Dec. 19, 2006

Complete Release in PDF Format

FLYER FACTS... - The University of Dayton Flyers complete their six-game homestand when the Miami University RedHawks take the short drive up from Oxford to visit Tom Blackburn Court on Wednesday. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EST. Dayton is 9-1 and receiving votes in both national polls. That matches the Flyers' best ten-game start to a season since UD won its first 14 games in 1955-56. Miami is 4-6, but three of the losses are by a total of nine points.

THE FLYERS - Dayton's 9-1 record is the best in the Atlantic 10. The last time the Flyers were 9-1? Brian Gregory's first season at UD - 2003-04. Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 points a game. They've earned that by doing something that hadn't happened at Dayton in 48 years - hold five straight opponents to 55 points or less.

UD has three players (Brian Roberts at 17.8, Monty Scott at 10.4 and Norman Plummer at 10.1) averaging in double digits, but five others average at least 3.5 points a game. They are Charles Little (9.6), Marcus Johnson (8.7), Andres Sandoval (3.8), Jimmy Binnie (3.7) and Kurt Huelsman (3.6). Eight Flyers also average at least 3.0 rebounds a game, led by Johnson's 4.9 average.

THE REDHAWKS - Miami brings a deceiving 4-6 record to UD Arena. In addition to three losses by a total of nine points, coach Charlie Coles' club other three losses are at Kentucky, at Xavier and at Illinois State. The `Hawks are led by senior forward Nathan Peavy, a do-everything product of Chaminade-Julienne High School. Peavy is first or second on the team in every significant statistical category except assists. He leads Miami in scoring (14.5), rebounding (7.0), FG% (.495, 48-97) and FT% (.731, 38-52). In addition to Peavy, area products Doug Penno (Alter), and Tim and Eric Pollitz (Ottawa-Glandorf) are also on the RedHawk roster.

SERIES STUFF - Dayton leads the series with Miami 63-60, and has won the last three meetings played at UD Arena. The RedHawks won last year's meeting at Millett Hall 58-42 on November 21, 2005.

UP NEXT - UD goes on the road to play back-to-back road games against probable top ten teams. The Flyers are at Pitt on Saturday, December 23, and after a short Christmas break, play at North Carolina on December 31. The Pitt game tips off at 8:00 p.m. EST. Dayton's next home game is against Charlotte on Thursday, January 4 in the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams. Game time is 7:00 p.m. EST.

NON-CONFERENCE NEWS - UD has never played two Top Ten teams on the road in back-to-back games, but that will likely change by the end of the month. UD plays at #7 Pittsburgh on Saturday, and then at #2 North Carolina on December 31. Dayton is currently receiving votes in both the AP and USA Today/ESPN polls, and has knocked off three teams who have received votes at some time this season -- Creighton, Louisville and Holy Cross. During conference play, UD will play five games against teams who are or were receiving votes Xavier (twice), Saint Louis (twice) and GW.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME - Work began November 6 on the renovation of the vacated Physical Activities Center. The PAC was the University's campus recreation center until January of 2006, when the $25.3 million RecPlex was completed. The renovated PAC will provide quality indoor practice space for 11 Flyer sports teams, including a dedicated full-court practice area for basketball. At the end of the 2006-07 season, the current wooden playing floor will be moved to the practice gym at the PAC and a new "Tom Blackburn Court" will be used at the Arena in 2007-08.

B-ROB B-GOOD - It would be hard to find a player who meant more to his team in November. He led UD in scoring, minutes, assists, and FT%, and was second in FG%, 3-pt. FG% and steals. More to the point, he led Dayton to five wins in six games to start the season. Currently, he leads Dayton in scoring (17.8), minutes (34.9), assists (3.9) and FT% (.896, 43-48). He has scored double digits in nine of the ten games this season, and got his first career double-double (17 points, 10 rebounds) in the Western Carolina win. He is seventh in the A-10 in scoring, and fifth in assists, third in FT% and ninth in FG%. He was named Pre-Season All-Atlantic 10 Second Team in a vote of the league's coaches and selected media. Last year, Roberts was the first Dayton basketball player to be named All-Atlantic 10 (second team) and Academic All-A-10 (first team) in the same season. UD's 2005-06 MVP led UD in scoring (16.0), minutes (33.4) and three-pointers (68) and was seventh in the league in scoring. He was the only player in the A-10's top dozen players in scoring, assists, three-pointers, FG% and 3-pt. FG%.

