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Xavier Musketeers travel to UD Arena for the charity game against the Dayton Flyers

Posted on by Kennedy
Xavier Musketeers travel to UD Arena for the charity game against the Dayton Flyers

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After several months of work that took place relatively far from the public eye, Xavier men's basketball will take center stage with several events scheduled over the next five days.

The Cintas Center will host Musketeer Madness on Friday night, giving fans their first opportunity to see Sean Miller's roster for the 2024-25 season. Before Miller and several players join him in Manhattan for Big East Media Day at Madison Square Garden, Xavier will reunite with old conference foe Dayton in a charity exhibition contest on Sunday at UD Arena.

Xavier and Dayton will play in the CareSource Charity Classic, an event created by Flyers head coach Anthony Grant. Sunday's event caps the second year of community engagement events promoting youth and young adult mental health and suicide prevention.

More: Xavier Musketeers will be featured in Hard Knocks-style documentaries during the 2024-25 season

Xavier vs Dayton story

The rivalry between Xavier and Dayton began over 104 years ago. Dayton, then called St. Mary's College, defeated Xavier 24-18 behind six field goals by Max Matusoff, a Stivers graduate who later became a successful New York investment banker and amateur golf champion at Oakwood Country Club in Cleveland.

Many other players have their names etched into the lore of the rivalry, a series in which Dayton holds an 85-76 lead.

Since the 1987/88 season, Xavier has won 43 of its 60 meetings against Dayton. The last regular-season meeting between the two programs, less than 50 miles apart, was a neutral-site win by the Musketeers in the AdvoCare Invitational Championship game in Orlando in November 2015. The two schools were rivals in the Atlantic 10 until Big East in 2013.

What they say about Xavier, Dayton

Dayton is coming off its 18th straight winning season and its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017. Of course, Dayton likely would have been seeded No. 1 in March Madness in 2020 before the tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. As a No. 7 seed last March, Dayton struggled against Nevada in the first round before losing to Arizona in the Round of 32.

Xavier suffered its first losing season (16-18) in nearly 30 years, ending the season with a first-round loss in the NIT.

As usual, both programs have their common goal in March, although neither was ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll. Xavier received 73 votes, coming in at No. 28, just outside of a small number next to his name.

Dayton received no votes in the AP poll; However, the Flyers were analytical darlings in KenPom.com's ever-popular preseason rankings. KenPom lists Dayton at No. 27 in the country with a projected record of 23-6 (14-4 A-10). Xavier ranked No. 30 in KenPom with a projected record of 20-10 (11-9 Big East).

Why Sunday's charity game is important for Miller's Xavier Musketeers

Xavier is a new team with several transfers coming through the portal, so any opportunity to play against a different opponent is a nice litmus test early in the college basketball calendar.

Additionally, it won't hurt the new Musketeers to unofficially start the year in a difficult environment.

Dayton has a big home-field advantage at UD Arena over the Flyers Faithful, who regularly fill the place with sellout crowds. Dayton has a 92-17 record at home under Grant.

For the first time this season, Xavier will enter the home of another program as Public Enemy No. 1, which will be a nice test with away games against four ranked preseason teams (UC, Creighton, Marquette, UConn) on the regular season slate.

Miller can also use this opportunity to test the Musketeers' strength and tweak his lineup following Lassina Traore's season-ending knee injury suffered in training on October 9. Traore would probably have made it into the starting XI. Now Xavier will see what it has to offer up front with the return of Zach Freemantle and Jerome Hunter. They can also try out different small-ball lineups, with sophomore Dailyn Swain and Furman transfer Marcus Foster getting work in the post.

More: Former Xavier guard Quincy Olivari is earning high praise from Lakers Redick LeBron James

Xavier Musketeers vs. Dayton Flyers

Tip: 5 p.m

TV/Radio: Bally Sports Ohio/ESPN+/ 55 KRC (550-AM)

Dayton Flyers scouting report

Record: 25-8 last season (lost second round of NCAA Tournament)

Head Coach: Anthony Grant (149-72 at Dayton, eighth season)

Attack: 74.2 ppg last season

Defense: 66.5 ppg last season

Planned starting lineup

(position, size, statistics)

Javon Bennett (G, 5'10″, 8.4 ppg at Dayton last season)

Posh Alexander (G, 6'0″, 11.3 ppg at Butler last season)

Enoch Cheeks (G, 6'3″, 8.1 ppg at Dayton last season)

Nate Santos (F, 6'7″, 11.7 ppg at Dayton last season)

Zed Key (F, 6'8″, 6.6 ppg at Ohio State last season)

Xavier Musketeers Scouting Report

Record: 16-18 last season (lost first round of NIT)

Head Coach: Sean Miller (163-75 at Xavier, eighth season)

Attack: 75.9 pages

Defense: 74.6 pages

Planned starting lineup

(position, size, statistics)

Dayvion McKnight (G, 6'0″, 12.4 ppg at Xavier last season)

Ryan Conwell (G, 6'4″, 16.6 ppg at Indiana State last season)

Marcus Foster (G, 6'5″, 17 ppg at Furman last season)

Zach Freemantle (F, 6'9″, did not play last season)

John Hugley IV (F, 6'11″, 8.4 ppg at Oklahoma last season)

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