Dayton, LSU play for first time in 28 years on Thursday

“Are there palm trees?” one Flyer asked a reporter Monday.

“Yes, there are,” he was told.

Charleston also has walkable streets. You can survive just fine without a car all weekend if you’re a Dayton fan. It also history on every corner, though that may be lost on the eight teams playing in the Charleston Classic this week.

“What really makes it fun is having a chance to win,” then Dayton coach Archie Miller said in 2012 when the Flyers played in the tournament for the first time.

Dayton (1-1), which plays LSU (1-1) in the first round at 4 p.m. Thursday, would like to make its own history by winning the Charleston Classic for the first time in its third appearance.

* In November 2012, Dayton lost 67-57 to eventual champion Colorado in the first round and then beat Boston College 87-71 and Auburn 73-63 to finish fifth.

* In November 2017, Dayton lost 72-69 to Hofstra in the first round, beat Ohio 79-65 in the second round and then lost 75-67 to Old Dominion to finish sixth.

There’s precedent for Atlantic 10 Conference teams winning the Charleston Classic. Massachusetts won the event in 2013. St. Bonaventure won the championship in 2021. Last year’s champion, Charleston, playing on its home court, also came from outside the power conferences.

Two would would suffice for Dayton if it wants to starting building a NCAA tournament resume. Anything less than that would put it in the same hole it couldn’t escape the last two seasons.

“We’re excited to be able to compete in these tournaments,” Dayton forward DaRon Holmes II said. “We feel like we have a very big chip on our shoulders. So we’re going to go out there and prove who we are.”

This will be the third game between Dayton and LSU.

* The teams first played on March 15, 1984, in the first round of the NCAA tournament at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Roosevelt Chapman scored 29 points to lead Dayton to a 74-66 victory.

* Eleven years later, on Nov. 26, 1995, Dayton beat LSU 86-73 in the second game of the season at the United Airlines Tip-Off Tournament in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Flyers ended a string of 30 straight losses away from UD Arena.

Dayton and LSU will both hope to bounce back from losses Thursday. The Flyers lost 71-66 at Northwestern on Friday, while LSU fell 68-66 at home to Nicholls State on the same night.

LSU shot 53.8% (14 of 26) in its first game, a 106-60 victory against Mississippi Valley State, and then 15.8% (3 of 19) in its second game. Its opponents both shot 40%, combining to make 18 of 45 3-pointers.

The defeat was LSU’s first non-conference loss to a program ranked below 200 in the Ken Pomeroy ratings — Nicholls State is 272nd — since a 79-75 overtime loss to No. 210 South Alabama on Nov. 23, 2011.

“For whatever reason, I didn’t have our team ready to play in the first half,” second-year coach Matt McMahon told reporters. “They just spaced us out, whipped us off the dribble. We struggled to communicate defensively. Credit to Nicholls State, they made us pay every time. Every missed switch, guys stepped up and buried 3s. They just played with a lot of energy and fight. That’s how they were able to overcome the 20 turnovers we were able to force. I apologize to everyone who came tonight.”

LSU finished second in the Cayman Islands Classic last season, losing only to Kansas State. That was its only loss in non-conference play. It then won its first Southeastern Conference game to improve to 12-1. Thirteen straight SEC losses followed.

LSU beat only Vanderbilt the rest of the way and finished the regular season with a 13-18 mark. It beat Georgia in the SEC tournament but then lost to Vanderbilt. It was picked to finish 13th out of 14 teams in the SEC preseason poll.

LSU starts three transfers who were with other programs last season: Will Baker (Nevada), a 7-foot center who leads the team with 15.5 points per game; Jordan Wright (Vanderbilt), a 6-6 guard who averages 11.5 points; and Carlos Stewart (Santa Clara), a 6-1 guard who averages 8.5 points. The team’s top returning player is 6-10 sophomore forward Jalen Reed, who averages 11.0 points per game.

Dayton will play St. John’s (1-1) or North Texas (2-0) on the second day of the tournament. If Dayton wins Thursday, it will play in the semifinals at 2 p.m. Friday. If it loses Thursday, it will play in the consolation bracket at 11:30 a.m.

Dayton played in five November tournaments in coach Anthony Grant’s first six seasons, posting a record of 7-8. It won the ESPN Events Invitational two years ago but went 0-3 at the Battle for Atlantis last season.

“ESPN does a great job with all their events, putting quality teams together,” Grant said. “This is no different. I think we’ll get great competition throughout. Our focus is our side of the bracket. Obviously, Houston is on the other side of the bracket. I’m not even sure who else. We’ve got to take care of the first two days before we can worry about that.”

THURSDAY’S GAME

Dayton vs. LSU, 4 p.m., ESPN2, 1290, 95.7