THE TOLEDO RIFLE - Brian Roberts is now the only UD player to be in the school's top five in career 3-pt. FG% and FT%. His .416 (134-322) from behind the arc is third on the Flyer career lists. His .820 FT% (168-205) is fourth.

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP - Brian Roberts opened the year by doing something that hadn't been done at Dayton in 24 years -- score 20 points in the first three games of the season. In the season-opening win over Austin Peay, he scored a game-high 29 points, the most he had scored in a regulation game until four days later when he scored 30 against North Carolina A&T (his career high of 34 points came in a double-overtime game at Creighton). He scored 21 points (15 in the second half) at SMU. No Dayton player had opened the year with three straight 20-point games since Flyer all-time leading scorer Roosevelt Chapman did it in 1982-83. The last time a UD player scored 20 or more points in three straight games was near the end of the 1998-99 season when Ryan Perryman did it at Duquesne, at Xavier and at the A-10 tournament against Fordham. Both Chapman and Perryman are members of the UD Athletic Hall of Fame, and Flyer basketball's All-Century Team.

BRIAN'S BURSTS - Brian Roberts has demonstrated a knack for scoring his points in short amounts of time. He has scored at least ten points in ten of the 20 periods (half of the halves, if you will) this season (including 13 in the second half of the Louisville game, and 11 in the first half vs. Creighton), after doing it 18 times last year. He scored seven of the Flyers final 14 points in the Louisville game's final 3:08, including an NBA-range three over 6-8 Juan Palacios that tied it 61-61, and pair of free throws with ten seconds left that finished off the Cardinals. He scored nine of his 13 first-half points in the Western Carolina win in just two minutes and 15 seconds with three straight threes on three trips down the floor. Last season, he had at least seven points in less than four minutes 14 times.

MONTY, MONTY, MONTY - Senior forward Monty Scott is poised to finish his UD career with a flourish. The team's only senior, Scott is second on the team in scoring (10.4). He scored 16 points and added seven rebounds in the NC A&T win, another 16 vs. Yale and a season-high 19 versus SC State. He was UD's second-leading scorer (11.2) and rebounder (4.3) in 2005-06, despite missing six games and being limited in practices and games for much more than that with a stress fracture in his left foot. Dayton's MVP and an all-conference selection two years ago, there is little coincidence that the Flyers fast 8-3 start in 2005-06 came with a healthy Scott starting at forward, and UD's struggles came after the injury.

THE OLD MAN WAS THE KEY - "I'm a senior and that's what I'm supposed to do...But my teammates found me when I was open." Those matter-of-fact comments after Wednesday's win over Creighton by Flyer forward Monty Scott say a lot about his quiet leadership for this year's Dayton basketball team. Never someone comfortable with trying to lure the spotlight to himself, Scott had the good kind of "senior moment" when he scored 11 points in the second half after the tenacious Bluejays erased a 13-point halftime deficit and threatened to steal away from the Arena with a win. But what Scott's comments don't call attention to are his team-high six rebounds (matching teammate Andre Sandoval), game-high two blocked shots, his late-second-half D on Creighton star Nate Funk, his diving deflection of a loose ball that started a Flyer fast break and a help-side blocked shot that stopped Creighton's last run. The game is more than how many points "I" score, and Scott gets it. It's just hard to get him to tell you about it.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS - Brian Roberts is 44th in career scoring at UD with 940 points. Just ahead of him in 43rd place is Bucky Bockhorn with 941. Monty Scott is in 49th place with 909, one point behind George Janky. Roberts is eighth (136) and Scott ninth (133) in career three-pointers. Coby Turner is seventh (153).

