History of the Flyers’ series against North Carolina, UD’s first-round opponent in the Maui Invitational

Here’s a look back at each game:

March 24, 1967 (Louisville, Kentucky): Dayton 76, North Carolina 62

Summary: This game, which was arguably the biggest win in UD history as it occurred in the Final Four, catapulted Dayton to a national championship game appearance against UCLA.

Dayton Daily News game story by Bill Clark: In the days of World War II, for many souls there was nothing more than a wing and a prayer.

For University of Dayton basketball All-American Donnie May, the word tonight is “a cool head and an Immaculate Conception Medal.” May and his Flyer teammates will play UCLA for the 1967 National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball championship at 9:30 p.m.

Since entering the tournament two weeks ago with four wins, the Flyers have been on the safe side of losing.

But Dayton’s basketball team didn’t care.

“We don’t want to get too excited and nervous about anything,” May said after leading the way with 34 points and 15 rebounds in Friday’s 76-62 win over North Carolina for the NCAA Eastern Championship.

May & Co., in particular, are trying to keep a cool head when it comes to UCLA, which, as expected, captured Western honors with a 73-58 win over Houston in game two on Friday night.

The Flyers will tell you that their ability to relax and view increasingly important tournament games against Western Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia Tech and North Carolina as “just another game” has been a major key to their success.

Can you really relax while playing No. 1 UCLA for the national championship? May was asked.

“Yeah, I think so,” May replied matter-of-factly. “We’ve gone so far.”

As the man said, “What have we got to lose now?”

May felt he was particularly effective on Friday “because I could hit the outside shot.” It gave me more confidence. I didn’t hit that many, but the shots I did hit stopped my defender from throwing me off the field. Since he (either Larry Miller or Bill Bunting from North Carolina) played me tight, I was able to get around him for the inside shots.”

After missing his first shot of the game three minutes old, May shot 13 straight times from the floor. In the final 17 minutes of the first half and the first four minutes and 30 seconds of the second half, Don didn’t miss a single shot despite firing them.

May “doesn’t want to say what effect” the medal tucked in the waistband of his uniform trousers had on his playing. “But it will stay that way until the championship game,” he added, raising his voice.

May had these thoughts about Dayton’s biggest win in his 64-year basketball career: “We knew the North Carolina game was a special game. But we don’t get excited or make any noise. We just try to do our work with a no-nonsense attitude. And Coach Don Donoher only gets upset when a game is canceled.

“When we got the NCAA bid, we didn’t think we would make it to the finals. We just hoped for the best. If you worry about your performance, you won’t do well. I know, I don’t think Lew Alcindor will worry about a guy like me.

“Am I excited? Oh yes. The win against North Carolina put us in the big show – the biggest show.”

December 31, 2006 (Chapel Hill, NC): North Carolina 81, Dayton 51

Summary: After a 10-1 start, this was the second straight 30-point loss en route to top-10 teams. The Flyers lost to No. 2 North Carolina 84-54 at No. 7 Pittsburgh eight days before that game.

Dayton Daily News game story by Kyle Nagel: Just before the pregame introduction, the Smith Center announcer greeted “Dayton University.” Things didn’t get much better from there.

The University of Dayton men’s basketball team entered the Dean Dome in North Carolina on Sunday against the relatively sloppy Tar Heels, but the Flyers’ shooting woes handed them their second loss to a top-seven opponent in nine days, this time by 81- 51.

Dayton made just 18 of 59 shots, while the second-place Tar Heels (12-1) committed 21 turnovers (seven more than their average) and substituted liberally.

“We knew what a challenge this was going to be,” Dayton coach Brian Gregory said. “This is undoubtedly a team capable of winning the national championship.”

In Dayton’s three road games – against SMU on Nov. 18, No. 7 Pittsburgh on Dec. 23 and No. 2 North Carolina – the Flyers (10-3) have shot 50 of 161, or 31 percent. When the score was 9-0 at UD Arena, Dayton hit 46.1 percent of its shots.

Brian Roberts, UD’s leading scorer, scored 14 points on 5 of 17 shooting. Freshman Marcus Johnson added 14 points and Monty Scott had 11.

Roberts scored the first basket of the game before North Carolina scored 10 straight points to take a 12-2 lead with 14:35 left in the first half. The Flyers got within five points (17-12) on a Norman Plummer free throw with 9:03 left, but the Tar Heels outscored UD 17-6 as Dayton continually missed close scoring opportunities and trailed 34-18 at halftime .

UNC opened with 12 points in the first four minutes of the second half to lead 46-25. The Tar Heels maintained their lead at over 20 the rest of the way.

“We’re far from discouraged, and I think that’s a positive,” Gregory said.

April 1, 2010 (New York, NY): Dayton 79, North Carolina 68

Summary: Dayton made the most of an NIT bid after missing the NCAA Tournament thanks to four losses in the final five games of the regular season and a subsequent loss to Xavier in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Dayton Daily News game story by Doug Harris: After all of his players cut off a piece of the NIT championship net, University of Dayton coach Brian Gregory climbed the ladder, made the final cut and waved it in the air as several thousand red-clad Flyers fans raised the needle of the applause meter buried.

After a regular season full of occasional highs but mostly discouraging lows, UD put together an impressive streak of five straight wins – four of them against BCS Conference schools – and captured the program’s third NIT title. After building a 13-point lead in the first half on Thursday, April 1, the Flyers withstood a formidable attack from North Carolina but were able to pull out a 79-68 victory in front of 9,827 fans at Madison Square Garden.

“I’m beaten up,” an emotionally exhausted Gregory admitted afterward. As his eyes moistened, he added, “I love these guys. They mean so much to me. If you measure a man’s character not by his success, but by how he responds to failure and disappointment, there is no tool to measure how much these guys get out of it.”

Chris Johnson was named Most Outstanding Player and, unlike Bill Chmielewski, the Flyers’ MVP of the 1962 title run, who famously wore the silver trophy as a hat, held the trophy above his head. The sophomore star had 14 points against the Tar Heels (20-17) and 36 points and 19 rebounds in the two games here.

“I’m just happy. I was bruised, but I got to experience a championship,” Johnson said. “I couldn’t let my team down. I had to be here because of my seniors.” Marcus Johnson, who also made the all-tournament team, scored a game-high 20 points, while Paul Williams added 16 and Chris Wright 14. His seven points made it 62-59 with 30 remaining, the Flyers (25-12) pulled away to a 10-4 lead with eight points going to Chris Johnson. His 3-pointer made it 72-63 with 2:50 left.

“We played so well up to this point, but we didn’t finish the job,” UNC coach Roy Williams said. “Congratulations to Dayton. They are so active and their intensity is so high. We had a good run, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”