DAYTON -- The University of Dayton Flyers remain home for a rare Friday night non-conference contest when the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons return to Tom Blackburn Court.  Friday's game time is 7 p.m. ET.

Dayton is 2-0 on the young season after wins over North Florida (78-70) and Coppin State (76-46).  Purdue Fort Wayne is 2-2, but those two losses are on the road to a pair of teams fresh off NCAA tournament appearances, UCLA and Ohio State.  The game will be carried by WHIO Radio, and televised by Fox Sports Ohio.  Streaming audio, streaming video (on ESPN+) and stats will be available at DaytonFlyers.com.

THE NEARLY-TRANSFORMED UD ARENA 
The University of Dayton is past the halfway point of a $72 million renovation of its Arena. The transformation of University of Dayton Arena will occur in three phases – from 2017 to 2019.
Phase II included new entrances on three of the four sides, a new box office, new seats in the 300 and 400 levels on the east side and a new and expanded concourse on the east side.

#TRENDING 
•    The season opener was the 300th consecutive Dayton regular season game with a crowd of at least 11,000 fans.  The North Florida crowd was 12,522.  UD was 23rd in Division I attendance last season with an average of 12,996.
•    Dayton returns four starters – Josh Cunningham, Trey Landers, Jalen Crutcher and Jordan Davis -- from last year's 14-17 team.  
•    UD also returns Ryan Mikesell, who missed all of last season after double hip surgery in the summer of 2017.  Mikesell started 24 games in 2016-17.
•    Dayton took the court against North Florida without Cunningham, who was injured in practice the day before.  Taking his place in the lineup was redshirt freshman Obi Toppin, who merely scored 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds with four dunks in his college debut.
•    Toppin was named co-Rookie of the Week in the Atlantic 10 Conference after Week One.
•    In addition to the five veterans, the Flyers have four newcomers on this year's roster.  They are junior college transfer Jhery Matos, Toppin, and true freshmen Dwayne Cohill and Frankie Policelli.  Cohill also made his college debut (5 points) on Wednesday as well.
•    Three Division I transfers – Rodney Chatman (Chattanooga), Jordy Tshimanga (Nebraska) and Ibi Watson (Michigan) are sitting out the 2018-19 season.
•    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).

UP NEXT 
•    Dayton heads to the Bahamas to play in the Bad Boy Mowers Battle4Atlantis Nov. 21-23.
•    UD takes on Butler in the tournament first round Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.