Purdue Fort Wayne cancelled its game against the Flyers because of COVID-19 issues, joining Cedarville, Bellarmine and Alcorn State on the list of teams that couldn’t play Dayton because of that reason.
NKU (2-1), which won the Horizon League tournament last season, lost 79-72 at Chattanooga on Saturday. It opened the season with a 74-73 victory against Ball State and then beat Tennessee Tech 74-65.
Dayton and NKU have played once. The Flyers won 99-82 on Dec. 1, 1993. The teams met in a preseason scrimmage before the 2017-18 season when John Brannen, who coached under Dayton’s Anthony Grant earlier in his career, was the NKU coach.
Looking ahead: After playing NKU, Dayton will play Mississippi State (2-2) at noon Saturday at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.
Mississippi State opened the season with losses to Clemson and Liberty and then beat Texas State and North Texas.
Fan support: After not having any fans in the Red Scare student section in the season opener Tuesday, Dayton had six fans from the Red Scare there Saturday: Nick Gregor; Jacob Mantle; Katlin Pistone; Julia Bunch; Kelsey Vonderhaar; and Katie Acra.
Gregor, a junior from Indianapolis, wore the Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken suit throughout the game. There were just over 100 fans in total in the arena, including former Flyer Ryan Mikesell and his family.
“We were lucky as the Red Scare executive board to get a chance,” Gregor said. “The athletics (administration) gave us a chance on very short notice to run in and make the stadium as loud as possible.”
National picture: Through Friday, 64 of the 357 Division I teams had not played a game, including two Atlantic 10 Conference teams: Massachusetts and Fordham.
UMass paused athletic activities Nov. 17 because of a positive COVID-19 test. It is scheduled to open the season Wednesday against Northeastern.
Fordham cancelled its first four games and paused all activities Nov. 30 because of a positive COVID-19 test. It is scheduled to play Dec. 19 against Central Connecticut State.
About the Author
