“After being abandoned by their partners in the prestigious Great Midwest Conference, the Flyers wanted to be in a league in which they could get national exposure. They probably didn’t dream it would come so soon.
“The Flyers will make their A-10 debut Saturday against the No. 1-ranked team in the country when they face the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.”
Twenty nine years later, Dayton (11-4, 1-1) will play Umass (5-10, 0-2) at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Mullins Center. It could be UD’s final game there. UMass will depart the A-10 after this season for the Mid-American Conference.
In 1996, UMass pulled away in the final 10 minutes for a 78-58 victory, taking advantage of 26 Dayton turnovers. Marcus Camby, the No. 2 pick in the NBA Draft that year, scored a career-high 38 points.
UMass improved to 12-0. It won its first 26 games before losing to George Washington. It then won nine straight games before losing to Kentucky in the Final Four.
“I thought we came in hard and didn’t back off,” Dayton coach Oliver Purnell said. “Sometimes you certainly can be intimidated by a team that’s ranked No. 1 in the country, particularly one that plays defense the way UMass does. I’m proud of the fact that we came in here and played hard, but we’ve got to take better care of the basketball if we’re going to beat good teams in this league.”
Massachusetts peaked as a program that season, winning its fifth straight Atlantic 10 Conference tournament and advancing to the Final Four for the first time in coach John Calipari’s final season. It’s still the only A-10 team to reach the Final Four.
The Final Four appearance was later vacated by the NCAA because an investigation revealed Camby accepted gifts from agents.
UMass returned to the NCAA tournament in 1997 and 1997 but has earned a berth only once (2014) in the last 26 seasons. The program Dayton will play Wednesday is not the one it met in 1996, though as Dayton learned Saturday in an 82-62 loss at George Washington, every road game in the A-10 is a challenge.
“It’s very tough going to an opponent’s gym,” Dayton forward Zed Key said Saturday, “but we’re a good team. We’ll be fine.”
Here are 10 things to know about the game:
1. Series history: Dayton leads the series 20-14. Dayton beat UMass 64-60 at UD Arena last season and won 72-54 in its last visit to Amherst in 2023.
The Flyers have won eight straight games in the series. That’s the longest winning streak for either team in the series.
After four straight losses at the Mullins Center, Dayton has won three straight games there. It is 7-9 at the arena since 1996.
2. State of the program: UMass improved from 15-16 to 20-11 last season in coach Frank Martin’s second season. It was the program’s first 20-win season since 2014. Its 11-7 A-10 record was its best in the first 10 seasons the A-10 has played an 18-game schedule. It was picked to finish ninth in the preseason poll this season.
3. Struggling team: UMass opened the season with a 103-74 victory against New Hampshire but then lost five straight games to West Virginia, Louisiana Tech, Hofstra, Temple and Florida State. It won four of its next six games but has since lost three straight games to Arizona State, Saint Joseph’s and Richmond.
4. A-10 start: UMass lost 81-72 at Saint Joseph’s in its A-10 opener. It was a four-point game in the final four minutes, but the Minutemen trailed throughout the second half.
In the 72-64 loss at home to Richmond on Saturday, UMass opened the game with a 20-7 run. Then it was outscored 14-4 in the last 6½ minutes. The Spiders led 34-31 at halftime and stayed on top throughout the second half.
“When we go through offensive struggles, we don’t handle those segments of the game very well,” Martin told reporters on Monday. “I’m a player development guy. That’s what I’ve always believed in — getting guys better. The young guys have more responsibility than they did a year ago. ... There’s moments that they’re trying to do what I ask them to do, but they’re trying to deal with more responsibility, and things don’t work out. And those moments (are) what hurts us right now. We’re trying to get our guys to learn how to play through those moments.”
Credit: David Jablonski
Credit: David Jablonski
5. Transfer portal losses: Josh Cohen led UMass in scoring last season (15.9). He’s now starting and averaging 9.7 points per game for Southern California as a fifth-year forward.
• Forward Matt Cross ranked second in scoring (15.3) last season. He’s playing his fifth and final season at Southern Methodist, where he has started 10 games and averaged 10.7 points per game.
6. Top returners: Rahsool Diggins, a 6-2 senior guard, leads the team in scoring (13.6) after ranking third (12.8) last season. He scored 33 points against Saint Joseph’s.
• Jaylen Curry, a 6-0 sophomore guard, ranked fifth in scoring (7.9) last season and is second this season (12.9). He leads the team in assists (4.5).
7. Top newcomer: Daniel Rivera, a 6-6 sophomore guard, averaged 13.3 points last season at Bryant and is averaging 11.5 points in his first season at UMass. He leads the team in rebounding (7.4.).
8. Another road test: Dayton will seek to avoid its first back-to-back A-10 losses since the 2022-23 season when it lost 76-69 at Rhode Island and then 75-70 at Rhode Island.
9. Strengths and weaknesses: UMass ranks fifth in the A-10 in turnover margin (plus 1.6). Dayton ranks sixth (plus 1.27).
• UMass ranks 354th out of 364 teams in 3-point shooting (26.6%). It shot under 30% in five straight games before making 7 of 19 (39.6%) against Richmond. Dayton has shot below 30% in five straight games and ranks 104th (34.9%).
10. Odds & Ends: KenPom.com gives Dayton an 85% chance of winning and predicts an 81-70 score. Dayton fell from No. 33 to No. 48 in the Pomeroy ratings after losing to George Washington. UMass started the season at No. 116 and now is No. 224.
• Dayton ranks 54th in the Ncaa Evaluation Tool. It is the second highest-ranked A-10 team behind No. 51 St. Bonaventure. No. 265 George Washington is the lowest-ranked A-10 team.
This is a Quad 4 game for Dayton and a Quad 2 game for George Washington.
Dayton is 2-3 in Quad 1 games, 1-1 in Quad 2, 2-0 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4. UMass is 0-1 in Quad 1, 0-3 in Quad 2, 0-4 in Quad 3 and 4-2 in Quad 4.
WEDNESDAY’S GAME
Dayton at UMass, 7 p.m., Peacock, 1290, 95.7
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