Nov. 21, 2006
Complete Release in PDF Format
The University of Dayton Flyers return home to face the Yale Bulldogs tonight on Tom Blackburn Court. UD is 2-1 after being out-grinded by SMU 53-48 Saturday night in Dallas. Yale is 1-1 so far in 2006-07, with a season-opening 98-55 homecourt win over Allegheny on November 12 and a 73-65 loss at OU on Sunday.
THE FLYERS Junior Brian Roberts had his third game over 20 points with a game-high 21 at SMU. He scored 15 of UD's 29 points in the second half. He leads UD and the A-10 in scoring with a 26.7 ppg. average. He is shooting .532 (25-47) from the field, .500 (12-24) from three-point range, and .900 (18-20) from the line.
Marcus Johnson (11.7) and Monty Scott (11.0) are the other two Flyers averaging double figures after three games. Norman Plummer (9.0) and Kurt Huelsman (8.7) lead the team in rebounding, and London Warren (4.3) and Roberts (3.3) are the assist leaders.
THE BULLDOGS Yale returns four starters from last year's 15-14 team. Junior guard Eric Flato, an Honorable Mention All-Ivy selection last season, leads three double-digit scorers with a 15.5 point per game average. Last year's top Yale freshman, Ross Morin, is the reason the Bulldogs might have more of a rooting section than your typical early-season Flyer opponent. Morin is a graduate of Princeton High School, just down I-75 in Cincinnati. He will reportedly have upwards of 80 family and friends rooting for him at tonight's game.
SERIES STUFF Dayton leads the series 2-0. Both meetings have been at UD Arena. The Flyers defeated the Bulldogs 79-69 on January 3, 1981, and 78-57 in the first round of the Merrill Lynch Classic on December 29, 1983.
UP NEXT UD plays Louisville at U.S. Bank Arena on Friday, November 24 at 5:00 p.m. After that, the Flyers will begin a six-game homestand by hosting South Carolina State on Tuesday, November 28. The SC State tips off at 7:00 p.m. EST.
NON-CONFERENCE NEWS UD's non-conference schedule features two top five teams from the first AP Top 25 and USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Polls. North Carolina was ranked second in both and Pittsburgh was fourth and tied for fifth. The Flyers will meet both of them on the road on consecutive games -- UNC on December 31 and Pitt on December 23. If the pre-season rankings hold, it will be the first time UD has played back-to-back games against top ten teams on the opponents' home court in school history. The #18/#23 team, Creighton, will visit the Arena on December 6. Dayton also has six games among teams in the also receiving votes category. UD plays Louisville at US Bank Arena on November 24, Xavier on January 27 (at X) and February 24, GW at home on January 31, and Saint Louis on February 21 (at SLU) and March 3.
HOME AWAY FROM HOME Work began November 6 on the renovation of the vacated Physical Activities Center. The PAC was the University's campus recreation center until January of 2006, when the $25.3 million RecPlex was completed. The renovated PAC will provide quality indoor practice space for 11 Flyer sports teams, including a dedicated full-court practice area for basketball. At the end of the 2006-07 season, the current wooden playing floor will be moved to the practice gym at the PAC and a new "Tom Blackburn Court" will be used at the Arena in 2007-08.
B-ROB B-GOOD Brian Roberts has scored more than 20 points in all three games this season. He leads the team and the Atlantic 10 in scoring (26.7 ppg). He was named Pre-Season All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in a vote of the league's coaches and selected media. Last year, Roberts was the first Dayton basketball player to be named All-Atlantic 10 (second team) and Academic All-A10 (first team) in the same season. UD's 2005-06 MVP led UD in scoring (16.0), minutes (33.4) and three-pointers (68) and was seventh in the league in scoring. He was the only player in the A-10's top dozen players in scoring, assists, three-pointers, FG% and 3-pt. FG%. In the season-opening win over Austin Peay, he scored a game-high 29 points, the most he had scored in a regulation game until four days later when he scored 30 against North Carolina A&T (his career high of 34 points came in a double-overtime game at Creighton). He scored 21 points (15 in the second half) at SMU.
THE TOLEDO RIFLE Brian Roberts is seven FTM away from becoming the only UD player to be in the school's top five in career 3-pt. FG% and FT%. Roberts is already there in 3-pt. %. His .419 (121-289) from behind the arc is third. His .808 FT% (143-177) would be fourth if he were not short of the minimum needed.
