Today at 12:15 p.m. ET, the No. 11 Dayton Flyers (23-10) and No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes (25-9) tipoff in Round 2 of the NCAA March Madness Tournament live from the first Niagara Center in Buffalo. The game can be live streamed for free here and can also be seen on CBS Network. Fans of both teams can hear all of the action on 97.1 The Fan
Dayton coach Archie Miller is very familiar with Ohio State head coach Thad Matta and knows to expect a highly competitive contest.
'You know how it is. He'll walk around with a smile on his face,'' Miller said Wednesday, according to CBS Sports. ''But he's going to try to stomp your head in the first chance you get.''
Miller and Matta have known each other for 20-plus years, adding intrigue to this Battle of Ohio, but Matta downplayed any outside storylines heading into the big contest where these two teams will clash for just the 10th time ever and first time since 2008.
''I think people want to put tags on situations,'' Matta told CBS Sports. ''But for us, and for Dayton, you win or you go home. There's not a whole lot more than that.''
The Buckeyes will look for Aaron Craft and Lenzelle Smith Jr. to provide the experience factor on a team that has combined for 53 games of experience in the tournament.
"We've gone through it enough that we know and can help our team, lead and be ready to play," Craft said, according to CBS Sports.
Miller described Craft as someone who can "wreck your half-court game by himself" as Ohio State will look to smother Dayton with its defense.
Ohio State will be looking to get back to its winning ways after starting off the season 15-0 but finishing 10-9, capped off with a 72-69 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten semifinals on Saturday.
Dayton, meanwhile, finished strong after limping out to a 1-5 start by winning 10 of their last 12 games.
The "Battle for Ohio" kicks off this afternoon when Dayton and Ohio State take the court live from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
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