UCLA, Syracuse among First Four

Orange coaching staff includes ex-Dayton assistant Allen Griffin.

DAYTON— The eight teams playing in the First Four this week in Dayton include two of the winningest programs in NCAA history and one current and one former coach from Atlantic 10 Conference who know UD Arena.

Here’s a quick glance at the four games, which were announced Sunday with the rest of the NCAA tournament field.

6:40 p.m. Tuesday: No. 16 seed Long Island-Brooklyn (18-16) vs. No. 16 Radford (2212) — Brooklyn, the champion of the Northeast Conference, is coached by Derek Kellogg, who lost his job at Massachusetts after the A-10 tournament last season. Radford will play in the tourna- ment for the first time since 2009.

9:10 p.m., Tuesday: No. 11 St. Bonaventure (25-7) vs. No. 11 UCLA (21-11) — The Bonnies finished second in the A-10 and lost in the semifinals of the tournament Saturday but earned an at-large bid. They lost 82-72 to the Flyers in January.

UCLA, the seventh-winningest program in NCAA history, is coming off a 78-67 loss to Arizona in the Pac 12 tournament.

6:40 p.m., Wednesday: No. 16 North Carolina Central (1915) vs. No. 16 Texas Southern (15-19) — North Carolina Central is making its third NCAA tournament appearance in six years.

Texas Southern is coached by former Indiana head coach Mike Davis, who’s taken the program to the tournament four times.

9:10 p.m., Wednesday: No. 11 Arizona State (20-11) vs. No. 11 Syracuse (20-13) — Syracuse, the sixth-winningest program in NCAA history, returns to the Big Dance after a one-year drought. Allen Griffin, who went to the tournament as an assistant coach with Dayton the last four seasons, will return to UD Arena. He’s in his first year as an assistant coach under Jim Boeheim.

Syracuse opened its last appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 with a first-round victory against Dayton in St. Louis. Syracuse reached the final four that season.

Arizona State is coached by Bobby Hurley, the brother of Rhode Island’s Dan Hurley.