The Flyers, led by fifth year head coach Archie Miller, played their home games at the University of Dayton Arena and were members of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated Boise State in the First Four and Providence in the second round.

[10] The Flyers defeated Saginaw Valley State, a Division 2 school who competes in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, 96–69 in the only exhibition game this season.

[11] Dayton's season kicked off with 3 home games before heading down to Orlando to participate in the AdvoCare Invitational over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Game one, against Southeast Missouri, gave the Flyer Faithful a potential glimpse of the future as Freshman Ryan Mikesell, later named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the week,[12] led all Dayton scorers with 21.

In game three, the Flyers played host to the Tribe of William & Mary and extended their home winning streak to 25 straight with a 69-66 victory.

Coming into this season in the four exempt tournaments coached by Archie Miller, the Flyers were 9-3 and crowned champions of the Old Spice Classic (now the AdvoCare Invitational) in 2011.

The Flyers, behind Scoochie Smith, extended their second half lead to 16 points and survived a late Hawks rally to head into the title game against long time rival Xavier.

[17] In the first game after the break, the Flyers welcomed Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament champions, the North Florida Ospreys men's basketball team to the UD Arena.

In the next contest, the Flyers rebounded nicely with a 70–50 victory over Furman led by a pair of double-doubles by Charles Cooke and Steve McElvene.

In typical fashion this game came down to the wire with Kyle Davis hitting a jumper with 2.1 seconds left to give the Flyers the 64–63 victory.

6 Flyers scored in double figures, including career highs from John Crosby (11) and Sam Miller (10).

[24] Returning home to UD Arena, the Flyers looked to get back on track facing a hot shooting Davidson Wildcat team.

[25] Dayton looked to avenge last season's buzzer-beater tip-in loss at George Washington by welcoming the Colonials back to UD Arena.

But, the second half was a different story, the Bonnies scored 61 second-half points and the Flyers had to hold on late for an 85–79 victory.

[29] Back home after the New York road trip, the Flyers welcomed rival Saint Louis in a battle for the legendary/elusive/never been seen Arch-Baron Cup.

Kendall Pollard led the Flyers with 18 points and 8 rebounds and Steve McElvene tied the blocked shots in a game record with 6.

[31] The Flyers entered the rankings for the second time this season and traveled to George Mason and looked for their 6th straight victory against the Patriots.

In a game that was a back and forth battle, Darrell Davis hit a 3-point shot from the corner with 21 seconds left and Dayton held on for their 9th straight victory.