DAYTON– The University of Dayton men’s basketball team will play the first of six Power 5 foes on the non-conference schedule when the Flyers host Northwestern Saturday at UD Arena.

Dayton opened the season Monday with an 87-57 win over Saint Francis. Zed Key led five Flyers in double figures with 14 points. Enoch cheeks had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Javon Bennett also had 13 points, followed by by Malachi Smith 11 points (with six assists) and Jacob Conner with 10.

The Northwestern game will be broadcast on WHIO Radio, broadcast on WHIO-TV and streamed on ESPN+. Streaming audio, video and live stats can be found at DaytonFlyers.com.

UD is a “new look” team entering the 2024-2025 season.

Da Ron Holmes II moved to the NBA after the most productive freshman, sophomore and junior seasons in UD history.

While Dayton returns four rotation players from last year’s 25-8 team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament, the Flyers will look for strong contributions from five newcomers (three transfers and two freshmen) and two players who are have given a new look for the 2023-2024 season. .

Dayton’s roster includes five players who have earned all-conference recognition in their past: Junior forward Nate Santos (Atlantic 10), junior Enoch cheeks (Horizon League). junior Javon Bennett (Northeast Conference), redshirt junior Malachi Smith (Atlantic 10) and fifth-year senior Chic Alexander (Great East).

#TRENDING
• Nate Santos was named First Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 after being named to the third team following last season. The 6-7 forward from Geneva, Illinois was the Flyers’ second-leading scorer (11.7) and rebounder (6.3) last year. He also finished second on the team in 3-pt. FG% (0.418, 51-122). Santos finished fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting and 10th in rebounding in 2023-2024.
• Chic Alexander was named Second Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 and to the Preseason All-Defensive Team. Alexander is a fifth-year transfer who already has 1,000 career points and 500 career assists. The fourth recruit from New York City Anthony GrantDuring his tenure at UD, he led the Big East in scoring in each of the past four seasons (three at St. John’s and one at Butler). Last year at Butler, Alexander averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He was 16th in the nation in steals per game. In his three years at St. John’s, he averaged 10.9, 13.8 and 10.2 points per game.
• Enoch cheeks was also named A-10 Preseason All-Defensive. He led the team in steals (40), was second in blocked shots (21) and third in rebounding (4.7) in his first season at UD after transferring from Robert Morris. The Providence, RI native was the 2023-2024 winner of UD’s Steve McElvene Award. Cheeks was consistently assigned the opponent’s best perimeter player on defense. In the 25 games (out of 33) in which the Flyer foe’s best player was a guard or wing, that player was held below his average 17 times. He started all 33 games and averaged 8.1 points per game (9.5 in A-10 play).
• UD ranked 20th in average attendance in NCAA Division I last season, with an average crowd of 13,407 fans per game in 2023-2024. Of the schools in the top 25 in attendance, only Kansas, Purdue, Michigan State and UConn also sold out every game of the season.
• Dayton has already announced that it has sold out all games for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, including both pre-season exhibition games. This will be the fourth year in a row that the Flyers have sold out every home game. UD’s sellout streak is at 60 games.
• This is also UD Arena’s 55th anniversary season. The Arena underwent a $76.2 million transformation project that was completed in time for the 2019-2020 season.
• The Flyers wear “DJD” on their left shoulder strap in memory of Don Donoher. Coach Donoher passed away last April at the age of 92. He was the first man to coach his alma mater in the NCAA Tournament after playing there as a player. A member of the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame, he is Dayton’s all-time winningest coach (437).

NEXT
• Dayton stays home and takes on Ball State on Wednesday, Nov. 13. Game time is 7:00 PM ET.