The contest will be bigger than a basketball game, supporting the region’s veterans and active-duty military, but will also serve as a kick-off event for the Big Hoopla, part of Ohio’s Hometown Heroes program, which enables military and veteran access to sporting and cultural events, including the activities enmeshed in the NCAA’s First Four games held in Dayton.
“Wright State is thrilled to host the Air Force Falcons once again in the Nutter Center,” Wright State President Sue Edwards said in a statement. “As an anchor institution to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, we hope military-connected community members, especially those with ties to the Air Force, will join the Wright State community for a fun night of neighborly competition and great basketball.”
”We are proud to collaborate with CareSource and the Big Hoopla to present what we know will be a fantastic night of basketball and community,” WSU Director of Athletics Joylynn Brown also said. “We look forward to creating another special memory as we bring Wright State, the Raider family and members of the military community together inside the Nutter Center.”
The First Four will stay in Dayton through at least 2028, the NCAA announced last week.
Since the Big Hoopla program was founded in 2003, over 150,000 military members, their families and veterans have been served, organizers say.
This will be the third meeting between Wright State and the Air Force Academy, who met in back-to-back Decembers in a home-and-home series late in the 2010 and ‘11 calendar years.
The Raiders won the first meeting on Dec. 8, 2010 at the Nutter Center, while Air Force won the follow up on Dec. 7, 2011 in Colorado.
“We feel like this game is a great opportunity for both our program and the greater Dayton community as a whole,” Wright State men’s basketball head coach Clint Sargent said earlier this year. “The ties between Wright State, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and the Air Force Academy are very deserving of a special night of recognition.”
Wright State previously announced it would open the 2024-25 season at Kentucky Nov. 4.
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