While the student body was enjoying Christmas break, the UD men's basketball team played a tough four-game stretch during the winter break: one against a schedule newcomer in Western Carolina, an annual rivalry game with Miami (Ohio), and two of on the road against a pair of nationally ranked teams, No. 10 Pittsburgh and No. 2 North Carolina.

Western Carolina 55, Dayton 66

Dayton, improving to 9-1, was led by a strong all-around performance by junior guard Brian Roberts. Roberts finished the game leading all players in points (17), rebounds (10), and assists (five), notching his first career double-double. Fellow junior forward Norman Plummer continued to flourish in his role as sixth-man, adding 15 points and five rebounds. Western Carolina opened the game in a shooting flurry and led early. With the Flyers leading after halftime 33-24, Western Carolina challenged and cut the deficit to three but never closer.

Miami (Ohio) 54, Dayton 56

The Flyers rallied late as they trailed by 14 points in both halves and came back twice to narrowly manage a victory over the rival Miami Redhawks. While the Flyers were out-shot and out-rebounded, they made up for it with aggressive defense coming up with 11 steals while forcing Miami to 19 turnovers. Dayton was led by sophomore forward Charles little (12 points, four rebounds) and Norman Plummer (nine points, 11 rebounds), who also hit the game-sealing free throws with 18.6 seconds left, while Miami was led by sophomore guard Eric Pollitz who had 16 points and 9 rebounds in playing the entire forty minutes.

The Redhawks began the game shooting well and pushed their lead to 23-9 midway through the first half. The Flyers ended the half with a 21-7 run, capped by a Brian Roberts trey, to tie the game a 30. The hard work to cut the deficit quickly went to waste as Miami again built a 14-point lead in the first six minutes of the second half. The Flyers again countered with a long run to tie the game at 50 with five minutes to go. The last five minutes were sloppy and foul-ridden. As the Flyers were leading by a margin of 54-52 and less than 20 seconds to go, Plummer nailed two free throws to put the game out of reach.

No. 10 Pittsburgh 84, Dayton 54

The Panthers entered the game coming off of two straight losses to No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 14 Oklahoma State. Though All-American center Aaron Gray only scored five points, strong defense and a yeoman-like effort on the boards helped the Panthers out-rebouns the Flyers on the boards 43-16. The Flyers played Pitt close early, and the game was tied at 16 midway through the first half. From that point on, Pittsburgh was knocking down shots and Dayton went cold. The Flyers were outmatched by the Panthers tough, stifling defense, shooting only 33 percent. Dayton's lone bright spot was Brian Roberts who went 6-14 from the field, hitting four of seven three pointers, and finished with 21 points.

No. 2 North Carolina 81, Dayton 51

Brian Roberts and the Flyers just could not sink baskets and fell behind early in the first half; they ended shooting 31 percent (18-59) to North Carolina's 54 percent (31-58). The Flyers should, however, be commended for their superb defense through 30 minutes of basketball. UNC led by double digits at halftime and looked very impressive in handling Dayton. There were a couple bright spots to the thumping, however. The Flyers held a team that averages 90 points per game to 34 in the first half. They forced UNC into 21 turnovers and Jimmy Binnie had a tremendous game defensively working extremely hard to cover freshman Brandon Wright. Regrettably, the Flyers shooting led to the loss and the game was much closer than the score will show.