pomeroy ratings. It beat Wisconsin, No. 22 on KenPom.com, 98-70 in its last game Friday, rebounding from a 86-84 loss to Connecticut.
BYU plays Miami in the first game at 5 p.m. Friday. It’s the fifth meeting between the schools and the first since 1989. They split the first four meetings.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Biggest underdog: At No. 77 in the Pomeroy ratings, Georgetown is the lowest-ranked team in the field. Dayton is No. 69. Miami is No. 46.
Georgetown is also the program in the field with the longest NCAA tournament drought. It last played in March Madness in 2021, when it made its only appearance in a 10-year stretch.
BYU played in the NCAA tournament the last two seasons and reached the Sweet 16 last season. Dayton made its last appearance in 2024. Miami reached the Final Four in its most recent appearance in 2023.
Best player: AJ Dybantsa, a 6-foot-9 freshman forward at BYU, was the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2025. He’s averaging 19.8 points and 6.6 rebounds.
ESPN projects him to be the No. 2 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
“I like the fact that he’s just a really great person, No. 1 — very coachable, very hard worker,” BYU coach Kevin Young told the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. “He comes from a great family (and) has his head on straight. So that’s a pretty good place to start. And then you talk about, oh, by the way, he’s 6-9. Oh, by the way, a world-class athlete. He handles the ball well; he’s so dynamic. There are so many different things he can do.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Top scorer: Malik Reneau, a 6-9 senior forward at Miami, averages 21.5 points. He spent the last three seasons at Indiana and averaged 13.3 points last season.
Best shooter: Richie Saunders, a 6-5 senior guard at BYU, made 14 of 35 3-pointers (40%) in the first five games. He leads his team in scoring (20.8).
Biggest injury news: Vincent Iwuchukwu, a 7-1 senior forward at Georgetown, will miss at least six to eight weeks after undergoing an unspecified medical procedure. He averaged 11.8 points and 4.0 rebounds in the first four games.
Iwuchukwu played at St. John’s last season after spending his first two seasons at Southern California.
Past champions: Dayton (2011 and 2021) is the only team in the field that has won the event.
Miami finished fourth in 2016 and sixth in 2021 when it lost to Dayton in the first round.
Georgetown finished third in its only appearance in 2008.
BYU will play in the event for the first time.
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
Winningest coach: Dayton’s Anthony Grant, has a record of 370-194 (.656) in 18 seasons. He has spent the last nine seasons at Dayton after three seasons at Virginia Commonwealth and six at Alabama.
Third-year Georgetown coach Ed Cooley has a record of 366-261 (.584) in 20 seasons. He coached previously at Fairfield and Providence. In his fourth season at Providence in 2015, his team lost 66-53 to Dayton in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Columbus.
BYU’s Young is 30-11 (.732) in two seasons. He was an associate head coach for the Phoenix Suns in his previous job.
Jai Lucas is 5-1 (.833) in his first season at Miami. He spent the last two seasons as an associate head coach at Duke.
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