Don't look now, but Dayton-Xavier is here already.

The Flyers (13-3, 2-0 Atlantic 10) will travel to the Cintas Center to take on archrival Xavier (11-5, 3-0) in an early Atlantic 10 matchup. The matchup is coming sooner than it has in past seasons, where Dayton and Xavier would not meet for the first time until late January or early February. The game is Dayton's second straight away from home, which makes it an even greater challenge.

"It will be our second road game of the week, which is always difficult," Head Coach Brian Gregory said.

He also stressed the importance of performing well to keep a good start in the conference.

"It's an important conference game this early," he said. "You want to be able to establish yourself in terms of being able to perform well on the road and doing well in the league."

Aside from it being a key conference game, this game is important because of the rivalry between the schools, which is not lost on the players or coaches. They feel the same extra desire to beat Xavier that all UD fans bring to UD Arena when Xavier visits.

"We have such a great rivalry with Xavier," Gregory said. "That rivalry has gone on for so many years and had so many great games that adds even more importance to it."

One reason the rivalry is so strong between the two teams is because most of the players have history together. The schools' close proximity to one another creates competition for recruiting as well.

"These guys on both these teams that have played against each other a lot," Gregory said. "They've [Xavier] recruited some of the guys we have playing, and we've recruited some of the guys they have playing, so all of that adds to the atmosphere of the game."

The matchup has been dominated by Xavier in recent years, winning six of the last eight meetings. Dayton got its first win over Xavier since 2006 last year, however, and they will look to improve on that this year.

It has been 19 years since the Flyers have been able to win at Xavier, making it one of the only things the class of seniors on Dayton's team has failed to accomplish so far.

"I think our seniors understand that they haven't won there and that's enough on their minds," Gregory said.

While Dayton certainly appears to have the talent to beat Xavier, Gregory respects the Musketeers a great deal and understands the task of beating them in Cincinnati is a monumental one.

"You have to play great for 40 minutes," he said. "We haven't been able to do that. They've had some tremendous players there, and that obviously makes it difficult as well. Every year is different and every team is different year in and year out so what's happened in the past doesn't necessarily affect what's going to happen in the present."

The Musketeers boast a host of talent and potential problems for any opponent. They are led in scoring by sophomore guard Jordan Crawford, averaging 19.3 points per game. Senior center Jason Love and sophomore guard Terrell Holloway each also score in double figures at 10.7 points each. Love is also hauling in 9.5 rebounds per game.

Gregory said one thing the Flyers will have to be able to deal with is Xavier's ability to give opponents multiple looks.

"They are able to go big with Love and Frease, or there are times when they put four guards out there," Gregory said. "They throw a lot at you that you have to be ready for."

The game is set to air on ESPN2 at 11 a.m. Saturday. It will be Dayton's first of five games on ESPN's family of networks as the team looks to stay unbeaten in the A-10.