“I felt great,” Cunningham said. “The legs are a little tired since that is the first game I’ve played that amount of minutes. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I’m glad coach gave me the opportunity to go out there and get in the flow of the game.
This was Cunningham’s second game back after tearing a ligament in his ankle in the second game of the season Nov. 15 at Alabama. He played two minutes Friday in a 75-74 victory at Rhode Island. His presence provides a big boost down the stretch. For the first time all season, the Flyers have the rotation they expected when the season began.
“We’re going to have to test run him like this,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “It was a better opportunity to get some minutes. Now he has some footage on film, and we can continue to work with him. He’s not close to where he was conditioning-wise, but I think he got a chance to see he can help us, especially in and around the basket, and as his conditioning goes up, hopefully we can have another guy who can help us rebound.”
New look: The Flyers wore blue hoodies onto the court before the game. It wasn't cold, but they just added them to their pregame uniform wardrobe and decided to debut them.
Next game: Dayton plays St. Bonaventure at 2 p.m. Saturday at UD Arena. The Bonnies (15-9, 7-5) began the week tied for fifth place with George Mason (17-8, 7-5) and La Salle (13-10, 7-5).
Dayton beat St. Bonaventure 90-74 in Olean, N.Y., on Jan. 3 in its second A-10 game. Kendall Pollard scored 21 points. The Flyers broke up a close game by shooting 69.2 percent from the field in the first half. For the game, they made 14 of 23 3-pointers (60.9 percent).
Around the A-10: Virginia Commonwealth beat St. Joseph's 91-81 in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday. The Rams (21-5, 11-2) kept pace with the Flyers atop the A-10.
George Mason (18-8, 8-5) beat Richmond 93-70. The Spiders (15-10, 9-4) fell two games behind Dayton and VCU.
Rhode Island (15-9, 9-3) is the other team in the top four. The Rams host Fordham at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
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