LITTLE BIG MAN - At 6-foot-6, 244 pounds, sophomore Charles Little might be the most inaccurately named player in the country. He has scored 76 points in the last seven games, and is shooting .588 (30-51) in that stretch. He is fourth on the team in scoring (9.6), tied for third in rebounding (4.4), and leads in FG% (.534, 39-73). Little's nine dunks (eight in the last five games) are twice as many as anyone else on the team, and almost half of UD's 19 dunks so far this season. He scored a then-career-high 15 points in the Louisville win. He set the tone for the game on the Flyers' first possession, driving down the lane for a dunk. He raised his career best to 16 against Holy Cross.

LIVING UP TO HIS INITIALS, NUMBER AND TEAMMATE - Freshman Marcus Johnson's "basketball karma" has to be off the charts. He has ties to the last three generations of great NBA players. His number is the same as another famous Johnson, who was simply known as "Magic." His initials call to mind one of the greatest winners in the history of the league. And in high school, Marcus Johnson had the pressure of becoming the next star at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary's after LeBron James took his game to the NBA. And none of this matters unless you can play, and have the makeup to handle such alliteration. Luckily for the Flyer Faithful, it appears that Johnson has both requirements covered. He scored 23 points in his first game as a Flyer, the most by a Dayton player in his debut game. He is only the ninth Flyer freshman to score as many points in a game. Johnson has scored in double figures four times this season, including his first double-double (11 points/10 rebounds) in the Yale win. In Saturday's win over Western Carolina, Johnson scored 13 points (5-6 FG) and grabbed six rebounds. He also had two assists, a steal and a blocked shot and drew the primary assignment of guarding Western Carolina's leading scorer, Antonio Russell. Russell came into the game averaging 17.9 points and shooting 57% from the field, but finished with five points, and a percentage-killing one-for-fourteen from the floor. Johnson is one of five Flyers averaging over eight points a game (8.7), and leads UD in rebounding (4.9). He is third on the team in FG% (.486, 34-70), but inside the arc he is shooting (.612, 30-49).

BEING "KURT" TO THE OPPOSITION - Freshman Kurt Huelsman tied the UD freshman record for blocked shots in a game (and the most in a first game as a Flyer) when he swatted four in the Austin Peay win. Huelsman tied Keith Waleskowski, who had four against George Washington on February 17, 2001 during his redshirt freshman season. Huelsman also grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Flyers in the game. He scored nine points (3-4 FG, 3-3 FT, seven points in the second half) in the NC A&T game. He also had eight rebounds and blocked two shots. He is one of six Flyers averaging over four rebounds a game (4.2) and is second for UD in blocked shots (0.8).

GLASS CLEANER - Freshman Kurt Huelsman pulled down 26 rebounds in his first three games as a Flyer. That's more than the two most recent Flyers to get 1,000 rebounds in their careers. Ryan Perryman grabbed 24, and Keith Waleskowski had 21, respectively in the first three college games.

STORMIN' NORMAN - Norman Plummer is the Flyers' leading scorer so far in the month of December (14.8). For the season, he is third on the team in scoring (10.1), and second in rebounding (4.5), FG% (.509, 27-53) and FT% (27-36). He missed the first two games and the two exhibition games for disciplinary reasons. He returned to action at SMU, getting five points and nine rebounds (six offensive). After scoring 22 points in his first four games back, he has scored 47 points in the last three (including a game-high 19 - 6-8 FG, 7-8 FT - in the Holy Cross win and a team-high tying 13 - 5-7 FG - in the Creighton win). Last year, he was UD's leading rebounder (6.5), was third in scoring (10.0) and second in minutes (26.5).

