Dayton basketball: Marquette guard fourth transfer to pick Flyers in three days

Apr. 19—The commitments keep coming for the Dayton Flyers.

Two Thursday night. Two Saturday night.

Marquette transfer Zaide Lowery, a 6-foot-5 junior guard with one season of eligibility remaining, became the fourth player in about 53 hours to commit to Dayton on Saturday, April 18. He announced his decision around 11 p.m. on Instagram.

Three hours earlier, Murray State transfer Tristian Ford, a 6-3 guard, shared his own Instagram post announcing his commitment to Dayton.

It was a similar story Thursday when Ole Miss guard Travis Perry and Cincinnati forward Jalen Haynes committed to Dayton within two hours of each other.

Dayton now has three guards with college experience on the 2026-27 roster. It had none before Perry's commitment Thursday.

The latest addition, Lowery, averaged 8.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 11 games, averaging 23.2 minutes for Marquette last season.

Lowery started the first nine games and then played a smaller role off the bench in two games. In late December, Marquette announced he left the program. The exact reasons for Lowery's departure were unclear.

"It was something that we we spent a lot of time talking really over the last few weeks," Marquette coach Shaka Smart told reporters. "Ultimately stuff like this is never an easy decision. But it became clear that it was the best thing for him and the best thing for the program."

As a freshman, Lowery averaged 1.6 points in 9.5 minutes in 31 appearances. His playing time increased as a sophomore when he averaged 4.1 points in 15.8 minutes per game and again made 31 appearances.

Lowery played in both of Marquette's losses to Dayton in the last two seasons. He had two points in 19 minutes in a 71-63 loss at UD Arena in December 2024. He had 10 points in 35 minutes in a 77-71 overtime loss to Dayton in Milwaukee in November 2025.

Lowery is from Springfield. Mo., and helped lead Kickapoo High School to the Class 6A state championship as a sophomore. In his junior season (2021-22), he averaged 15.5 points and 7.1 rebounds. For his senior season, he transferred to a basketball prep school, the La Lumiere School in La Porte, Ind.

Lowery ranked 105th in the class of 2023, according to 247Sports.com. On3.com ranked him 128th. He signed with Marquette in November 2022.

Zaide is just scratching the surface of who he will become as a player," Smart said then in a press release. "It's exciting to see how much he has grown in the year-plus that we have known him. He is an extremely special mover, who brings great versatility to both ends of the floor.