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Saint Louis (16-8, 8-3) at Dayton (16-9, 8-4) – 8:00 PM ET (ESPN2)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day is a sacred day on the Hoops HD Calendar as the first leg of the Arch Baron Cup takes place with the Dayton Flyers hosting the Saint Louis Billikens. Saint Louis snapped a 2-game losing streak at home with a 76-71 victory against Rhode Island. Prior to that game, the Billikens lost a pair of games against A-10 contenders Fordham on the road and at home against VCU despite a “Billiken Blizzard” promotion for the fans. Yuri Collins averages 11.7 points a game and 10.1 assists a game for SLU.
Dayton began the year ravaged with injuries and got off to a slow start thanks to losses at UNLV and an 0-3 trip to Atlantis during Thanksgiving. In their last game, the Flyers snapped a 3-game road losing streak with a 62-58 win at VCU in which Toumani Camara had 26 points and 15 boards. This game moved the Flyers to 1 game behind VCU in the standings and a half-game behind Saint Louis. DaRon Holmes is another potential candidate to win the Harewood Horse trophy as game MVP; he leads the Flyers with 17.6 points a game this season.
HOOPS HD DAILY RUNDOWN (From the Puppet):
-LMU is nowhere near the bubble, but they’ve pulled off two of the biggest upsets of the season this year. First with a 68-67 thriller on the road against Gonzaga back in January, and last night they defeated Saint Mary’s in overtime 78-74. SMC had a lead for most of regulation, but it was close all throughout, and they just couldn’t put the Lions away.
-USC had been playing really well, but they ran into a brick wall last night as Oregon just blew them off the floor 78-60. Oregon still has a lot of work to do, but they’ve now won six of their last eight and while their profile is still very questionable due to a subpar start to the season, they now are at least looking like an NCAA Tournament caliber team. They still have a ton of work to do to get their resume up to the level it needs to be at, though.
-KENT STATE AT BUFFALO (MAC). If Kent State win out and be the outright first place team in the MAC they could get a serious look from the committee, but even that may not be enough to get them in without the auto-bid.
-XAVIER AT BUTLER (Big East). Xavier has a very wide path to a protected seed and just needs to hold serve in games like this.
-SAINT LOUIS AT DAYTON (Atlantic Ten). There are three teams in the Atlantic Ten that could potentially be dangerous in the Round of 64 and these are two of them, but the real reason we are highlighting this game is because IT IS THE ARCH BARON CUP!!!!!! The Greatest and Most Intense Rivalry in Human History!!!!
-NEW MEXICO AT AIR FORCE (Mountain West). This should be a winnable conference road game for a New Mexico team that is inside the bubble and needs to hold serve in order to stay there.
-FRESNO STATE AT NEVADA (Mountain West). This should be a winnable conference home game for a Nevada team that is inside the bubble and needs to hold serve in order to stay there.