Gem City Jam

Gem City Jam

Dayton Flyers Wright State Raiders
First meeting	March 5, 1988 University of Dayton, 89–71
Latest meeting	December 13, 1997 University of Dayton, 94–63
Next meeting	TBD
Trophy	Gem City Jam Trophy
Statistics
Meetings total	8
All-time series	Dayton leads, 5–3 [1]
Largest victory	Dayton, 94–63 (1997)
Longest win streak	Dayton, 3 (1995–1997)
Current win streak	Dayton, 3 (1995–1997)

8km
5miles

WSU

Dayton

  

Locations of UD and Wright State

The Gem City Jam is a college basketball rivalry between the University of Dayton Flyers and the Wright State University Raiders.

The class-driven cross-town rivalry began in 1988, playing over the years to large raucous crowds packing both school's 10,000 seat arenas. UD has declined to renew the contest each year since the 97-98 season.

Series origins

The Dayton Flyers team is a regional basketball power with a long tradition of excellence going back to the early 20th century. UD is proud to represent the leaders and elite of Dayton. Few fan bases in the country rival Dayton's for passion and ticket sales. ^[2]

Wright State basketball is a much younger program, playing its first basketball in the 1970s. Wright State built a scrappy fan following at the Division II level with fast, aggressive teams and its 1983 National Championship.

The coaches and administrations for both schools enjoyed close relationships leading to UD making a verbal agreement to play the suburban school once they moved to Division I. ^{[3] [4]}

Series suspension

Despite having a winning record in the series, UD has declined to renew the contest each year since the 1997–98 season. This change in posture resulted from new administration coming to power at UD that did not think as highly of the cross-town institution. Without an official reason for the suspension in the series, many theories have been offered in the press and around town. Due to the dramatic social gulf between the elite private school student body and the working class state school, a considerable amount of resentment has grown around this decision.

The Dayton Daily News and other local media have called annually for a renewal of the contest as a Dayton civic asset. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]}

Wright State remains optimistic that the series will continue. ^[13]

Game results

Dayton victories

Wright State victories

Tie games

No. Date Location Winner Score 1 March 5, 1988 UD Arena Dayton 89–71 2 January 6, 1990 UD Arena Wright State 101–99 3 December 11, 1993 UD Arena Dayton 83–56 4 January 8, 1994 Nutter Center Wright State 77–65 5 December 10, 1994 Nutter Center Wright State 74–53 No. Date Location Winner Score 6 December 9, 1995 UD Arena Dayton 98–80 7 January 9, 1997 Nutter Center Dayton 72–63 8 December 13, 1997 UD Arena Dayton 94–63 Series: Dayton leads 5–3 [1]

References

1. "UD basketball history". sports-reference.com.
2. "NCAA Men's Basketball Attendance". NCAA. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
3. Abrahamowicz, Dan; Brown, Jim (26 January 2018). "Jim Brown Interview". Wright State University Retirees Association Oral History Project. Wright State Libraries. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
4. Albers, Bucky (December 8, 1995). "Jam rivalry in its infancy". Dayton Daily News. Vol. 119, no. 92. Cox Media. p. 4D.
5. McClelland, Sean (October 26, 2000). "So why won't UD play WSU in basketball?". Dayton Daily News. Vol. 124, no. 27. Cox Media. p. 2D.
6. McClelland, Sean (March 10, 2002). "Cyber Jam". Dayton Daily News. Vol. 125, no. 161. Cox Media. p. D1.
7. "Gem City Jam, the forgotten rivalry". WSU Guardian. 11 September 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
8. "SPORTS DAILY: Make Dayton great again, revive Gem City Jam". Dayton Daily News. 16 March 2016. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
9. "What if UD and Wright State played this year in a Gem City Jam?". Dayton Daily News. 19 January 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
10. "The ball is in UD's court for reviving the Gem City Jam with Wright State. Will the Flyers accept the challenge?". Jeff Louderback. 8 April 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
11. "VOICES: It's time to bring back the Gem City Jam". dayton.com. 23 March 2022.
12. "Kinner's latest ESPN 30 for 30 – "Gem City Jam"". wingam.com. 17 November 2020. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
13. "History of Raider basketball — the Gem City Jam". Wright State University. 8 March 2018.