An early season battle between a pair of undefeated teams is slated for Friday night when nationally ranked Dayton hosts SMU.
Game time: Friday, November 11, 7:00 p.m. ET
TV schedule: ESPN+
Location: UD Arena, Dayton, OH
The first Friday night of the 2022-23 college hoops season should be a fun one, and one of the better games on the docket is a match-up between 24th-ranked Dayton and SMU. Both teams won their opening night contests, and the Flyers are looking to keep rolling as the preseason favorites in the Atlantic 10. The Mustangs, meanwhile, will be hoping to capture a signature non-conference victory. Oh, and there are some pretty sweet throwback uniforms involved! Let’s dive in.
Dayton is coming off a 73-46 tune-up win over Lindenwood on Monday night. The Flyers did it with a balanced attack at home, with five players hitting double-figures in scoring. UD has put together a pretty challenging non-conference schedule for this season, as teams like Wisconsin and Virginia Tech are looming down the line. But for now, a win over the Mustangs would be a nice boost for Anthony Grant and Co.
Oh, and about the new look. Dayton is bringing back the powder blue throwbacks, and they’ve been teasing it on social media all week.
#ThrowbackThursday pic.twitter.com/Q1mmP0JL7n
— Dayton Basketball (@DaytonMBB) November 10, 2022
Unfortunately for the Flyers, they’re pretty banged up. Two key pieces in Malachi Smith and Koby Brea weren’t able to go on Monday and will likely miss Friday’s game too. But UD is a deep squad. Mustapha Amzil, DaRon Holmes II, and R.J. Blakney will be the guys to watch in this one. That trio combined for 40 of Dayton’s 73 points on opening night. They’ll also take care of the ball — the Flyers had just nine turnovers against Lindenwood. If they can stay in the single digits in that department once again, it’ll go a long way towards win number two.
As for SMU, they picked up a 77-60 victory over Texas A&M Commerce on opening night at home thanks to a monster performance from Zhuric Phelps. The sophomore guard poured in a game-high 28 points for the Mustangs while adding four rebounds and three assists. They’ll need a similarly strong game from him on Friday, and it’ll have to come in front of a hostile UD Arena crowd.
Dayton will arguably be SMU’s toughest non-conference opponent of the season, so it’s a tough test out of the gate. Expect the Flyers to hold serve at home.
Prediction: Dayton 81 – SMU 65