Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014 - 3 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUP: The Daemen College men's basketball team plays its first home game since Nov. 23 when it hosts the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference matchup…game time is 3 p.m. at Lumsden Gymnasium.

THE COACHES: Don Silveri is in his 25th season as head men's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 400-343 (.538) record during his time with the Wildcats...his Daemen record boasts eight 20-win seasons, including four consecutive from 2002-06 and seven in the last 11 years...he has guided the Wildcats to four conference championships (1999-2000, 2003-04, 2005-06, 2011-12), four appearances at the NAIA Division II National Tournament and one appearance at the USCAA National Tournament...2012-13 was a season for the record books as Silveri guided the Wildcats to a team-record 27 wins and a runner-up finish at the USCAA Tournament...he also spent time as head coach at Villa Maria College (1976-80) and Erie Community College (1982-86)…Mike Riley is in his first season as head men's basketball coach at UDC…a former player at Georgetown University, he previously served as an assistant coach at Georgetown for 20 seasons (1983-2004) and also served as an assistant coach for the 1988 US Olympic Team.

SILVERI NOTCHES 400TH WIN: Daemen head coach Don Silveri recorded his 400th victory as Daemen head coach following DC's 99-92 win at Mercy last weekend.

THE SERIES: Sunday's game will mark the first-ever meeting between Daemen and UDC.

NCAA DIVISION II: Daemen is in Candidacy Year Two of the NCAA Division II membership process...Daemen has been accepted as a member of the East Coast Conference (ECC) and will play full regular-season conference schedules beginning this fall...the College will also maintain its affiliation with the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) for postseason opportunities, as it will not be eligible for the ECC or NCAA postseason during Candidacy Year Two.

DAEMEN vs. NCAA DIVISION II OPPONENTS: The Wildcats went 6-3 against NCAA Division II opponents last season and are 13-8 against Division II teams since the start of the 2012-13 season.

THE WILDCATS: Daemen returns four starters from last year's team that set a program-record for wins (27-6) in a season and advanced to the championship game of the USCAA Tournament…the Wildcats won four of their first six games, before suffering three-straight losses to LIU Post (93-85), New York Tech (84-79) and Molloy (78-69)…Daemen snapped the skid with a 90-77 win over Queens on Dec. 22 and won two of three games during a trip to the Hudson Valley area last weekend…Daemen posted ECC wins over St. Thomas Aquinas (79-75) and Mercy (99-92) during the trip, before suffering a 98-93 (OT) non-league loss at Dominican…junior forward Gerald Beverly and senior guard Casey Sheehan have paced an offense that is averaging 80 points a game…Beverly has scored in double figures in all 13 games and has recorded six double-doubles…he was named ECC Player of the Week after totaling 25 points and eight blocks in the win over STAC and totaled 18 points, seven rebounds and 11 blocks in the win over Mercy…is averaging 17.9 points and leads the ECC in rebounding (10.6 rpg) and blocks (3.6 bpg)…Sheehan, who will be playing in his 100th career game Sunday, scored a season-high 28 points and also dished out seven assists in the loss to Dominican…he is averaging 16.6 points and 4.9 rebounds and leads the team in assists (5.4 pg) and steals (25)…senior forward Uchechi Ogbonna has started all 13 games and is averaging 13.4 points and 9.6 rebounds…he has recorded five double-doubles and equaled his career-high for points (20) and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over Queens…senior point guard Mark Coppola has returned to the starting lineup after being sidelined with an injury earlier this season…he totaled a season-high 15 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the win over Mercy and ranks second on the team in assists per game (5.1)…senior forward Kadeem Johnson saw his first action of the year during a 69-63 win over Mercyhurst on Nov. 23 after suffering a preseason injury…he scored a season-high 15 points in the win over Mercy and is averaging 9.7 points and 4.2 rebounds….junior sharpshooter Jordan Greene also returns after averaging 11.3 points with a team-high 69 three-pointers last year…he is averaging 11.2 points with a team-high 25 three-pointers this season…he canned 5-of-8 from three-point land and netted 17 points in the loss to LIU Post…sophomore guard Supreme Hannah contributed eight points and three assists in just nine minutes of action against Mercy…junior Aaron Davis is averaging 15 minutes off the bench and equaled his season-high for points (8) in the loss to LIU Post…Daemen is shooting 44-percent from the field overall, 28-percent from three-point land and 66-percent from the charity stripe…the Wildcats are scoring 80.0 points and allowing 79.4 points per game…Daemen owns a +1.6 rebounding margin (40.8 / 39.2).

