Season starts with IPFW

Steven Wright – Sports Editor

A tedious preseason schedule finished, the University of Dayton men’s basketball team is set to enter

the regular season when it hosts Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne in its season opener

Saturday, Nov. 9, at 2 p.m. at the UD Arena.

Practicing since Sept. 28 and playing two exhibition games the previous two Saturdays, head coach

Archie Miller said prepping for a game week is a sudden adjustment.

“It’s kind of the calm before the storm,” Miller said. “You just got to take a deep breath and just

say, ‘alright, here it comes,’ because when it finally does arrive, it doesn’t stop. It’s a refreshing feeling.”

Dayton enters the regular season after two exhibition victories against Ryerson University and the

University of Findlay, the latter of which included 70 total fouls and 96 free throws between both teams.

Redshirt junior guard Jordan Sibert, a transfer from the Ohio State University, led Dayton in the two

exhibitions averaging 20 points per game, while redshirt senior guard Vee Sanford averaged 16.5.

Sophomore forward Devon Scott also will be playing for Dayton, who was suspended for the two

exhibition contests for a violation of team rules.

Dayton looked sharp offensively in its two exhibition victories, shooting 51 percent from the floor in the

two games, but Miller said there’s plenty of kinks to be worked out.

“Any home opener, you’re not as prepared as you are a couple weeks from now with footage or

understanding the game plan,” he said. “IPFW is going to come in here and they’re going to present us

with a lot of different types of challenges.”

IPFW finished 16-17 last season, and graduated its top scorer guard Frank Gaines, who was the

program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,841 points and ranked 21st in the country in scoring a year ago,

averaging 19.8 points per game.

The team will rely on senior guard Luis Jacobo, a preseason second team All-Summit League selection,

and senior forward Michael Kibiloski, who started 20 games last season after missing the team’s first six

contests.

“They’ve got a couple good big guys inside who can shoot the ball from a couple of positions,” Miller

said. “They’re very, very sound. We’re going to have to defend and obviously have to execute.”

Miller said his team’s defense is not where he wants it to be, going as far to say anyone who thought the

play was good were finding “fools good.” He said the team spent a lot of time this week in practice going

over its defensive problems and thinks the players have a better understanding of why they need to be

corrected quickly.

“We’re excited to play,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do and our kids, more importantly, are

tired of practicing against one another. And you really do truly figure out what you need to work on

when you start getting into it. We’re excited to get it kicked off.”