Landers brings physical style to Dayton Flyers

Wayne grad will be only freshman on court for UD

Editor’s note: The Dayton Flyers start the season Nov. 11. In the 26 days leading to the opener, the Dayton Daily News will explore different aspects of the program in the A-Z Guide to Dayton Basketball. This is the sixth installment. F: Freshmen.

Robert and Trey Landers talk daily. Robert is a redshirt freshman defensive tackle for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Trey is a freshman guard for the Dayton Flyers.

The Wayne graduates are separated by a 75-minute drive these days, but they stay in touch. Robert, who plans to attend as many games at UD as he can this season, usually knows what his brother is doing.

“I know he’s in the gym almost every night,” Robert said. “I try to Facetime him. He Facetimes me an hour later. I’m like, ‘Where you at?’ He says, ‘In the gym playing basketball.’ I don’t even know why I ask.”

Trey will be the only freshman on the court this season for Dayton. The other freshman, 6-10 forward Kostas Antetokounmpo won’t be able to practice until the second semester and will redshirt this season as a NCAA partial qualifier.

It won’t be easy for Landers to earn playing time on a team with four seniors, but he’s more developed physically than most freshmen, and that should help. He’s 6-foot-4 and 219 pounds. Landers averaged 16.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season as a senior at Wayne. He played with UD sophomore Xeyrius Williams on Wayne’s 2015 state championship team.

“H’s a tremendous offensive rebounder and defensive rebounder, a terrific straight-line driver,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said Tuesday at Atlantic 10 Media Day in Pittsburgh. “He slashes and cuts with the ball. He could be a guy that could really impact the physicality for our team, but he’s not yet comfortable playing against a college defense. The decisions you make as a high school player aren’t the same. He’s got to cut back on some mistakes.”

Landers missed three or four of the first 10 practices with a sprained foot, Miller said, but he was hopeful he’ll be healthy enough to play in the Red and Blue Game on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Robert Landers has been a breakout star for Ohio State. He’ll have an impact on UD, too, because of how he helps his brother.

“Between me and my younger brothers, we all know how to work,” Robert said. “We love what we do. Basketball is his passion. At times he tells me, ‘It’s getting hard, bro.’ I’m like, ‘It’s college. It’s not high school. It’s a whole other ballgame. Basketball is not just basketball anymore.’”

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