BRIAN'S BURSTS Brian Roberts has demonstrated a knack for scoring his points in short amounts of time. He scored at least ten points in five of the six halves this season (including 19 in the second half of the NC A&T game), after doing it 18 times last year. He scored all nine of UD's points in the second overtime at Creighton, and had at least seven points in less than a four-minute stretch 14 times last season.
MONTY, MONTY, MONTY Senior forward Monty Scott is poised to finish his UD career with a flourish. The team's only senior, Scott is third on the team in scoring (11.0). He scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in the NC A&T win. He was UD's second-leading scorer (11.2) and rebounder (4.3) in 2005-06, despite missing six games and being limited in practices and games for much more than that with a stress fracture in his left foot. Dayton's MVP and an all-conference selection two years ago, there is little coincidence that the Flyers fast 8-3 start in 2005-06 came with a healthy Scott starting at forward, and UD's struggles came after the injury.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS Brian Roberts is 51st in career scoring at UD with 840 points. Norm Grevey is next with 875 points. Monty Scott two points behind Roberts in 52nd place. Roberts is ninth in career three-pointers (123). Next is Mark Jones at 125. Scott is three behind Roberts in threes.
LIVING UP TO HIS INITIALS, NUMBER AND TEAMMATE Freshman Marcus Johnson's "basketball karma" has to be high. He has ties to the last three generations of great NBA players. His number is the same as another famous Johnson, who was simply known as "Magic." His initials call to mind one of the greatest winners in the history of the league. And in high school, Marcus Johnson had the pressure of becoming the next star at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's after LeBron James took his game to the NBA. And none of this matters unless you can play. Luckily for the Flyer Faithful, it appears that Johnson can indeed play. He scored 23 points in his first game as a Flyer, and is UD's second-leading scorer (12.0).
JOHNSON SETS BAR ABOUT AS HIGH AS HE CAN JUMP Flyer freshman guard Marcus Johnson scored a UD debut record 23 points in the season-opening win over Austin Peay on November 11. He is only the ninth Flyer freshman to score as many points in a game. Shawn Haughn's 30 points against Saint Louis in the 20th game of the 1993-94 season is the best (he also tied the NCAA mark for 3-pt. FG% in a game by making all eight of his treys in the game). Although he had played extensively in UD's preseason exhibition games, Johnson was only inserted into the starting lineup two days before the game when junior Andres Sandoval was sidelined with a broken foot. When UD's All-Atlantic 10 guard, Brian Roberts, moved from two-guard to point, Johnson became a starter. Roberts and Johnson combined to score 52 points in the game. He was named the 2006-07 season's inaugural Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week, sharing the honor with Massachusetts guard Tiki Mayben.
BINNIE'S BOX SCORE Junior forward Jimmy Binnie demonstrated his overall game numerically by filling every column of the box score in the Georgetown exhibition game. He was 3-4 FG, 2-3 3-pt., 1-1 FT for nine points, with one offensive rebound, three defensive boards, two assists, a steal and a block. In the Austin Peay win, he did not make a field goal, but had seven rebounds (four offensive) and three assists. NICK'S NEW NUMBERS Junior Nick Stafford played just 16 minutes last season, scoring four points and grabbing two rebounds. After busting his butt in the off-season and stepping up when the team needed him to, Stafford's payoff was a five-point and four-rebound effort in 16 minutes of playing time in the Austin Peay win.
WARREN REPORT Freshman London Warren had a big hand in UD's win over Austin Peay in the season opener. He led the Flyers in assists (5) and steals (3) while committing only two turnovers of his own. He also scored six points. "The Jacksonville Jet" (as WHIO Radio's Larry Hansgen and Bucky Bockhorn have dubbed him) came in with the score tied 5-5 and sparked Dayton to a 31-13 run to take control of the game. He leads UD in assists (4.3) and steals (2.3).
BEING "KURT" TO THE OPPOSITION Freshman Kurt Huelsman tied the UD freshman record for blocked shots in a game (and the most in a first game as a Flyer) when he swatted four in the Austin Peay win. Huelsman tied Keith Waleskowski, who had four against George Washington on February 17, 2001 during his redshirt freshman season. Huelsman also grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Flyers in the game. After not taking a shot in the opener, he scored nine points (3-4 FG, 3-3 FT, seven points in the second half) in the NC A&T game. He also had eight rebounds and blocked two shots. Huelsman has led UD in rebounding in all three games this year (tied with Norman Plummer at SMU).
