Except for Brian Gregory’s forehead, the Dayton Flyers men’s basketball team came out of the Cincinnati game with everything — their reputations, their national profile, their NIT championship hopes — in better shape than they were going in.

In an ESPN-televised game, UD thumped the Bearcats 81-66 in the NIT’s second round Monday, March 22, at Fifth Third Arena, setting up tonight’s quarterfinal game at Illinois. The winner goes to New York City and the NIT’s version of the Final Four.

Amidst such glowing prospect, there was one casualty.

During a second-half timeout, the always-energized head coach got an accidental head butt from his equally amped point guard London Warren.

It left Gregory with a noticeable scrape above his left eye that was flecked with blood.

That’s rougher treatment than the Flyers got from the bigger, thicker Bearcats. UD outshot, outrebounded, outhustled — and outcoached — UC, which is a formidable foe, though, at 19-16, not a “really, really good team,” as Gregory called the Bearcats later.

Conversely, the Flyers played inspired basketball and, to a man, will tell you they want to extend this season as long as possible.

UC players underestimated the Flyers. Maybe it’s the Bearcats’ Big East mentality or because UC had beaten Dayton 26 of the past 28 times the teams played in Cincinnati.

“We’ve got to take a lot of people more serious,” said UC coach Mick Cronin. “You’ve got to understand anyone can beat you.”

While his players gave UD little due beforehand, he said they “gained a lot of respect for Dayton when we were down 17.”

UC freshman guard Lance Stephenson agreed: “We definitely underestimated them. We knew they played hard but we didn’t know they played with that much intensity.”

If you listened to Illinois coach Bruce Weber on Tuesday, you sensed his team — which beat Kent State to advance — won’t make the same mistake:

“Kent State was good, but these guys are a whole other step. They’ll be one of the toughest teams we’ve faced.”

He raved about the Flyers’ depth and athleticism: “I hear they have four guys with over 40-inch vertical jumps. I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s pretty impressive. Jumping doesn’t win games, but it sure gets you rebounds and deflections.”

Weber said the Flyers remind him of Michigan State in the way they push the ball offensively and of Purdue in the way they keep the defensive pressure on: “They don’t quit.”

More than any game this season, UD showed its resiliency against the Bearcats. Dayton was up by 17 in the first half, then — in an oft-used script — saw the lead evaporate to one point. But this time, the Flyers reasserted themselves and soon had the margin back to double digits.

“To me, this was the best in game response we had all year long,” Gregory admitted afterward.

After the game — as he was heading over to the ESPN camera crew for an on-air interview — Gregory asked how his forehead looked, then to make sure, dabbed a tissue to his brow.

Seeing no blood, he said, “It’s OK.”

On this night — where the Flyers were concerned — everything was more than OK.