Where: UD Arena
TV/Radio: Spectrum News 1; 1290 and 95.7 WHIO
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Probable Dayton starters
Obi Toppin, 6-9, R-So., F, 21.4
Jalen Crutcher, 6-1, Jr., G, 13.0
Ryan Mikesell, 6-7, R-Sr., F, 11.1
Trey Landers, 6-5, Sr., G, 10.5
Rodney Chatman, 6-1, R-Jr., G, 9.0
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Probable Drake starters
Roman Penn, 5-11, R-So., G, 10.5
D.J. Wilkins, 6-2, So., G, 10.4
Anthony Murphy, 6-5, Sr., G, 10.9
Liam Robbins, 7-0, So., F, 10.0
Tremell Murphy, 6-6, Sr., F, 5.0
Last game: Dayton beat Saint Mary's 78-68 on Sunday in Phoenix, Ariz. Drake beat Southeast Missouri State 78-73 on Dec. 7.
Series history: Dayton leads 2-1. The teams played three times between 1959 and 1962.
Coaches: Anthony Grant is 42-30 in his third season at Dayton. Darian DeVries is 32-12 in two seasons at Drake. DeVries was named Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year last season after leading the Bulldogs to the regular-season championship in his first season. He previously spent 17 seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton.
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About Dayton: Dayton has a 93 percent chance of winning this game, according to KenPom.com , which predicts a 76-60 score. … Ibi Watson leads Dayton reserves with 9.0 points per game. … Toppin led Dayton in scoring in the first five games. Three different players have led the Flyers in scoring in the last three games: Mikesell, Chase Johnson and Crutcher. … Dayton announced this week this game and the Dec. 23 game against Grambling State are sold out. That means there will be at least 12 sellouts this season. As of Thursday, fewer than 100 tickets remained for the Dec. 30 game against North Florida and the Jan. 11 game against Massachusetts, and there were fewer than 200 tickets left for the game against North Texas on Dec. 17.
About Drake: The Bulldogs rank 61st in the nation in 3-point shooting percentage (36.5). The national average is 33.0. Only two of Dayton's first nine opponents don't rank in the top 75 in 3-point percentage, and three rank in the top 10: No. 2 Indiana State (42.2), No. 8 Virginia Tech (41.6) and No. 3 Saint Mary's (42.2). Dayton ranks 17th (40.3).
Looking ahead: Dayton plays North Texas (4-6) at 7 p.m. Tuesday and then travels to Chicago later in week for a game against Colorado (7-2) at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 21 at the United Center.
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