DAYTON — The game will not appear on either school’s record, but a near-capacity crowd at UD Arena treated it like a conference showdown Saturday night as the University of Dayton beat Notre Dame 75-65 in the CareSource Invitational exhibition. Malcolm Thomas led the Flyers with 20 points, and Dayton closed the game on a 14-3 run over the final four and a half minutes to pull away from the Fighting Irish.
The Invitational is played to draw attention to mental health awareness and suicide prevention, a purpose head coach Anthony Grant has championed, and the evening included $10,000 checks presented to local school districts during the game. UD Arena, which holds 13,407, was nearly full — for an exhibition — with the full regular-season atmosphere on display, from the introductions to the student section rattling the building late in the second half.
Thomas, a 6-foot-9 junior and one of the few returning Flyers, supplied the energy all night. He finished 6 of 7 from the field and 7 of 12 at the foul line, with a game-high six rebounds, a steal and two blocked shots — including a first-half rejection of a driving Notre Dame guard that he said prides himself on delivering. After a quiet start, he scored 10 straight points in the first half to keep Dayton close, then scored seven straight late, capped by a three-pointer, to turn a 62-61 deficit with 4:15 left into a 70-62 lead with 2:25 to play.
Newcomer Landen Joseph, a sophomore guard transfer from Marshall, added 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including 3 of 5 from three-point range, in his first game in front of the home crowd. “That was amazing to see the arena filled up like that for a meaningless exhibition,” Joseph said. “It shows how much they support Dayton basketball. For me to be here, my first year, that meant a lot to me — and the team, of course.”
Dayton trailed for much of the night. Notre Dame led 20-15 midway through the first half and 38-33 at halftime, and still held the lead into the final five minutes before the Flyers’ full-court pressure wore the Irish down. Grant used 10 players, and all 10 scored, a show of depth Joseph said could wear other teams out as the season goes on. Thomas echoed that the performance was only a starting point after injuries limited him to brief appearances in 26 games last season, when he averaged four points a game.
One question from the exhibition is the quiet play of 7-foot-1 junior Amaël L’Etang, who went scoreless in 19 minutes against Notre Dame after a similarly quiet outdoor exhibition against Xavier last week. The Flyers will need more from their veteran center when the games start counting.
For now, though, the takeaway in Dayton is familiar: Flyer fans show up, no matter the stakes. “It’s the same crowd every night when we’re in here,” Thomas said. “I wasn’t surprised at all to see a packed-out house. There are a lot of Flyer fans.” Dayton now turns from exhibitions toward the regular season with a healthy Thomas, a deep rotation and a home crowd that needed no warm-up at all.