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Most head coaches will tell you that most of what their team is concerned with is getting better every day.

It may sound cliche, but for men's basketball head coach Brian Gregory, taking a step forward with each day and with each game is all he and his staff are concerned about. Gregory was pleased to see that his Flyers team did just that in its final exhibition game this season with a 71-61 win over Northern Kentucky Monday night at UD Arena.

Marcus Johnson and Chris Wright saw game action for the first time this season after both missed the exhibition opener against the Ferris State Bulldogs last week. Wright had a sore ankle and Johnson sat out against FSU due to missed practice time to attend a funeral. The dynamic duo's return was noticeable.

"One guy flying from the right wing, the other guy flying from the left wing-maybe the two best in the country combination wise," Gregory said of Wright and Johnson. "Then you add Chris Johnson into the mix and all three guys run like that-that's pretty good."

Marcus Johnson led the Flyers with 13 points, 3 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench.

"It felt great to be back with my teammates tonight," Johnson said. "We did some great things out there tonight."

He added that although the team played well, they are not comfortable with their performance.

"There's always room for improvement," he said. "With these next couple days to get ready for Creighton-we're going to prepare for them well and be ready for Saturday."

Wright also had a strong night in his first action this season as he pitched in 11 points, five boards and one block.

"I was just happy to be back out there with my team, my brothers," Wright said. "We were having fun out there. We wanted to see where we were after a solid week of practice."

Johnson and Wright picked up right where they left off last season as two high flyers who love to slam the ball home with authority. Each of them had a few dunks that brought the UD crowd of just over 11,000 to their feet.

"It was fun; that's part of our game," Wright said of the slams. "That's what we do. We're energetic and we get the crowd going and we get the team going but you know after a dunk like that you know you got to lock up on defense and that's what we like to do."

Defense was among one of the many things that the Flyers improved on from the first exhibition game last week to Monday night against NKU. Dayton improved its free throw percentage by 33 percent, out rebounded the Norse by three, allowed the Norse 12 less points than the Bulldogs, held the Norse to 40 percent shooting and (perhaps the most glaring improvement) and the Flyers only committed six turnovers after turning the ball over 23 times against Ferris State.

While UD did show much improvement Monday night, they know they will need to bring their "A+" game against a very solid Creighton Blue Jays team that pounded the Flyers 77-59 last December in Omaha, Neb.

The regular season and home opener for the Flyers tips off Saturday, 1 p.m. at UD Arena.