The long wait is nearly over and the opponent is now known. Dayton will open up the Atlantic 10 tournament on Friday against Massachusetts.

The Flyers didn’t receive much help for their at-large hopes on Thursday so it’ll be important that Dayton forgets about the outside noise and takes care of the business in front of them.

Massachusetts is a desperate team, playing for their fired head coach. Since the announcement on March 1st that Matt McCall would not return next season, the Minutemen have gone 3-0 and scored 80-plus points in all three games. On Thursday, they defeated seven seeded George Washington, 99-88.

In the win, Noah Fernandes scored a career-high 29 points, had seven steals, and seven assists. He was 11-17 from the floor and 5-6 from the line. He was held scoreless in the first meeting with Dayton, battling foul trouble all game long.

Rich Kelly was unable to get it going against UD either, finishing with nine points in 31 minutes. All nine of Kelly’s points came in the second half. He is Massachusetts’ top three-point threat at 46.2%.

Michael Steadman had a solid game against the Flyers with 14 points by getting to the line and connecting on 6-8 free throws. He did not play in Thursday’s tournament game and his status is unknown for Friday.

Massachusetts is a dangerous team if they are hitting from the perimeter. They put up 29 three-pointers on Thursday, making 12 of them. Four guys made at least two threes, including T.J. Weeks who scored 15 points on 4-7 from the perimeter.

Trent Buttrick (3-5 3PT) and C.J. Kelly (2-4 3PT) finished with 13 points and 15 points, respectively. Buttrick had a monster night on the glass, pulling down 16 rebounds in the second round win.

Dayton was +12 in rebounds during the first meeting and shot 58.8% from the three-point line. They were 57.1% from the floor overall. Defense will be key. They held UMass to 9-28 from the arc in the first meeting.

The Flyers will be a heavy favorite, but they need to ensure they show up with a purpose. Massachusetts is playing loose, pockets lined with house money and that’s a dangerous combination when they have the ability to change the game from the three-point line (37.4%).

Dayton and Massachusetts will tip at 6:00 p.m. from Capital One Arena with the game being televised nationally on USA Network.