“It was a great atmosphere,” said Blakney, one of two players along with DaRon Holmes II to start all 35 games last season. “It was good for the guys to get out and do this for the fans.”
The starters wore the red jerseys and outscored the blue team 21-11 in the first period. The game had three periods. The Red team started Mustapha Amzil, Zimi Nwokeji, Georgia transfer Tyrone Baker, freshman Mike Sharavjamts and walk-on Brady Uhl.
Three players were unavailable because of injuries: Koby Brea; Richard Amaefule; and Kaleb Washington.
“We hope it’s not long term,” said Dayton coach Anthony Grant, whose team was named the preseason favorite in the Atlantic 10 Conference on Thursday. “We hope relatively soon we’ll be able to get those guys back. It’s just a process of making sure we’re taking care of their best interests.”
After the first period, players switched teams in the second period, and then they went back to the first-period teams in the final period.
Dayton started practice Sept. 26, so this scrimmage came about halfway through its preseason preparation. It can practice as many as 30 times in a 42-day stretch before the season opener Nov. 7, and it had a practice earlier in the day as well.
Dayton will next play a closed-door scrimmage Oct. 22 against West Virginia on the campus of Bethany College, near Wheeling, W.Va. There likely won’t be any stats or even a result released after that game. UD fans can see the team again at 7 p.m. Oct. 29 in an exhibition game against Capital University.
For the players, performing in front of the fans — albeit in front of a much smaller crowd than they’ll see all season because UD is close to selling out every home game for the second straight season — was a welcome departure from the typical workouts on campus at the Cronin Center.
“You try to go out there and play like you don’t notice it, like you don’t see it,” Nwokeji said, “but you feel the energy. You feel the love and support.”
Grant addressed the crowd after the game.
“I want to thank you guys for coming out,” Grant said. “We really appreciate your support. This is about our 14th or 15th practice of the season. Guys are working hard. We’re just excited about the upcoming season and excited to see this arena packed with the Flyer Faithful.”
This was the first Red & Blue Game in Grant’s six seasons as head coach. The game was last held in 2016. The arena was unavailable in the preseason from 2017-19 because of the three-year renovation project that always included work right up until the first preseason game.
There wasn’t a preseason scrimmage in 2020 because of the pandemic, and last year, the players held their own Fan Fest that included a less-intense scrimmage with little defense and many more dunks.
The Dayton women’s team kicked off the event by running through some drills and contests. Ball State transfer Sydney Freeman won a 3-point contest.
The women’s team didn’t have enough players to hold a 5-on-5 scrimmage. It has 10 scholarship players on the roster, and one of them, freshman Saija Cleveland, won’t play this season because of an ACL injury she suffered last season. Indiana State transfer Arianna Smith is also working her way back from an ACL injury but will play this season.
Dayton will play two preseason scrimmages against other Division I schools and will also hold two intrasquad scrimmages before it opens the season Nov. 7 at Providence.
“I thought today was good,” coach Tamika Williams-Jeter said. “Of course, you want to scrimmage. You want to see a little bit of what we have, but we’re licking some wounds right now and we need some practice players that weren’t here. I thought it was a great opportunity for our team to meet the fans a little bit, get to know them.”
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