DAYTON— The University of Dayton men’s basketball team is back at UD Arena on Saturday, playing Marquette at 7 p.m. ET.

Dayton enters the game at 8-2, receiving votes in the Associated Press and Coaches polls, while Marquette is 9-1, ranked sixth in the AP poll and fourth in the Coaches poll. The Golden Eagles are the highest-ranked team to play the Flyers at UD Arena since No. 6 Pitt played in Dayton on December 29, 2007.

In Dayton’s final game on Saturday, UD never trailed with an 86-62 win over Lehigh. Nate Santos was ahead with 24 points. Santos made all six of his three-point attempts, which is the best single-game performance in NCAA Division I this season (Santos is one of three players playing 6-on-6). Malachi Smith had 17 points (9 assists, zero turnovers), Enoch cheeks 14 and Zed key added 12 (including his 1,000th collegiate career point).

The Marquette game will be broadcast by WHIO Radio and televised on CBS Sports Network. Audio, video and live stats will be streamed on DaytonFlyers.com.

#TRENDING
• Nate Santos was named First Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 after being named to the Third Team following last season. The 6-7 forward from Geneva, Illinois, was the Flyers’ second-leading scorer (11.7) and rebounder (6.3) last year. He was also second on the team in 3-pointers made. FG% (.418, 51-122). Santos was fourth in the A-10 in three-point shooting and 10th in rebounding in 2023-24.
• Santos’ 6-for-6 shooting performance from distance against Lehigh is the best in the country. It is also UD’s second-best mark ever, behind Shawn Haugh’s 8-for-8 in the 1993-94 season.
• Noble Alexander was named Second Team Preseason All-Atlantic 10 and Preseason All-Defensive Team. Alexander is a fifth-year transfer player who already has 1,000 career points and 500 career assists. The fourth recruit from New York City Anthony GrantDuring his tenure at UD, he led the Big East in steals each of the last four seasons (three at St. John’s and one at Butler). Last year at Butler, Alexander averaged 11.3 points, 4.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He ranked 16th nationally in steals per game. In his three years at St. John’s, he averaged 10.9, 13.8 and 10.2 points per game.
• Enoch cheeks was also named to the A-10 Preseason All-Defensive Team. In his first season at UD after transferring from Robert Morris, he led the team in steals (40), was second in blocked shots (21) and third in rebounds (4.7). The Providence, R.I. native was the winner of UD’s 2023-24 Steve McElvene Award. Cheeks was always named the opposition’s best defensive player. In the 25 games (out of 33) in which the Flyer opponent’s top player was a guard or wing, that player performed below his average 17 times. He started in all 33 games and averaged 8.1 points per game (9.5 in A-10 play).
• Dayton’s roster features five players with a history of all-conference recognition – junior forwards Nate Santos (Atlantic 10), junior Enoch cheeks (Horizon League). Junior- Javon Bennett (Northeast Conference), redshirt junior Malachi Smith (Atlantic 10) and fifth graders Noble Alexander (Great East).
• Amaël L’Etang was named A-10 Rookie of the Week on November 25th. He scored 11 points (4-6 FG) in 13 minutes against New Mexico State.
• Enoch cheeks was named A-10 Player of the Week on Dec. 2 after averaging 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds against North Carolina, Iowa State and UConn on Maui.
• Cheeks ranks fifth in the A-10 in steals per game (1.9) and sixth in rebounding (7.6).
• Malachi Smith leads in 3-pt. FG% (.632, 12-19) and third in assists (5.5)
• Noble Alexander ranks first in the ratio of assistance to sales (3.8).
• Zed key is fifth in FG% (.643, 36-56). He also ranks fourth nationally in dunks (22).
• As a team, Dayton leads the Atlantic 10 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.91) and FG% (.500, 275-550) and is second in 3-point shooting. FG% (.388, 90-232).
• UD ranked 20th in average attendance in NCAA Division I last season and averaged 13,407 fans per game in the 2023-24 season. Of the schools in the top 25, only Kansas, Purdue, Michigan State and UConn sold out every game of the season.
• Dayton has already announced that every game of the upcoming 2024-25 season is sold out, including the two exhibition games already played. This is the fourth consecutive year that every UD home game has been sold out. This streak is now 66 games.
• This is also UD Arena’s 55th anniversary season. The arena underwent a $76.2 million renovation project, which was completed in time for the 2019–20 season.
• The Flyers wear “DJD” on their left shoulder strap in memory of Don Donoher. Coach Donoher died last April at the age of 92. He became the first man to coach his alma mater in the NCAA Tournament after appearing there as a player. A member of the NABC College Basketball Hall of Fame, he is Dayton’s all-time winningest coach (437 wins). He was the winner of USBWA’s 2017 Dean Smith Award.

NEXT
• Dayton’s next game is at home against UNLV on Tuesday, Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. ET.