No. 9 BYU vs. Dayton: Three Thoughts Entering ESPN Events Championship
Nov 28, 2025, 7:00 AM | Updated: 2:09 pm
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – BYU basketball is looking for its first Multi-Team Event championship in the Kevin Young era when they square off against the Dayton Flyers tonight in the ESPN Events Invitational Championship.
A win would give BYU its second MTE title in three years as a program.
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They take on a Dayton program from the Atlantic 10 that is 6-1 overall this season. Dayton defeated Georgetown on Thursday, 84-79 in overtime.
The Flyers have two wins this season over Big East opponents. Their lone loss was against Cincinnati from the Big 12 on November 11. They have since reeled off four consecutive wins.
BYU and Dayton last met in the 2022 Battle 4 Atlantis.
Dayton had a 23-point lead over BYU, but the Cougars, which featured a freshman Richie Saunders, stormed back to pull off the 79-75 overtime victory.
Earlier this week, here in Florida, Saunders said that the win over Dayton was one of his favorite memories in MTEs during his career.
BYU vs. Dayton: Three Thoughts
Here are three thoughts entering the ESPN Events Invitational Championship.
1. Championship crowd should be electric
BYU fans took over the State Farm Field House on Thanksgiving night. You would never have known that BYU was the team located 2,000 miles away from Miami, based in the state of Florida.
BYU fans made their presence to create a memorable environment in the 72-62 win over Miami last night.
The second-best attended fan base here at the ESPN Events Invitational is Dayton.
Dayton fans always show up to MTEs to support their Flyers. Between the Cougar and Flyer fans, this should be a fun scene to claim the title in the ESPN Events Invitational.
2. Defense continues to show up for BYU basketball
BYU head coach Kevin Young was confident that his second roster was built to be much improved on the defensive end of the floor. In the past two games, BYU has been excellent on defense.
BYU enters tonight’s matchup ranked No. 18 in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency defense metrics.
Keba Keita was a big reason for BYU’s success on the defensive end in last night’s win over Miami. Keita recorded seven blocks against the Hurricanes, the most by a BYU player in a single game since Shawn Bradley posted 10 blocks 35 years ago in the NCAA Tournament against Virginia.
BYU is going up against a Dayton team that played nine players in their overtime win over Georgetown on Thursday night. The Flyers had 20 points from their bench.
Dayton is 183rd nationally in scoring offense at 78.2 points per game and is 294th in three-point percentage at 29.9% this season.
3. Does Kennard Davis make it a “Big Four” for BYU?
The return of Kennard Davis from a two-game suspension was significant for BYU on the court. In his return to the floor, Davis scored a game-high 18 points for BYU, and he knocked down four of his seven 3-point attempts.
With the injury suffered by Dawson Baker last night, BYU’s rotation potentially got a little tighter. Having consistent production on a nightly basis from Davis to pair up with BYU’s “Big Three” of AJ Dybantsa, Richie Saunders, and Rob Wright is quite the quartet of firepower on both ends of the floor.
As Dybantsa noted on Thursday, Davis might be BYU’s “best perimeter defender” on this team. His impact is felt on both ends of the floor.
No. 9 BYU vs. Dayton
2025 Terry’s Chocolate ESPN Events Invitational Championship
Date: Friday, November 28, 2025
Tip-off: 7:30 p.m. (MST)/9:30 p.m. (EST)
TV: ESPN
Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM)
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast daily on KSL Sports YouTube and KSL NewsRadio (SUBSCRIBE). Harper also co-hosts Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL NewsRadio.
Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU athletics in the Big 12 Conference on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram: @Mitch_Harper.
