Nov. 9, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format

The fourth season of the Brian Gregory Era at the University of Dayton begins today when the University of Dayton Flyers host the Austin Peay Governors on Tom Blackburn Court. Saturday's game will be the season opener for both teams. Both teams were picked to finish sixth in their respective conferences, but impressive exhibition results (UD beat Northwood 66-51 and Georgetown College 101-68, Austin Peay pounded Rhodes 96-52) have both teams and their fans thinking bigger.

After undistinguished (for them) performances in the first exhibition game, Dayton's 1-2 punch of Brian Roberts and Monty Scott came through with a combined 41 points Monday against Georgetown College. The Tigers, who had given Louisville a 94-92 scare on November 1, had no answer for the Flyers' two All-Atlantic 10 players (Scott in 2005, Roberts in 2006). Roberts scored 25 points (7-11 FG, 4-6 3-pt., 7-7 FT) and Scott had 16 (6-8 FG, 4-6 3-pt.).

It's worth noting that even with those two standout scoring efforts, the most impressive aspect of the pre-season games are how the Flyers are embracing the team concept. Depth also looks to be weapon for UD's opponents to be concerned this season. A minimum of eight Flyers played at least 15 minutes in both exhibition games.

SCOUTING THE GOVERNORS APSU returns three starters from the team that finished 17-14 last season for coach Dave Loos. The Govs are a tall ball club, with four starters 6-5 or taller. Sophomore forward Drake Reed scored 19 points to lead all scorers in Monday's exhibition win over Rhodes. Just hours after he was medically cleared to play after passing out during a practice last week, Reed was 9-of-10 from the field and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.

SERIES STUFF Dayton leads the series 2-0. The Flyers prevailed 101-94 on November 21, 1991 and 76-61 on December 18, 2001. Both games were played at the University of Dayton Arena.

UP NEXT UD will remain home to play North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, November 15 before heading to Dallas to play SMU on November 18.

NON-CONFERENCE NEWS UD's non-conference schedule features two top five teams from the first USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll. North Carolina is ranked second and Pittsburgh is tied for fifth in the rankings that was released on October 27. The Flyers will meet both of them on the road on consecutive games -- North Carolina 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 poll's #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 #28 Louisville at US Bank Arena on November 24, #31 Xavier on January 27 (at X) and February 24 (at home), #46 George Washington at home on January 31, and #49 Saint Louis on February 21 (at SLU) and March 3 (at home),

HOME AWAY FROM HOME Work began on 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 wooden playing floor currently at the Arena will be moved to the basketball practice gym at the PAC and a new "Tom Blackburn Court" will be used at the arena in 2007-08.

EXHIBITION #1 --DAYTON 66, NORTHWOOD 51 Freshman guard Marcus Johnson scored 19 points while adding four rebounds and junior forward Jimmy Binnie added 11 points to lead the Dayton Flyers over the Northwood Timberwolves 66-51 on November 2 at UD Arena. In the team's first exhibition game at UD Arena junior forward Nick Stafford grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and freshman forward Kurt Huelsman added nine boards. The Flyers found themselves down 4-0 early to the Timberwolves, as they could not connect on their first seven shots of the game. Looking for a spark to the game, Dayton head coach Brian Gregory brought in Johnson and freshman London Warren just three minutes into the game. Johnson proved he was ready for the collegiate level as he knocked down the first bucket of the game for the Flyers on a three-pointer from the left corner at the 15:42 mark. Just moments later the speedy Johnson stole a Northwood outlet pass and raced down the court for a dunk, bringing the announced crowd of 10,308 to their feet. The Cleveland, Ohio native finished the half with eight points while going 4-for-5 from the field. The Flyers went on a 10-2 run over the next six minutes until Northwood's Aaron Simpson hit the three-pointer with 9:50 left in the first half, cutting the Flyer lead to one. The two teams traded baskets for the next eight minutes of play until Warren found Binnie open for a three-pointer in the right corner with a 1:30 left in the half. Warren stole the ensuing inbound pass and found Binnie open once again for a lay-up, increasing the Dayton lead to seven. The Flyers would go up 32-19 on back-to-back three-pointers from Johnson and junior Andres Sandoval with just 30 seconds left in the half, concluding an 11-3 UD run to end the period up 32-22. In the second half, the Timberwolves tried to pull a comeback but the Flyer defense was just too much. UD exploded at the 15:22 mark, going on a 14-2 run over the next five-and-a-half minutes, making seven of those off of Northwood turnovers. Binnie scored eight points during that five-minute span. Johnson picked up where he left off, scoring 11 points in the second half to finish the game with 19. Johnson received a standing ovation from the Flyer Faithful as he came out of the game with six minutes left. Despite shooting only 38 percent from the field and committing 19 turnovers offensively, the Flyers defense looked strong on the defensive end grabbing nine steals and putting up six blocks. Sophomore forward Charles Little tallied four steals and two blocks to go with six rebounds and six points.

