A return to the EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational, road games at Georgia Tech and Ole Miss and nine regular season home games highlight the 2013-14 University of Dayton men's basketball non-conference schedule.

The Flyers, who won the Maui title in its last visit to The Islands in 2003, will be part of one of the toughest fields in tournament history. Arkansas, Baylor, Cal, Gonzaga, Minnesota, Syracuse and host Chaminade will join UD in this season's event.

"This year's non-conference schedule is as challenging and exciting as any I have been a part of here at UD," head coach Archie Miller said. "We will be challenged and battle-tested all the way through. It is an honor to be a part of the Maui Invitational. The competition there will be excellent with the programs that are in this year's field."

Overall, Dayton will play nine home and three road games during the non-conference schedule. Among the highlights of the home schedule is a Sunday, Dec. 22 date with Southern Cal and its new coach Andy Enfield, who guided Florida Gulf Coast University on its Cinderella run through last year's NCAA's. Iona, who played at UD Arena during the 2013 NCAA Second Round, returns to Dayton the game before on Thursday, Dec. 19.

The three road games are at Georgia Tech, Illinois State and Ole Miss. Former Flyer Head Coach Brian Gregory is now at Georgia Tech, and when Dayton plays there it will mark the first time in school history that UD will play against a former head coach.  The series games at Georgia Tech and Ole Miss will be returned in 2014-15.

The Flyers will open the 2013-14 campaign on Saturday, Nov. 9 hosting IPFW to begin a three-game home stand.  Dayton will host St. Francis (PA) on Wednesday, Nov. 13, followed by St. Francis Brooklyn on Saturday, Nov. 16 in the opening round of the EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational.

UD will travel south to Atlanta on Wednesday, Nov. 20 to take on Georgia Tech, and then travel west to the Maui Invitational November 25-27. 

Dayton will face Gonzaga in the first round of the EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational on Monday, Nov. 25. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at midnight ET. The Dayton-Gonzaga matchup pits two former Maui champions against each other. Dayton won the EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational in 2003, while Gonzaga took the title in 2009.

This year's EA SPORTS™ Maui Invitational features three former champions --  Dayton (2003), Gonzaga (2009) and Syracuse (1990 and 1998), two other NCAA teams – Cal and Minnesota, NIT champion Baylor and two 19-game winners from last year – Arkansas and Chaminade.

Dayton is back on the mainland on Wednesday, Dec. 4 to host Delaware State.  After playing at Illinois State on Saturday, Dec. 7, the Flyers are home for five consecutive games over the holiday break – Central Michigan (Saturday, Dec. 14), Iona (Thursday, Dec. 19), Southern Cal (Sunday, Dec. 22), Murray State (Sunday, Dec. 29) and Winthrop (Wednesday, Jan. 1).

UD will complete the non-conference portion of the season at Ole Miss on Saturday, Jan. 4.

"We really want to be tested and prepared for the rigors of the Atlantic 10 Conference season," Miller said. "We will accomplish that by challenging ourselves away from UD Arena as we are and there is no doubt we will learn a lot about ourselves. It's a schedule that our players came here to play and one we believe will give us a chance to be at our best come March."

UD's two exhibition games are against Ryerson University from Toronto (Saturday, Oct. 26) and Findlay (Saturday, Nov. 2).

Every returning team in the Atlantic 10 Conference that played in the post-season will visit UD Arena in 2013-14. The league's 13 members will play a 16-game conference schedule in 2013-14, which allows teams to face each opponent once and four teams twice.

The Flyers will play Rhode Island, Richmond, Saint Joseph's and Saint Louis home-and-home, and will also host George Washington, La Salle, UMass and VCU. Dayton will travel to Duquesne, Fordham, George Mason and St. Bonaventure.

Dayton's complete schedule, including the Atlantic 10 Conference schedule, will be announced in early September.

The Flyers, 17-14 in 2012-13, return four starters and 11 letterwinners and will add Ohio State transfer Jordan Sibert along with a highly-touted recruiting class of Kyle Davis, Kendall Pollard and Dayshon "Scoochie" Smith.