Flyers to host Northern Kentucky on Tuesday
The Dayton Flyers found a replacement for PurdueFortWayne. Theywill play Northern Kentucky at 7 p.m. Tuesday at UD Arena, announcing thatmatchupon Saturday night after a 66-64 loss to SouthernMethodist at UD Arena.
Purdue Fort Wayne cancelled its game against the Flyers because of COVID-19 issues, joiningCedarville, Bellarmine and Alcorn State on the list of teamsthat couldn’t play Dayton because of that reason.
NKU (2-1), which won the Horizon League tournament last season, lost 79-72 at Chattanooga on Saturday. It opened the season with a 74-73 victory against Ball State and then beat Tennessee Tech 74-65.
Dayton and NKU have played once. The Flyerswon 99-82 on Dec. 1, 1993. The teams met in a preseason scrimmage before the 2017-18 seasonwhen John Brannen, whocoachedunderDayton’s Anthony Grant earlier in his career, was the NKU coach.
Looking ahead: After playing NKU, Dayton will playMississippi State (2-2) at noon Saturday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Mississippi State opened the season with losses to Clemson and Liberty and then beat Texas State and North Texas.
Fan support: After not having any fans in the Red Scare student section in the season opener Tuesday, Daytonhad six fans fromtheRed Scare there Saturday: Nick Gregor, Jacob Mantle, Katlin Pistone, Julia Bunch, Kelsey Vonderhaar and Katie Acra.
Gregor, a junior fromIndianapolis, wore the Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken suit throughout the game. There were just over 100 fans in total in the arena, including former Flyer Ryan Mikesell and his family.
“Wewere lucky as theRed Scare executive board to get a chance,” Gregor said. “The athletics(administration) gave us a chance on very short notice torun inandmake the stadium as loud as possible.”
Nationalpicture: Through Friday, 64 of the 357 Division I teams had not played a game, including twoAtlantic 10Conference teams: Massachusetts and Fordham.
UMass paused athletic activities Nov. 17 because of a positive COVID-19 test. It is scheduled toopenthe season Wednesday against Northeastern.
Fordhamcancelled its first four games and paused all activities Nov. 30 because of a positive COVID-19 test. It is scheduled to play Dec. 19 against Central Connecticut State.