EXHIBITION #2 --DAYTON 101, GEORGETOWN 68 Behind 25 points and five assists from junior guard Brian Roberts, the Flyers used a 19-7 second half run to blow past the Georgetown (Ky.) Tigers 101-68 on Monday night at UD Arena. In addition to Roberts, senior Monty Scott scored 16, freshman Marcus Johnson chipped in with 13, and junior Andres Sandoval added 10 as UD went unbeaten in exhibition play. The hot-shooting Georgetown (Ky.) Tigers showed why they gave the Louisville Cardinals a fit last Wednesday night, as they jumped out to an 8-2 lead over the Flyers on back-to-back three-pointers in the first 3:30. Roberts cut the lead to three with a 20-footer but the Tigers came out trapping, which caused trouble for the Flyers, as they had three turnovers in the first four minutes. Georgetown jumped out to a 20-12 lead with 12 minutes remaining in the half and held UD scoreless for nearly four minutes. That's when Scott got going and knocked in a jump-shot for the Flyers at the 11:48 mark. Scott struck once again just a minute later from three-point range to cut the lead to three. As well as the Flyers were shooting, Georgetown stayed hot from three-point land as junior guard Justin Taylor knocked in the team's fifth three-pointer of the half. UD's Scott answered just 10 seconds later with another three of his own for his eighth point in a row to bring the Flyers within three. Down by 36-35 with a 1:20 left in the half, Johnson went on a breakaway and skied high for a lay-up over Georgetown forward Kevin Reinhardt putting the Flyers up 37-36. Georgetown's Silverhorn responded on with a 10-footer for his 19th point of the half with just 18 ticks remaining in the first half. With seven seconds left, Scott hit the three-pointer from the right baseline to give the flyers a 40-38 lead at the intermission. The Flyers jumped out to a 53-45 lead five minutes into the second half, going on a 13-6 run that saw ten straight points from Roberts. With 11:55 to go, Sandoval took a pass from Kurt Huelsman and sank a three-pointer as he was fouled, extending the Flyers lead to 62-47. Sandoval missed the free-throw, but on the ensuing inbound stole the ball and made a lay-up drawing a Tiger foul and completing the three-point play to put UD up by 18. The Tigers, who were playing their fourth game in five nights tonight, started to show fatigue late in the game. Over the last five minutes of the game, the Flyers would go on a 21-10 run to close out the game. For the game, the Flyers defense forced 19 turnovers and had six steals, while out-rebounding the Tigers 27-23. Other contributors included forward Charles Little with nine points, four rebounds, and four assists, while freshman London Warren added six points, five boards, and five assists. 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). Stafford came off the pine (although it's actually probably vinyl) to grab seven of his ten rebounds off the offensive glass. 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), Scott (.563, 9-16) and Binnie (.500, 7-14).

