Dayton, Ohio State to play charity exhibition game in October

The game coincides with Dayton coach Anthony Grant’s efforts to raise awareness of mental health issues following the death of his daughter Jay, 20, on May 30, 2022. Grant talked about Jayda publicly for the first time in an interview for the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Medical & Health Symposium. Grant’s interview was titled, “Balancing the Effects of Mental Health, a Personal and Professional Story.”

“We can’t think of a better way to support Coach Grant and his family than helping to put together this event to reduce the stigma around mental health and suicide prevention,” said UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Neil Sullivan in a press release. “We are looking forward to sharing resources with the community and hopefully helping many other families.”

According to a UD press release, the exhibition game “will cap off a multi-day community engagement event championing adolescent and young adult mental health and suicide prevention.”

There will be a town hall meeting, which the public is invited to attend, on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 “with a specific focus on helping individuals and families navigate finding the right mental health care for themselves and their loved ones.” Grant and his wife Chris will attend. Mental health experts, student-athletes and coaches from each university are expected to attend. A detailed schedule will be announced in the fall.

“We look forward to partnering with Anthony and Dayton on this exhibition game at UD Arena,” Ohio State Coach Chris Holtmann said in a press release. Anthony’s willingness to share his family’s story in hopes of helping others is inspirational and we appreciate him including Ohio State in this event. We are excited that the proceeds will benefit the Ohio Suicide Prevention Foundation and other local organizations.”

In a press release, Grant thanked Holtmann and Athletic Director Gene Smith for participating in the event.

“They have been incredibly gracious partners and we’re thankful for their participation,” Grant said. “More importantly, the game is a collaborative effort to help raise awareness, generate conversation and increase access to mental health services in Ohio and throughout the country.”

Since 2018, the NCAA has allowed Division I programs to play waiver-approved charity games. For example, West Virginia and Duquesne played a charity game to benefit the Dayton Foundation’s Oregon District Tragedy Fund in 2019.

This will be the first charity game Dayton has played and also the first for Ohio State. It will be the first meeting between Dayton and Ohio State since the 2014 NCAA tournament when the Flyers upset the Buckeyes on a last-second shot by Vee Sanford in Buffalo. The teams also played in the NIT in 2008 with Ohio State winning 74-63 in Columbus.

Ohio State and Dayton have not played in the regular season since Dec. 17, 1988, when Ohio State won 104-76 at UD Arena.

That 1988 game was the last of a four-game series in a four-year stretch. Prior to that, the only meetings between Dayton and Ohio State took place in the 1913-14, 1914-15, 1915-16 and 1933-34 seasons.

This exhibition game will take place 15 days before the start of the college basketball season. Ohio State plays Oakland in its opener Nov. 6. Dayton has not announced its non-conference schedule. Its first known game will be Nov. 10 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.

The exhibition game replaces the closed-door scrimmage Dayton plays every season. The Flyers played West Virginia in the so-called “secret scrimmages” the last two seasons. It has not been decided if UD will still host a Red & Blue Game as it did last year for the first time since 2016.

Ohio State finished 16-19 overall last season and 5-15 in the Big Ten. It lost three of its top-four scorers but returns two double-digit scorers in guard Bruce Thornton and forward Zed Key.