Exhibition offers look at new, taller Flyers
Ohio Dominican faces UD team whose big men range from 6-7 to 6-11.
The Dayton Flyers DAYTON — posed for a team photo Thursday at UD Arena and shared some images on Twitter. The first thing that stands out from those shots
aside from Trey Landers chan— neling his inner Kendall Pollard with his choice of colorful shoes
was the size of the players in — the back row.
Lined up next to one another, the team’s big men — Ryan Mikesell, Xeyrius Williams, Obadiah Toppin, Jordan Pierce, Kostas Antetokounmpo, Josh Cunningham and Matej Svoboda — showed just how more height this team has than a year ago. All of those players stand between 6 feet 7 and 6-11.
Mikesell will sit out the season after undergoing hip surgeries in the summer. Toppin will practice but not play because he’s an academic redshirt. Even so, this is a lengthy team. That’s one rea-
continued from C1 son fans can’t wait to see the players in action.
The first chance comes at 7 tonight. Dayton plays Ohio Dominican, a NCAA Division II program, in an exhibition game at UD Arena. Half of Dayton’s available scholarship players have never played in front of a fans at the arena, and there will be a big crowd as always. Fewer than 200 tickets remained as of Thursday.
Cunnningham, a 6-7 redshirt junior and the lone team captain, has tried to counsel the younger players to prepare them for the moment.
“I told them it’s an amazing feeling,” he said, “but I know when you first get out there, you’re going to have jitters. Even when I sat out a year and didn’t play, I got the jitters just sitting there. I told them the first few times up and down the court, you’ll be nervous. After that, you’ll adjust to it.”
Dayton practiced once at the arena Oct. 27 and held a “secret scrimmage” against Northern Kentucky, the defending Horizon League tournament champion, the next day.
Dayton’s exhibition opponent, Ohio Dominican, finished 14-12 last season. The Panthers return 14 letterwinners and all their starters, including guard Ronnie Williams of Columbus Brookhaven. He led the team with 13.7 points per game last season.
This is the fourth straight season Ohio Dominican has played an exhibition game against a Division I opponent. It lost 94-79 to Toledo last season and also played Wright State, losing 109-54.
One of the Panthers has a connection to Dayton basketball. Sophomore guard Sam Hickey of Toledo is the grandson of Gene Hickey, who averaged 4.4 points per game for the 1950-51 Flyers. That team finished 27-5 and was the NIT runner-up. Hickey was also a high school teammate of Dayton’s all-time winningest coach, Don Donoher.
“Basketball was everything for me,” Gene Hickey said in a story posted to Ohio Dominican’s website this week. “I had great teammates.”
For Dayton, this is the last chance to play outside competition before the regular season begins. It faces Ball State in the season opener Nov. 10 and then travels to South Carolina for the Charleston Classic the following week.
First-year coach Anthony Grant was asked Tuesday if his team was ready for real games.
“That’s a tough question,” Grant said. “When you’re as young as we are, you never feel like you’re ready. I feel like there’s still a lot of little things we need to implement and improve upon. We’ll be as ready as we can be when that time comes.” Contact this reporter at 937244-7400 or email David. Jablonski@coxinc.com.