RED/BLUE GAME REPORT Five different Dayton Flyers scored in double figures in the Red & Blue Exhibition as UD Red edged UD Blue 47-46 in the annual Red/Blue Game on October 22. Junior Andres Sandoval led all scorers with 15 points, while junior Brian Roberts added 14 points shooting five for nine from the floor and two of three from three-point range. Freshman guard London Warren also had 14 points. "(The scrimmage) was (designed) to get the 11 guys out there playing and competing and I thought we did some really good things," head coach Brian Gregory said. "Our guard play was pretty good. I think everybody had a couple of pretty good moments there. I thought overall the guys played extremely hard, played well and we did some good things." Senior Monty Scott enjoyed a perfect game chipping with 11 points. Scott shot 4 for 4 from the field, including three from three-point range. Freshman guard Marcus Johnson added 11 points and a game-high six rebounds as members of the Flyers played for both squads running various offenses and defenses in preparation for the 2006-07 season. UD Blue won the first quarter battle 19-17 as Scott hit two shots from beyond the arc while Johnson added five points of his own. In the second quarter, UD Red bounced back to take a 12-11 win behind two three pointers from Sandoval. Junior Jimmy Binnie converted on two shots, while Johnson added four more in the frame. The veteran players raised their level of play in the second half as UD Red took the third period with an 18-16 victory. Sophomores Desmond Adedeji and Charles Little each had six points in the frame for UD Red. Roberts led UD Blue with six points while Scott added five. Little finished the game with eight points and four rebounds.

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).

B-ROB B-GOOD Junior guard Brian Roberts 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-Atlantic 10 (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 A-10 player in the conference's top dozen players in scoring, assists, three-pointers, FG% and 3-pt. FG%. In the Georgetown exhibition game, he scored 25 points (7-11 FG, 4-6 3-pt., 7-7 FT) and had five assists. He scored 17 points in 15 minutes of the second half in that game.

THE TOLEDO RIFLE Brian Roberts is 29 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 .417 (111-266) is third. His .791 FT% (121-153) would be fifth if he were not 29 FTM short of the minimum needed to be ranked.

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 18 halves last season. He scored all nine of UD's points in the second overtime at Creighton, and has had at least seven points in less than a four-minute stretch 14 times this season, including seven in 2:07 vs. Tennessee Tech, seven in 2:46 vs. CMU, ten in 2:50 vs. Arkansas-Monticello, ten in 2:52 vs. Northern Iowa, seven in 2:59 vs. Vanderbilt, eight in 3:23 at Richmond, seven in 2:57 at Xavier, 12 in 3:46 vs. St. Joe's, nine in 3:59 at Charlotte, and seven in 2:45 and eight in 1:42 at La Salle. He actually scored 15 straight points for UD in the win over Saint Joseph's, taking UD from one down to nine up in just under five minutes.

MONTY, MONTY, MONTY Senior forward Monty Scott is poised to finish his UD career with a flourish. The team's only senior, Scott 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. He scored 16 points in the Georgetown win.

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. In UD's first exhibition game, he led all scorers with 19 points, while playing a game-high 29 minutes. Against Georgetown, he added 13 points and was the only player to hit double digits in both exhibitions. Johnson was also the Flyers' top scorer in their two-game Canada trip (11.5 ppg.).

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.

STORMIN' NORMAN Norman Plummer is out until the SMU game for disciplinary reasons. Last year, he was UD's leading rebounder (6.5), was third in scoring (10.0) and second in minutes (26.5).

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 Dayton 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. As a sophomore, he averaged 15.0 points, 9.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists. 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. Thomas is the #9 prospect in his state of Indiana. 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.

EYE 75 ON THE SCOREBOARD The Flyers are 15-2 under head coach Brian Gregory when they score at least 75 points.

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 Division I NCAA Women's Regional tournament 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 104 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 (343 of 345), including the last 140 regular season games. UD averaged 12,422 last season, 2,500 higher than any other A-10 team and 23rd in the country.

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.