This Sunday at 2:00 P.M. the Dayton Flyers will host the Nittany Lions in an exhibition game inside the University of Dayton (UD) Arena. It will be very interesting to see how Head Coach Mike Rhoades utilizes his mix of players of only 3 returning players, 2 portal transfers, and 8 freshmen. Rhoades said in his press conference earlier this week they are playing to win and are excited about this opportunity.
The Dayton Flyers compete in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Conference and are led by Head Coach Anthony Grant. They finished the season last year with an overall record of 23-11 and 12-6 in the A-10. They earned a postseason invitation to the NIT Tournament where they beat Florida Atlantic in the first round and then lost to Chattanooga in the second round.
The Flyers are led by senior guard, Javon Bennett, who averaged 11.6 ppg. last year. Bennett has been named to the A-10’s Preseason All-Conference First Team and Preseason All-Defensive Team heading into the 2025-26 season.
Sophomore forward, Amael L’Etang is also returning to the squad where he averaged 7.1 ppg., 4.3 rpg. and 1.2 apg. last year. He was selected to the A-10 Preseason All-Conference Second Team after his strong rookie year.
Graduate forward, Keonte Jones, is also returning and was named to the Preseason All-Conference Third Team.
The Nittany Lions are coming into Dayton with Freddie Dilione, Eli Rice and Dominick Stewart as the only returners from last year’s squad. These three players make up 14.6% of the points, 11.0% of rebounds, 12.5% of assists and 15.5% of minutes played from last season. They did bring in two versatile portal transfers in Sasa Ciani (UIC) and Josh Reed (Cincinnati) who have much valuable playing experience. Coach Rhoades and his staff also orchestrated the No. 26 ranked recruiting class in the nation with an eight-man freshman class comprised of much talent and promise. This class is headlined by point guard Kayden Mingo who was a consensus top-40 prospect and is the highest-ranked recruit in program history.
Stay tuned to Nittany Sports Now as we will be in Dayton to bring you all the updates and action from the game.
