“We have Northwestern coming back home,” Sullivan said. “We’re trying to get the UNLV game back on the docket for this year.”
Sullivan also said Dayton was working on scheduling Cincinnati again. UD beat the Bearcats 82-68 at the Heritage Bank Center in Cincinnati last December. Jon Rothstein, of CBS Sports, reported Thursday UD and UC are close to finalizing an agreement to play again at that downtown Cincinnati arena next season.
Dayton’s best non-conference opportunities will come in the Maui Invitational from Nov. 25-27. The eight-team field includes two-time defending national champion Connecticut, plus North Carolina, Michigan State, Auburn, Colorado, Iowa State and Memphis.
“The Maui field next year is loaded,” Sullivan said. “It’s maybe one of the best ever.”
Dayton finished 10-2 in non-conference play last season. It would have played 13 games, but a home game against UNLV was cancelled because of a shooting that took place on the UNLV campus on the day of the game. Dayton played at UNLV a year earlier and lost 60-52.
Dayton and Northwestern will play for the second straight season. The Flyers lost 71-66 at Northwestern in the second game last season.
A Big Ten team hasn’t played the Flyers in Dayton in 27 years. Northwestern was also the last Big Ten team to play the Flyers on their home court. Dayton won that matchup 77-69 on Dec. 27, 1997.
“Our schedule has to be elite,” Sullivan said, “and frankly our scheduling is what propelled our opportunity to get a No. 7 seed this year. We aim to do that every year.”
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