LIVE UPDATES: Cincinnati vs. Dayton

This is not a normal November game. Cincinnati is walking into one of the nastiest environments on the early-season slate, and Dayton has every reason to make the night miserable.

The Flyers have dropped two straight at UD Arena. Northern Illinois beat Dayton 81-76 in overtime Saturday, and Siena followed Tuesday with a 99-89 victory. A sellout crowd of 13,407 began heading for the exits with two minutes remaining, according to the Dayton Daily News. Freshman guard Aiden Derkack did not hide his frustration afterward, telling the paper, “These two losses suck.”

Now Cincinnati comes up I-75. The Bearcats have not played at UD Arena since Dec. 4, 2004, when Cincinnati left with a 65-55 win. The last three meetings took place in Cincinnati: Dayton won 82-68 in December 2023, before the Bearcats answered with victories of 66-59 in December 2024 and 74-62 last November. After 22 years without hosting Cincinnati, Dayton finally gets the Bearcats back in the building following the worst week of the Flyers’ season.

Expect a packed, hostile building and a Dayton team that wants to make a statement from the opening tip. The Flyers will feed off the crowd, and every run will raise the temperature. For Cincinnati, the challenge goes well beyond handling a road game. The Bearcats must withstand an angry opponent playing with urgency in front of a crowd that has waited two decades for this matchup.

Cincinnati enters at 2-1 after wins over American (79-53) and Green Bay (81-64), followed by Monday’s 63-61 loss to Minnesota. The Bearcats led 61-54 with 2:37 remaining but failed to score again.

KenPom ranks Cincinnati No. 41 and Dayton No. 116. The gap looks significant on paper, but rankings will mean very little once the ball goes up. A desperate Dayton team at home presents a far different challenge than the numbers suggest.