WARREN REPORT - Things happen when freshman guard London Warren is on the court. He made that clear in his very first game as a Flyer in the season-opening win over Austin Peay. He led the Flyers in assists (5) and steals (3) while committing only two turnovers of his own. He also scored six points. "The Jacksonville Jet" (as WHIO Radio's Larry Hansgen and Bucky Bockhorn have dubbed him) came in with the score tied 5-5 and sparked Dayton to a 31-13 run to take control of the game. He leads UD in steals (1.2) and is third in assists (2.5) in just 14.8 minutes a game.

BIG GAME BINNIE - A strong contributor of the bench, junior forward Jimmy Binnie seems to raise his game a notch against the better competition. Against the four most-highly regarded teams on the schedule so far (SMU, Louisville, Holy Cross, Creighton), he is averaging 4.8 points (up from 3.7 on the season), with seven assists, five steals and just one turnover. Five of his season's six steals and four of the year's six three-pointers have also come in the bigger games. Against Louisville, he had eight points (two more than he had in the previous four games combined). In the Creighton win, he had eight points, three assists and two rebounds in 13 minutes. He demonstrated his game numerically by filling every column of the box score in the Georgetown exhibition game. He was 3-4 FG, 2-3 3-pt., 1-1 FT for nine points, with one offensive rebound, three defensive boards, two assists, a steal and a block.

HERE COMES THE SAND MAN - Junior point guard Andres Sandoval was expected to be out 4-6 weeks with a broken bone in his foot, but apparently he didn't get the memo. He was back on the court exactly 19 days after his surgery to place a titanium screw in the foot. He played nine minutes in a shakedown cruise against South Carolina State, and has averaged 24 minutes in the three games since then. Against SC State, he missed the only shot he took, but grabbed four rebounds and had three assists without a turnover. In the Holy Cross win, he scored six points, had four assists (with two turnovers) and three rebounds. In addition to his ball-handling chores, he had six rebounds versus Creighton, and scored six points in the Grambling win. He had five points and three assists (with one turnover) vs. WCU. On the year, he has a 3.75 assist-to-turnover ratio.

COMMITTEE WORK - UD is out-rebounding its opponents this season, but no Flyer averages more than five rebounds a game, Instead, six players average four boards or better (and two more are above 2.0), led by Marcus Johnson's 4.9 average.

EYE 75 ON THE SCOREBOARD - The Flyers are 17-2 under head coach Brian Gregory when they score at least 75 points. Both of the losses were in double overtime.

DOING IT WITH DEFENSE - Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense, allowing just 57.3 points a game. UD has held the last five opponents under 56 points.

GRAD RATES GREAT IN DAYTON - Dayton was listed as one of the nation's leaders in the 2006 NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report. The Flyers' GSR is 96, up two points from last year and 18th out of 320 schools Division I school rated. UD's 91 percent graduation rate for its men's basketball program is best in the A-10. Men's basketball is one of 15 (out of 17) Flyer athletic teams with GSR's of 90 or better. Last year's report also noted that every one of the 229 scholarship student-athletes who entered UD from 1988-89 to 1997-98 and completed their eligibility at UD graduated. The A-10 was fifth as a conference.

TOURNEY TOWN - The NCAA Division I Tournament will make its start at UD Arena this season for the sixth year in a row. The NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee has announced that the University of Dayton Arena will host the NCAA Opening Round Game in 2007. UD has hosted the game since its inception in its current form in 2002. When the 2007 NCAA Tournament is over, UD Arena will have been an NCAA site in 21 of the last 38 years and will have hosted 73 NCAA Tournament games. That will make UD Arena the third-most prolific NCAA Tournament venue behind Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City (83) and the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City (81). The Arena is also one of four 2007 NCAA D-I Women's Regional sites.

