Dayton Heads Into The Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament

While the rest of us are eating relaxing at home over Thanksgiving break, the Dayton men’s basketball team will be aiming to maintain its unbeaten record at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

“This will be a good next step for us,” head coach Anthony Grant said. “It’s a great tournament and it always has been. I’m really excited to have our guys participate in it.”

The Flyers’ first test in the Bahamas will be against Butler, who’s also undefeated.

“We get to take on a Butler team who’s playing really well, I’m looking forward to it,” Grant said.

Beyond the Wednesday game against the Bulldogs, Dayton has games on Thursday and Friday as well, making it three games in three days.

“It’s going to be really tough, but we’ve been working hard,” said junior Jhery Matos. “The preparation has been good, we’re having fun in practice and we’re looking forward to having some good games over there.”

Dayton is now fully healthy with redshirt senior Josh Cunningham returning from a wrist injury that kept him out of the first two games this season. Cunningham’s strong performance in his return means the Flyers now have six players averaging double-digits in scoring.

“I think with every game, we get a little bit better, and we learn more about ourselves,” Grant said.

Depending on the results, the Flyers could get a crack at some amazing competition very early in the season, including ranked teams Wisconsin (No. 25) and Virginia (No. 4). Dayton, however, isn’t worried about that yet.

“Right now, the focus is on Butler,” Grant said. “That’s the only thing we know for sure is in front of us. So, we have to give them our full attention.”

Dayton’s first game against Butler will be broadcasted on ESPNNews on Wednesday at 7 p.m.