Notre Dame and Dayton have agreed to play a preseason men’s basketball game to benefit charity, the programs announced this week.
The proceeds from the matchup will support adolescent and young adult mental health initiatives. The game will be played at the UD Arena as part of an ongoing partnership between Dayton men’s basketball and Caresource, which has sponsored multiple charity exhibitions focused on mental health awareness and suicide prevention in recent seasons.
For basketball reasons, the exhibition match will allow head coach Micah Shrewsberry to get a better look at his revamped roster for next season. The Fighting Irish are coming off a disappointing season and have lost a lot of young talent to the transfer portal and are expecting to have another transitional season in 2026-27. Dayton, led by head coach Anthony Grant, enters the matchup with much higher expectations. They are going to be expecting to compete in the Atlantic 10 conference.
Exhibition matchups have increasingly become a platform for programs to contribute to meaningful causes while also preparing for the regular season. In recent years, several high-profile teams have scheduled charity exhibitions, particularly now that the NCAA allows more flexibility in preseason scheduling.
Specific details on tip-off time, television or streaming coverage, and the exact charitable beneficiaries for the Notre Dame-Dayton exhibition matchup are expected to be finalized closer to the start of next basketball season.
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This article originally appeared on Fighting Irish Wire: Notre Dame to face Dayton in charity basketball exhibition
Reporting by Sunny Verma, Fighting Irish Wire / Fighting Irish Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
