“As competitors, it matters,” Dayton forward Nate Santos said, “but at the end of the day, there’s a bigger picture and meaning behind the game that we played. Emphasizing that is important.”
That was true in multiple ways. The exhibition games raised money for Jay’s Light and other suicide prevention organizations. They also gave the Flyers their first chance to play outside competition after 18 preseason practices.
Dayton was more competitive with Ohio State a year ago than it was with Xavier on Sunday, though this Xavier team, picked to finish third in the Big East, should be much better than that Ohio State team, which finished ninth in the Big East.
The Flyers beat Cedarville University, a Division II program, 75-40 in an exhibition game six days after losing to Ohio State last year. At 6 p.m. Sunday at UD Arena, they play another D-II program, Ashland University, in their second and final exhibition game before the season opener against St. Francis University on Nov. 4.
Ashland finished 17-11 overall last season and 11-9 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. Its top returning player is junior forward Maceo Williams, who averaged 14.5 points last season.
Ashland last played a Division I program in a preseason exhibition game before the 2021-22 season, beating Valparaiso 87-78. Dayton has won each of its last four exhibition games against lower-division opponents by at least 30 points.
Grant spread the minutes in both exhibition games last season, playing a deeper rotation than he did during the regular season. He did the same against Xavier. Eleven players saw action in the first nine minutes.
Dayton played an eight-man rotation last season with six players averaging more than 20 minutes and two averaging close to eight. The previous two seasons, eight players averaged at least 19 minutes.
Grant said he hasn’t determined how the minutes will be split this season. Five of the 11 players who earned time Sunday are newcomers. A sixth, Jaiun Simon, sat out last season as a redshirt.
“Hopefully, we will be able to play with some depth,” Grant said. “I think we’re going to discover as we go through these next couple of weeks what style fits this team best in terms of how we need to play to give the team the best chance to be the best version of itself. Hopefully, depth will be a strength of our team.”
Saturday’s game
Ashland at Dayton, 6 p.m., 1290, 95.7
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