COPPOLA SETS CAREER ASSIST RECORD: Senior point guard Mark Coppola has established a new school-record for most career assists…he entered this season ranked second in career assists behind Rob Robinson, who totaled 503 assists from 1988-92…Coppola broke the record during the win over Mercy on Jan. 6 and enters Sunday's game with 515 assists in 95 career games (5.4 per game)…he tied the school-record for assists in a season (203) last year.

HOME SWEET HOME: Daemen was undefeated at Lumsden Gym last year (12-0) and takes a 25-game home winning streak into Sunday's game against UDC…the Wildcats have gone 26-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 80-percent (82-21) of their home games over the past eight seasons…Daemen will play 10 of its final 13 games in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium.

THE FIREBIRDS: District of Columbia returns just four players and two starters from last year's team that finished 6-20 (5-13 ECC)…UDC was voted eighth in the ECC preseason poll…UDC plays at Roberts Wesleyan Friday (Jan. 10) before traveling to Daemen Sunday…the Firebirds were hurt by the injury bug early on and dropped six of their first seven games…they are 2-1 over their last three games and opened the New Year with a 91-72 non-league win over The Apprentice School on Jan. 4…UDC's lone ECC win came over Mercy (83-66), while its three ECC losses have come against STAC (67-63), LIU Post (75-62) and NYIT (104-67)…seniors Michael Terry and Quasim Jones, the top two scorers last winter, were expected to play big roles this year but both have seen limited action thus far…Terry scored 27 points in an early-season win over Alderson-Broaddus but has played in just three games…Jones averaged 18 points over the first five games, but has missed the last five games…junior Lenjo Kilo, a transfer from Division II Seton Hill, has made immediate contributions…he totaled 31 points, 16 rebounds and four blocks in the win over Mercy and is averaging 21.2 points and 9.8 rebounds…additional production has come from freshman Reggie Sidbury (11.1 ppg, 17 3pt fgs), sophomore Omar Abbas (8.8 ppg, 17 3pt fgs) and junior Prince Ritson (7.5 ppg, 3.2 apg)…UDC is shooting 45-percent from the field overall, 38-percent from three-point land and 73-percent from the charity stripe…the Firebirds are scoring 74.2 points and allowing 83.8 points per game…UDC owns a -3.4 rebounding margin (35.2 / 38.6).

LEAGUE RANKINGS: Daemen ranks third in the ECC in points per game (80.0), while UDC ranks sixth (74.2)…Daemen leads the league in assists per game (16.0), ranks second in rebounds per game (40.8), third in field goal percentage (.444) and fifth in both rebound margin (+1.6) and blocks per game (4.9)…Daemen ranks second in both free throws made (17.8) and attempted (27.0) per game, but only ninth in free throw percentage (.661)…UDC ranks third in fewest turnovers per game (14.8)…UDC leads the league in three-point field goal percentage (.376) and second in both overall field goal percentage (.449) and free throw percentage (.726)…the Firebirds rank last in both free throws made (12.7) and attempted (17.5) per game…Casey Sheehan ranks ninth in points per game (16.6), second in assists per game (5.5) and third in steals per game (2.1)…Gerald Beverly leads the league in rebounding (10.2) and blocks (3.6), and ranks fifth in field goal percentage (.527) and sixth in scoring (17.9)…Uchechi Ogbonna leads the league in field goal percentage (.588) and ranks fifth in rebounding (9.6) and 16th in scoring (13.4)…Jordan Greene ranks fourth in three-point field goals made (25) and seventh in free throw percentage (.778)…Mark Coppola ranks third in assists (5.1) and fourth in assist/turnover ratio (2.1)…Lenjo Kilo of UDC ranks second in scoring (21.2), third in rebounding (9.8) and seventh in field goal percentage (.519).

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 30-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when it scores 90 or more points…Daemen had won 13-straight games when scoring at least 90 points before suffering the 98-93 OT loss at Dominican this past Monday…Gerald Beverly has recorded at least one block in 18-straight games (and 27 of the last 28 games) dating back to the end of last season…Beverly has totaled 29 blocks over the last five games and swatted a career-high 11 shots during DC's win at Mercy last weekend…he has moved into second place in career blocks (156) among Daemen's all-time leaders…Casey Sheehan has moved into the Top-10 in career points at Daemen with 1,256…he also ranks fourth in both career assists (411) and career steals (164).

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen travels to Dowling College (Jan. 17) and the University of Bridgeport (Jan. 18) for ECC games next weekend…Daemen's next home game is set for Friday, Jan. 24 when it hosts St. Thomas Aquinas in an ECC game…the Wildcats posted a 79-75 win at STAC last weekend.

FOLLOW THE WILDCATS: Follow Daemen College men's basketball on Twitter (@DaemenAthletics or @DaemenMBB) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/daemencollegeathletics or www.facebook.com/DaemenCollegeMensBasketball) to get live game updates and breaking news throughout the year.