Dayton vs. North Carolina: What to know about Monday’s game in Maui

The wide-ranging conversation touched on Toppin’s time at Dayton.

“I wanted people around me who were going to help me achieve the goals I wanted,” Toppin told Pinson. “I wanted them to tell me, ‘Yes, you can make it to the league if you stick to this, this and this.’ I went to Dayton, and that’s exactly what they gave me. First of all, the fans there are the best fans in the world. I ain’t gonna lie to you. I’m not just saying that because I went to Dayton.”

“It’s all good,” Pinson said.

“Have you ever been to a Dayton game?” Toppin asked.

“I have not,” Pinson said. “Have you ever been to a North Carolina game?”

“I have not,” Toppin said.

Pinson wondered if Toppin had seen the North Carolina fan experience.

Toppin said, “It’s North Carolina. You expect that.”

“That’s the problem,” Pinson said. “It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s Dayton,” Toppin said. “We have 9,000 to 10,000 people in our school. We’re selling out 14,000 to 15,000 every game.”

“I’ve watched Dayton games before,” Pinson said. “The game’s be lit.”

“Have you been in our gym?” Toppin asked.

“It’s small,” Pinson said.

“Our gym is probably better than your gym,” Toppin said.

UD Arena, of course, is not small by any measure. It seats 13,470, so it’s not quite as big as Toppin remembered. North Carolina’s Dean E. Smith Center seats 21,750, which makes it the third-largest Division I arena in the country.

“We had a big gym,” Toppin said. “We had the best, loudest fans.”

Many of those same fans traveled more than 4,000 miles west for the Maui Invitational. They did the same five years ago when Toppin helped lead Dayton to a championship game appearance against Kansas.

This year, Dayton fans can engage in the same sort of discussion with North Carolina fans on Monday, if they choose. The size of Dayton and North Carolina gyms won’t matter with both teams playing in the 2,500-seat Lahaina Civic Center in the final game of the first round.

Here are 10 things to know about the matchup:

1. Series history: Dayton leads the series against North Carolina 2-1.

• The Flyers won the last meeting 79-68 in the NIT championship game in 2010.

• North Carolina won the previous matchup 81-51 on Dec. 31, 2006.

• Dayton won the first game in the series 76-62 in the national semifinals in 1967.

2. Playing the ACC: Dayton is 3-3 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams in coach Anthony Grant’s tenure. It is 2-1 against ACC teams in November tournaments with a victory against Virginia Tech in the Maui Invitational semifinals in 2019, a victory against Miami in the first round of the ESPN Events Invitational in 2021 and a loss to North Carolina State in the consolation bracket of the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2022.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

3. High-ranked opponent: North Carolina ranked 10th in the Associated Press top-25 poll last week. A new poll will come out Monday before the game.

Dayton is 3-15 against top-10 teams since 2000 with wins against No. 4 Kansas in 2021 in the ESPN Events Invitational semifinals, No. 6 Pittsburgh in 2007 at UD Arena and No. 6 Maryland in the Maui Invitational third-place game in 2000.

4. Blue blood: Through the 2023-24 season, North Carolina (2,372-860, .734) ranked third behind Kentucky (2,398-758, .760) and Kansas in victories (2,393-896, .728) and second in win percentage in Division I. Dayton (1,759-1,161, .602) ranks 39th in victories and 48th in percentage.

North Carolina is tied with Connecticut for the third-most national championships (6) behind UCLA and Kentucky.

5. Recent history: North Carolina finished 29-8 last season and reached the Sweet 16 in coach Hubert Davis’ third. Davis, who played at North Carolina from 1988-92, guided the program to the national championship game in his first season in 2022. The Tar Heels lost 72-69 to Kansas.

6. Maui history: North Carolina has won the Maui title four times (1999, 2004, 2008 and 2016) in nine appearances. That’s second behind Duke, which has won five championships in six appearances.

Dayton has one championship (2003) in four appearances.

7. Top players: R.J. Davis, a 6-foot, fifth-year guard, leads the Tar Heels in scoring (17.8). He has 2,141 points in his career. He was a consensus first-team All-American last season.

• Elliot Cadeau, a 6-1 sophomore guard, ranks second on the team in scoring (16.0) and leads the team in assists (6.8). He was the No. 8 recruit in the class of 2023, according to Rivals.com.

• Seth Trimble, a 6-3 junior guard, averages 15.0.

8. Top newcomer: Ven-Allen Lubin, a 6-8 forward, is averaging 6.5 points in his first season at North Carolina after one season at Notre Dame and one at Vanderbilt.

9. Early schedule: North Carolina beat Elon 90-76 in its first game and then lost 92-89 to Kansas on Nov. 8. Against the Jayhawks, the Tar Heels rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit and led by two entering the final two minutes. They missed their last three shots, and Kansas star Hunter Dickinson scored three points in the final 77 seconds.

North Carolina routed American 107-55 on Nov. 15 and then traveled west early to play the University of Hawaii on Friday night. The Tar Heels won 87-69. It was a five-point game early in the second half. North Carolina then took control for good with an 11-0 run.

10. Odds and ends: Dayton has a 34% chance of winning, according to KenPom.com. The website predicts a 78-74 score. Dayton is No. 38. North Carolina is No. 11.

• Dayton will play No. 4 Auburn or No. 5 Iowa State on Tuesday. Dayton will play in the semifinals on ESPN at 11 p.m. (6 p.m. in Maui) if it wins Monday or in the consolation bracket on ESPNU at 8:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. in Maui) if it loses Monday.

Auburn plays Iowa State (3-0) in the third game Monday. The game starts at 4 p.m. in Maui and 9 p.m. in Ohio.

MONDAY’S GAME

Dayton vs. North Carolina, 11:30 p.m., ESPN2, 1290, 95.7