Josh Cunningham will play for Red Scare in The Basketball Tournament

The Red Scare added a true point guard, Scoochie Smith, to its roster for The Basketball Tournament earlier this month, and now has it has a big man to patrol the paint in the games at UD Arena this summer.

The Dayton alumni team announced Monday former Flyer Josh Cunningham, a 6-foot-8 forward, will play for the team for the first time. It will be his first game at the arena since Senior Night on March 9, 2019.

“It’s going to be amazing playing at UD Arena again,” Cunningham said. “When it was my senior year, the (three-year renovation project) was not completely finished, so it will be great to play in the finished arena and to also play in front of the amazing Dayton fans. It will be a lot of fun and great opportunity to play with my former teammates. Once I finished school, I didn’t think I would play with them anymore, so it will be a lot of fun.”

Red Scare coach Joey Gruden still plans to one more player to the roster, which now has seven players. The team had 10 players last year and added one six days before the first game.

Gruden and Cunningham were teammates for three seasons (2015-18). Cunningham, who played his freshman season at Bradley, sat out the 2015-16 season at Dayton as a transfer and then played three seasons for the Flyers.

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“We’re super excited to have Josh this summer,” Gruden said. “He brings a great inside presence and fits our team perfectly. His game has also expanded and evolved since he’s graduated from UD. He’s also a great person and teammate so I’m excited for that part as well. Can’t wait to see him finally play with us.”

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TBT regional games will be held at UD Arena from July 24-27, and there will be three quarterfinal games July 29-30, two semifinals July 31 and the championship game Aug. 2 at the arena. Tickets are available on Ticketmaster.com.

Cunningham scored 964 points at Dayton and 1,224 in his college career. He was limited to 11 games in his first season (2016-17) after tearing a ligament in his ankle on a game-sealing dunk against Alabama in the second game of the season but returned to play a part in Dayton winning its first outright Atlantic 10 Conference championship.

The following season, Cunningham led Dayton with 15.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game and was named the White-Allen MVP. He ranked eighth in the country in 2-point field-goal percentage (70.1). His most memorable moment came in coach Anthony Grant’s first game in 2017. Cunningham caught a lob pass from Xeyrius Williams and scored under the basket with 0.1 seconds left to beat Ball State.

In his redshirt senior season, Cunningham averaged 13.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game as Dayton rebounded from a 14-17 season to finish 21-12.

Cunningham will make his TBT debut along with his former teammate Scoochie Smith.

“I was supposed to play with Red Scare two summers ago, but I didn’t because I was recovering from hip surgery,” Cunningham said, “and then I was supposed to play with Red Scare again last summer but I was in New Zealand playing, so me playing with Red Scare was supposed to happen a long time ago but things kept coming up. Now I’m 100% healthy and will be in America, so I’m 100% committed to play with Red Scare this summer.”

Since graduating from Dayton in 2019, Cunningham has played in the NBA G League, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Bosnia. He’s averaging 9.7 points and 6.0 rebounds for Borac Nektar, whose season lasts into June, in Bosnia this season.

“My pro career is going good,” Cunningham said. “I think I’m headed in the right direction, and I will continue to go to higher levels.”

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With Cunningham joining the Red Scare roster, here’s how the team looks. The dates listed are the years the players were at Dayton.

Vee Sanford, 6-4 guard (2012-14): He ranks 83rd in school history with 735 points. This will be his first appearance with the Red Scare since 2019.

Scoochie Smith, 6-2 guard (2013-17): He ranks 28th with 1,289 points and ninth with 485 assists.

Darrell Davis, 6-4 guard (2014-18): He ranks 51st with 1,008 points. He played for Dayton from 2014-18.

Josh Cunningham, 6-8 forward (2015-19): He ranks 55th in school history in scoring.

Ryan Mikesell, 6-7 forward (2015-20): The St. Henry grad ranks 70th with 847 points.

Trey Landers, 6-5 guard (2016-20): The Wayne grad ranks 57th with 946 points. Like Davis and Mikesell, this will the fourth time he has played for the Red Scare.

Joe Thomason, 6-4 guard: The Thurgood Marshall graduate played at Wright State from 2014-16 and scored 617 points.