STORMIN' NORMAN Norman Plummer missed the first two games and the two exhibition games for disciplinary reasons. He returned to action at SMU, getting five points and nine rebounds (six offensive). Last year, he was UD's leading rebounder (6.5), was third in scoring (10.0) and second in minutes (26.5).
EYE 75 ON THE SCOREBOARD The Flyers are 17-2 under head coach Brian Gregory when they score at least 75 points. Both of the losses are in double overtime.
DOING IT WITH DEFENSE Dayton held its opponent under 50 points six times in the 2005-06 season. That had happened a total of five times in Flyer coach Brian Gregory's first two seasons at UD.
GRAD RATES GREAT IN DAYTON Dayton was listed as one of the nation's leaders in the 2005 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report. The Flyers were one of 28 schools (out of 327) with a GSR of at least 94. UD's 91 percent graduation rate for its men's basketball program is the sixth-best percentage in the nation and the best in the A-10 (tied with Richmond). Overall, 11 Flyer teams had a GSR of 90 or higher including six men's programs. Last year's report also noted that every one of the 229 scholarship student-athletes who entered UD from 1988-89 to 1997-98 and completed their eligibility at UD graduated. The A-10 was fifth as a conference.
TOURNEY TOWN The NCAA Division I Tournament will make its start at UD Arena this season for the sixth year in a row. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee has announced that the University of Dayton Arena will host the NCAA Opening Round Game in 2007. UD has hosted the game since its inception in its current form in 2002. When the 2007 NCAA Tournament is over, UD Arena will have been an NCAA site in 21 of the last 38 years and will have hosted 73 NCAA Tournament games. That will make UD Arena the third-most prolific NCAA Tournament venue behind Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City (83) and the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City (81). The Arena is also one of four 2007 NCAA D-I NCAA Women's Regional sites.
FLYER FAITHFUL For years, UD has claimed it has had the best fans in the nation. In 2001, The Sporting News conducted an unscientific poll of college basketball coaches, media and SIDs. In the January 8, 2001 issue of the magazine, UD's fans were tabbed as college basketball's best. And they prove it to everyone the Flyers play. The approximately 600 Flyer fans at the final rounds of the Las Vegas Holiday Classic were more than the other teams in the tournament combined. Close to 300 of the "Flyer Faithful" made the trip to Maui in 2003-04 to watch UD win the Maui Invitational. Duke's "Cameron Crazies" got a taste in 2002-03 when about 500 Flyer fanatics followed the team to Durham, the most visiting fans at Duke in over 20 years. At Duquesne in 2004-05, UD easily had half the crowd as Pittsburgh was turning its attention to a Steelers-Jets playoff game later in the day. UD Arena has 76 sellouts in its 34-year history. UD's last 106 regular season home games have had attendance of at least 11,000 fans. In the last 13 years, 99% of UD's home games have drawn at least 10,000 (345 of 347), including the last 142 regular season games. UD averaged 12,422 last season, 2,500 higher than any other A-10 team and 23rd in the country.
EXHIBITION STATS Four Flyers averaged double figures in the two exhibition wins over Northwood and Georgetown. Brian Roberts led with a 16.5 average, followed by Marcus Johnson (16.0), Monty Scott (11.5) and Jimmy Binnie (10.0). Johnson and Binnie came off the bench for their points. Kurt Huelsman led in rebounding (7.0), backed by Charles Little (5.0) and Nick Stafford (also 5.0). Backup point London Warren led in assists (5.5), followed by Little (3.5) and Andres Sandoval (3.0). As a team, the Flyers shot .500 (59-118) from the field. The leaders were Johnson (.636, 14-22), Little (.600, 6-10) and Scott (.563, 9-16).
FLYERS GO 2-0 IN CANADA Dayton took a two-game international swing to Toronto over Labor Day, beating York University by the score of 76-67 on September 2, and Humber College 64-47 on September 3. Freshman Marcus Johnson led UD by scoring 23 points (11.5 avg.) in the two games. Also averaging double figures were Brian Roberts (11.0) and Desmond Adedeji (10.5). Roberts also led the team in assists (4.0) and rebounds (7.0, tied with Jimmy Binnie.
WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES Two weeks ago Dayton had won both of its exhibition games handily and UD coach Brian Gregory had settled on a starting lineup with one senior, two juniors, a sophomore and a freshman. But one day later, the news that projected starting point guard Andres Sandoval was out of the lineup with a broken foot changed all that. Starting two guard Brian Roberts slid over to point, a role Gregory reluctantly put him in periodically last year. But last year, when Roberts played point in place of a slumping Warren Williams, there was no one stepping in Roberts' place as a productive two guard. And with Williams struggling, there was no relief in sight for Roberts the point guard. But now everything has changed. In the win over APSU, freshman Marcus Johnson was the epitome of a "productive two guard" with his 23 points, and classmate London Warren provided a big spark off the bench, leading UD in assists (5) and steals (3) while scoring six points.
FLYERS LAND TOP A-10 CLASS UD head coach Brian Gregory and his staff landed what Scout.com considers the top recruiting class in the Atlantic 10 on November 8 with the signings of 6-7 forward Chris Wright of Trotwood-Madison (Trotwood, OH) High School, 6-9 forward/center Devin Searcy of Romulus (MI) High School, and 6-1 guard Stephen Thomas of Indianapolis Cathedral High School. As a group, the newest Flyers chose UD after getting scholarship offers from schools that included members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Atlantic 10. Each player signed with UD on the first day of the signing period. Wright was Third Team All-Ohio as a junior after leading Trotwood-Madison a 22-6 overall record and the state championship game, where they lost to perennial powerhouse Canton McKinley. He averaged 17.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.2 blocks a game. Considered one of the top candidates for Ohio's Mr. Basketball, Wright will be the second member of his family to play at UD. His uncle on his mother's side, J.D. Grigsby, played at UD from 1971 to 1973. Scout.com has named him the top player in the A-10 for this recruiting class. Searcy is another recruit who will put the "Fly" in "Flyers." Not only is he an athletic 6-9, he has a 37-inch vertical leap and a seven-foot fingertip-to-fingertip reach. He was a sophomore starter for 2005 Michigan Class A runners-up, and averaged 8.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 blocked shots. Last season, as the only returning starter for Romulus, he averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots and was named honorable mention all-state. He is the fifth Romulus player in the last four years to earn a Division I scholarship. A heady player with a classic Hoosier-guard outside shot, Thomas led a young Cathedral team to the Indianapolis City Tournament Championship. The Irish closed the 2005-06 season strong, finishing 17-6. They return all five starters and are expected to be one of the top teams in Indiana this season. In leading his team to the city title, the Indianapolis Star named Thomas one of its two annual Players of the Year. Thomas was the Indianapolis Player of the Year, and national player of the year Greg Oden was named Marion County Player of the Year. A three-year starter, Thomas averaged 15.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds as a junior. The Bob Gibbons All-Star Report has three Top 150 players heading to the Atlantic 10 from the fall signing period, and two (Wright and Thomas) are future Flyers.
GAME #3 -- SMU 53, DAYTON 48 A game-high 21-point effort from junior Brian Roberts wasn't enough as the University of Dayton Flyers fell to the Southern Methodist Mustangs 53-48 on Saturday night in Dallas. Roberts added three rebounds, three steals and three assists as the Flyers suffered their first defeat of the season, dropping to 2-1 overall. SMU improved to 3-1. The first half was 20 minutes of dueling runs. Dayton led by as much as five (21-16) with 5:37 left, but an 8-1 finish by the Mustangs gave them a 24-22 halftime lead. SMU kept the momentum to start the second period, and led by eight (36-28) with 12:06 to go. Eight unanswered Flyer points tied it the score at 36 with 9:44 to go, but SMU scored five straight of its own to jump back out 41-36 with 7:52 left. UD had one more charge left, and took a 45-44 lead with 2:53 remaining on a Roberts' three-pointer, but SMU made eight straight free throws, and nine of ten to win the game. The Mustangs made nine of ten when they needed it most after making 18 of their first 30. But UD had no room to talk as the Flyers made just 12 of 24 freebies. Senior Monty Scott added eight points and four rebounds for UD, while junior Norman Plummer in his first appearance of the season chipped in with five points and tied for the team high with nine rebounds. Freshman Kurt Huelsman matched Plummer on the glass with nine rebounds. On the defensive end, the Flyers out rebounded SMU 39 to 37 and forced 17 Mustang miscues.
DID YOU KNOW ? UD won more games than any other school in both the 1950s and `60s. UD won 435 games between 1950 and 1969 and ranks among the top teams of the 1950s and 1960s in Division I history. The Flyers' .763 (228-71) winning percentage in the 1950s ranks fifth in the decade. Their .729 (207-77) winning percentage ranks eighth in the 1960s.
