Flyers play No. 2 UConn on the final day of the Maui Invitational

High above the pitch, more banners hang from the ceiling to honor past champions. The logos of two of those champions, Dayton and Connecticut, are right next to each other.

Dayton won the 2003 Maui Invitational in his second appearance. Connecticut won the tournament in 2005 and 2010.

No. 2 UConn, the two-time defending champion, traveled to Maui this year expecting to win its third title. Dayton also expected to be able to compete, because that’s always the case on Maui and they’ve won at least two games in every appearance.

Instead, Dayton and UConn will play the final game of the tournament, the seventh-place game, on Wednesday. It starts at midnight in Ohio and 7 p.m. in Maui. It will air on ESPN2.

This will be the first seventh-place game to feature two former Maui champions, especially because Division II Chaminade University, the tournament host, has played and lost many times over the years. Chaminade now competes in the tournament every two years.

Either Dayton or UConn will become only the second former champion to lose the seventh-place game. Illinois won the championship in 2012 and lost in the seventh-place game in 2013.

Dayton played a higher-ranked team in each round of the 2024 Maui Invitational: No. 12 North Carolina; No. 5 Iowa State; and now No. 2 Connecticut. The Flyers lost 92-90 to North Carolina on Monday and 89-84 to Iowa State on Tuesday. Both games were decided in the last minute.

“I think we’ve proven that we’re one of the top 25 teams in this country and we can compete with anybody,” Dayton guard Malachi Smith said Tuesday. “We played two great teams … and it came down to two possessions in both games. I think we were in control of both games, but I think we learned something about ourselves. I needed a few Ls, but I’ll convert them into lessons.”

Dayton has not lost three games in a row since finishing last in the Battle 4 Atlantis in 2022. UConn, which is riding a 17-game winning streak in this tournament, has lost three games all of last season and has not lost three consecutive conference games since the 2017-18 season.

Photo credit: David Jablonski

Photo credit: David Jablonski

Here are five things you should know about the game:

1. Series history: Dayton has won two of three games against UConn. All three games took place as part of tournaments.

• On March 10, 1982, Dayton defeated UConn 76-75 in overtime in the first round of the NIT at UD Arena. Sean McNally got the go-ahead goal with 44 seconds left in overtime. Roosevelt Chapman scored 21 points for Dayton.

• On Nov. 20, 2000, Dayton beat No. 12 UConn 80-66 in the first round of the Maui Invitational. Yuanta Holland scored 24 points for Dayton.

• On November 21, 2014, UConn defeated Dayton 75-64 in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Ryan Boatright scored 20 points for the Huskies.

2. Surprise possibility: Dayton hasn’t beaten a top-two team since it beat No. 2 Notre Dame 97-82 at UD Arena in 1974. It has lost its last nine games to first- or second-place teams. The last opportunity came in the 2014 NCAA Tournament, when the team lost 62-52 to No. 1 Florida in the Elite Eight.

Dayton is 3-18 against the top two teams. It beat No. 1 Duquesne in 1954 and No. 1 Seton Hall in 1953.

3. Surprising Losses: UConn lost to Memphis 99-97 in overtime on Monday. Memphis blew a 13-point lead in the second half. UConn’s Solo Ball hit a game-winning 3-pointer with one second left in the second half, sending the game into overtime.

In overtime, Memphis was able to overcome a deficit of 90:86. Then, with the game tied at 92, a foul on UConn and a technical foul on the UConn bench led to Memphis having a four-point possession, all free throws, with 40 seconds left.

On Tuesday, Colorado rallied from an eight-point halftime deficit to beat UConn 73-72. Eight seconds before the end, Andrej Jakimovski scored the game-winning shot.

“Obviously we didn’t expect to find ourselves out here in this position,” UConn coach Dan Hurley said. “But here we are.” Defensively in the second half was just really, really bad. We were poor defensively here. Then of course I think the foul also took its toll.”

Photo credit: David Jablonski

Photo credit: David Jablonski

4. Top players: Alex Karaban, a 6-foot-8 junior forward, leads UConn in scoring (15.0 points per game). He had 19 points against Memphis but only six against Colorado.

• Liam McNeeley, a 6-7 freshman forward, is averaging 14 points. He scored 10 and 20 points in the first two games.

5. Little things: KenPom. com gives Dayton a 36% chance of winning and predicts a score of 76-72.

• This is the first time Dayton has faced top-five opponents in back-to-back games since 1984, when it beat No. 3 DePaul at UD 72-71 and then the same DePaul team now on the fifth place, losing 79-59 four days later.

• In other Maui games on Wednesday.

In the fifth-place game, Colorado plays Iowa State at 2:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m.).

• In the championship game, Memphis will play Auburn at 5 p.m. (noon on Maui). Neither team has won the tournament in previous appearances.

• In the third-place game, Michigan State plays North Carolina at 9:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m.).