Two Hokies who played in that game remain with the team: Nahiem Alleyne and Hunter Cattoor. It’s a new group but by far the best team not from the Atlantic 10 Conference that will play the Flyers at UD Arena this season.
“Virginia Tech is really good,” Dayton coach Anthony Grant said Friday. “We played them a couple of years ago, so we’er a little bit familiar with what they do. As we move forward, (this game) is critical. We’ve got to try to do the best that we can to put ourselves in a position to win on Sunday.”
Virginia Tech (7-3) ranks 34th in the NCAA Evaluation Tool. Dayton (6-4) ranks 107th after its 77-69 loss at Southern Methodist on Wednesday.
The Hokies have one strong victory on their resume. They won 62-58 at No. 54 Maryland. They lost to the three other top-100 teams they’ve played: Memphis; Xavier; and Wake Forest.
Virginia Tech finished 16-16 two seasons ago and never did come close to matching what it did against Michigan State, which ranked third in the Associated Press poll during the Maui Invitational. The Hokies improved to 15-7 last season, coach Mike Young’s second season. This season, they were picked to finish fifth out of 15 teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference preseason poll and received five first-place votes.
Dayton will have to slow one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting offenses and make shots against one of the nation’s best 3-point defenses. Virginia Tech ranks 13th in the country in 3-point shooting percentage (40.5) and is holding opponents to 24.3 percent, the second-best number in the nation.
Cattoor leads the team with 21 made 3-pointers. Alleyne ranks second with 19.
“This is going to be a great test,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “They have great players all around.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Virginia Tech at Dayton, 2 p.m., ESPN2, 1290, 95.7
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