DAYTON – Preparation for the University of Dayton's second season under head coach Anthony Grant will ramp up when daily preseason practice begins on Thursday, Oct. 4.

Dayton returns four starters from last season and also returns redshirt junior Ryan Mikesell, who started 24 games two years ago and sat out last season after surgery on both hips.  Along with five players with starting experience, UD also has four players who will make their Dayton debut this year, three Division I transfers who are sitting out the 2018-19 season, and two walkons.

The new faces in the program are not limited to the players on the court.  During the off-season, the Flyers added assistant coach Donnie Jones (previously a head coach at Marshall and Central Florida), strength and conditioning coach Ed Streit (previously at UConn and the Chicago Bulls) and graduate assistant Sean Damaska (previously a development intern with the Dallas Mavericks).

The addition of Jones with associate head coach Anthony Solomon and assistant coach Ricardo Greer makes the University of Dayton one of 11 schools with at least two former head coaches on their staff.  The others are Pitt, Evansville, Fairfield, Georgia State, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Oklahoma State and South Carolina.  Solomon was head coach at St. Bonaventure from 2003-07.

UD will be led by redshirt senior forward Josh Cunningham.  Cunningham is an All-Atlantic 10 performer who is the first three-time captain in program history.  He was ranked in the top 100 nationally in seven statistical categories and led the Flyers in scoring (15.6), rebounding (8.4) and field goal percentage (.646). He finished the season fifth nationally in field goal percentage.

Cunningham and walkon Jack Westerfield are the team's two seniors.  Westerfield played in 10 games as a junior.

The other returning starters are junior guard Trey Landers, and sophomore guards Jalen Crutcher and Jordan Davis.  Landers averaged 11.3 points per game, 5.6 rebounds per game and shot .583 from the field.  Crutcher and Davis started 22 games each.  The combined 44 starts by a pair of freshman guards is the most in Dayton basketball history by a wide margin.  Crutcher averaged 9.2 points per game and led UD in assists (4.4).  He was named to the A-10 All-Rookie Team.  Davis averaged 8.0 points a game and shot .394 from three-point range.

Dayton opens the regular season at home against North Florida on Wednesday, Nov. 7.  Prior to that, Dayton's first public appearance on Tom Blackburn Court this season will be an exhibition game on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. ET against Division III Capital, who is coached by Grant's former teammate and Flyer Hall of Famer Damon Goodwin.