FLYER FAITHFUL - For years, UD has claimed it has had the best fans in the nation. In 2001, The Sporting News conducted an unscientific poll of college basketball coaches, media and SIDs. In the January 8, 2001 issue of the magazine, UD's fans were tabbed as college basketball's best. And they prove it to everyone the Flyers play. UD Arena has 76 sellouts in its 34-year history. UD's last 111 regular season home games have had attendance of at least 11,000 fans. In the last 13 years, 99% of UD's home games have drawn at least 10,000 (350 of 352), including the last 147 regular season games. UD averaged 12,422 last season, 2,500 higher than any other A-10 team and 23rd in the country.

FLYERS LAND TOP A-10 CLASS - UD head coach Brian Gregory and his staff landed what Scout.com considers the top recruiting class in the Atlantic 10 on November 8 with the signings of 6-7 forward Chris Wright of Trotwood-Madison (Trotwood, OH) High School, 6-9 forward/center Devin Searcy of Romulus (MI) High School, and 6-1 guard Stephen Thomas of Indianapolis Cathedral High School. As a group, the newest Flyers chose UD after getting scholarship offers from schools that included members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Atlantic 10. Each player signed with UD on the first day of the signing period. Wright was Third Team All-Ohio as a junior after leading Trotwood-Madison to a 22-6 overall record and the state championship game, where they lost to perennial powerhouse Canton McKinley. He averaged 17.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.2 blocks a game. Considered one of the top candidates for Ohio's Mr. Basketball, Wright will be the second member of his family to play at UD. His uncle on his mother's side, J.D. Grigsby, played at UD from 1971 to 1973. Scout.com has named him the top player in the A-10 for this recruiting class. Searcy is another recruit who will put the "Fly" in "Flyers." Not only is he an athletic 6-9, he has a 37-inch vertical leap and a seven-foot fingertip-to-fingertip reach. He was a sophomore starter for 2005 Michigan Class A runners-up, and last season, as the only returning starter for Romulus, he averaged 12.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots and was named honorable mention all-state. He is the fifth Romulus player in the last four years to earn a Division I scholarship. A heady player with a classic Hoosier-guard outside shot, Thomas led a young Cathedral team to the Indianapolis City Tournament Championship. In leading his team to the city title, the Indianapolis Star named Thomas one of its two annual Players of the Year. Thomas was the Indianapolis Player of the Year, and national player of the year Greg Oden was named Marion County Player of the Year. A three-year starter, Thomas averaged 15.5 points, 5.0 assists and 3.1 rebounds as a junior. The Bob Gibbons All-Star Report has three Top 150 players heading to the A-10 from the fall signing period, and two (Wright and Thomas) are future Flyers.

GAME #10 -- DAYTON 66, WESTERN CAROLINA 55
A Brian Roberts first-half outburst propelled Dayton to a 66-55 victory over Western Carolina at UD Arena. Roberts scored nine consecutive points during a 14-0 first half run that gave UD a lead they would not relinquish. The Flyers finished the final 10:00 of the first half on a 30-9 run to crawl out of a 15-8 deficit they once faced. The Flyers held a 33-24 lead at the intermission. The Catamounts hung tough early in the second half and clawed their way to within three points, 36-33, at the 15:04 mark. However, Plummer scored a fast-break layup and his swat at the other end of the court brought the UD crowd to its feet. The Flyers then used an 8-0 run to stretch the lead back to double-figures, 44-33. WCU scored on three consecutive possessions to stay within striking distance, but Andres Sandoval's alley-oop pass to Charles Little reenergized the arena as Little hammered it home with 9:40 to play. Roberts led all players in points (17), rebounds (10) and assists (5) in his first career double-double. Norman Plummer added 15 points for UD and Marcus Johnson scored 13 and grabbed six rebounds.

DID YOU KNOW ?
UD won more games than any other school in both the 1950s and `60s. UD won 435 games between 1950 and 1969 and ranks among the top teams of the 1950s and 1960s in Division I history. The Flyers' .763 (228-71) winning percentage in the 1950s ranks fifth in the decade. Their .729 (207-77) winning percentage ranks eighth in the 1960s.