DAYTON -- The University of Dayton Flyers return home Saturday to host VCU in a contest between two of the top four teams in the Atlantic 10. Game time is 4 p.m. ET. Dayton is 16-8 this season, and currently fourth in the Atlantic 10 with an 8-3 record. VCU is 18-6, and tied for first with Davidson at 9-2. (Oddly enough, UD's next game is at Davidson.) UD's losses are to teams with a combined record of 132-61 (.684 winning percentage).
Saturday's game is sold out, and has been declared a "White Out." Fan are encouraged to wear white, and each fan in attendance will receive a white pom-pom courtesy of Pepsi.
The game will carried by WHIO Radio, and televised on the NBC Sports Network. Streaming audio, streaming video 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
• Saturday pits the A-10's top scoring team (Dayton, 74.0) vs. the leader in points allowed (VCU, 62.6). The Rams took the first meeting of the year 76-71 in Richmond on Jan. 12.
• Through games of Feb. 12,
Obi Toppin was second in the nation in field goal percentage. Toppin is shooting .686 (140-204) for the year, behind Gonzaga's Brandon Clarke (.688).
• Toppin's 62 dunks are four away from the UD single-season record set by Chris Wright in 2009-10. The 62 dunks are also tied for the third-most in D-I this season, behind Daniel Gafford of Arkansas (71) and Texas' Jaxon Hayes (65).
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Josh Cunningham is 16th in FG% (.621, 121-195). No other team has 2 in the top 20, and only 1 other (Gonzaga) has 2 in the top 25. Cunningham has 43 rebounds in his last 5 games.
• Dayton is fourth in the NCAA (behind Gonzaga, Tennessee and South Dakota State) and leads the Atlantic 10 in FG% (.503, 672-1338). UD shot .633 (31-49) at Rhode Island.
• The Flyers have battled back from double-digit second-half deficits three times this year.
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Jalen Crutcher leads the A-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) and is only one of two players in the A-10's top ten in A/T ratio, assists (2nd, 5.7) 3-pt. FG per game (5th, 2.3), 3-pt. FG% (8th, .374, 55-147) and minutes played (8th, 36.0). Richmond's Jacob Gilyard is the other.
• The Flyers matched last year's win total (14) before Feb. 1.
• The Final Five Dayton's home games have been declared sellouts. That gives the Flyers eight for the season, tying the UD Arena record. The Arena had eight in the 1969-70, the first season Dayton basketball moved across the Great Miami River.
UP NEXT
• UD is at Davidson, the other team tied for first in the A-10, on Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.
• Dayton's next home game is Saturday, Feb. 23 against Saint Louis at 4 p.m. ET.
• Of the A-10's top five teams, the Flyers are the only one who close the year against teams with a combined record over .500. UD's last seven games are with teams who are 44-35.
