Davidson hosts No. 22 Dayton

Jan 20, 2015 - 3:24 PM Davidson, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - With an eight-game win streak in tow, the 22nd-ranked Dayton Flyers head out on the road on Tuesday for an Atlantic 10 Conference showdown with the Davidson Wildcats at Belk Arena.

Archie Miller's Flyers are an impressive 15-2 on the season and have actually won 13 of their last 14 games with the lone loss during that span, a 69-55 setback at Arkansas on Dec. 13. The team has started league play out at 5-0 after Saturday's 61-45 rout of Saint Louis. Dayton is seeking its first 6-0 start to league play since the 2003-04 campaign.

Bob McKillop's Wildcats are one of the more dangerous teams in the A-10. Davidson is 12-4 overall and 3-2 in league play after Saturday's disappointing 89-63 blasting at the hands of Richmond on the road. The Wildcats, who opened the season with nine wins in their first 10 games, have now split their last six outings. Davidson comes in with a stellar 8-1 record at home this season.

Davidson has won all three previous meetings with Dayton. However, this series has been idle since 1973.

The Flyers are a defensive-minded squad that likes to enforce their will at that end of the floor first. The team has done well in that regard, holding opponents to just 58.1 ppg and a mere .387 shooting from the floor. The tight defense extends beyond the arc, where foes are connecting on a meager .296 from long range. The team boasts of a trio of double-digit scoring averages, with senior guard Jordan Sibert's 15.7 ppg representing the best of the bunch. Junior forward Dyshawn Pierre (12.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg) and sophomore forward Kendall Pollard (10.5 ppg) provide depth.

Dayton held Saint Louis to an ugly 37-percent shooting performance and outscored the Billikens 21-5 at the free-throw line to keep the win streak going. Pollard led the way, converting 8-of-10 shots from the floor and pacing all scorers with 20 points. Sibert wasn't far behind with 18 points, while Pierre recorded a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Unlike the Flyers, the Wildcats are more of an offensive juggernaut. Davidson leads the A-10 and ranks seventh nationally in scoring at 82.4 ppg. The team is shooting an efficient .474 from the floor overall, and utilizes the 3- pointers as much as any team in the nation, averaging 10.6 made 3-pointers per game. Scoring depth isn't a problem, as five Wildcats are currently averaging double figures, led by Tyler Kalinoski (16.4 ppg) and Jack Gibbs (15.8 ppg), who rank seventh and ninth in the conference in scoring, respectively. Jordan Barham (10.7 ppg), Brian Sullivan (10.6 ppg) and Peyton Aldridge (10.1 ppg) provide more than enough options at the offensive end.

The offensive performance that Davidson displayed against Richmond was certainly an anomaly. The Wildcats shot just 40 percent from the floor overall, a number skewed by an ugly 6-of-22 effort from 3-point range. Kalinoski had a strong outing, finishing with 20 points, on 6-of-12 shooting, with four 3-pointers. However, only Sullivan joined Kalinoski in double digits, chipping in with 10 points in the lopsided loss.