Friday, Jan. 31, 2014 - 8 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

New York Tech vs. Daemen
Sunday, Feb. 2, 2014 - 3 p.m.
Lumsden Gymnasium, Amherst, N.Y.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUPS: The Daemen College men's basketball team hosts LIU Post (Jan. 31) and New York Tech (Feb. 2) in East Coast Conference (ECC) action…Daemen has won nine-straight league games and is currently in second place in the ECC standings, while LIU Post is in fourth place and NYIT is in sixth.

WHITEOUT WARNING FOR "THE DEN": The Daemen Athletic Department is sponsoring a "WHITEOUT" promotion for Friday's game vs. LIU Post…the first 420 fans through the door will get a free white Daemen t-shirt to wear during the game.

THE COACHES: Don Silveri is in his 25th season as head men's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 406-343 (.542) 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)…Erik Smiles is in his first season as head coach at LIU Post…he spent the past nine seasons as head coach at NCAA Division III Farmingdale State College…a three-time Skyline Conference Coach of the Year selection, he posted a 182-72 (.717) record at FSC and led the Rams to four NCAA Division III Tournament appearances (2006, 08, 09, 12)…Sal Lagano is in his 17th season at New York Tech and entered the 2013-14 season with a career record of 229-225 (.504)…he guided the Bears to a 22-9 record and an appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2004.

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 on Jan 6.

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 19-8 against Division II teams since the start of the 2012-13 season.

USCAA RANKINGS: Daemen is ranked No. 1 in the USCAA Division 1 poll released Jan. 24…it is the second-straight week Daemen has held the top spot…eight teams will be selected to participate in the USCAA Championship Tournament, which will take place March 5-8 in Uniontown, Pa…Daemen advanced to the USCAA Tournament championship game last winter.

THE SERIES vs. LIU POST: Friday's game will mark the third all-time meeting between Daemen and LIU Post…LIU Post has prevailed in both of the the previous two meetings…the Pioneers posted a 93-85 victory over the Wildcats earlier this year on Long Island…LIU Post scored six points in the final five seconds to turn a two-point lead into an eight-point lead…Vaughn Allen (28 pts, 13 rebs) and P.J. Torres (22 pts, 5 stsl) led the Pioneers…Gerald Beverly equaled his career-high with 28 points for Daemen…the first-ever meeting came in opening round action of the LIU Post Holiday Invitational on Dec. 30, 2009…the Pioneers posted a 79-58 victory over the Wildcats.

THE SERIES vs. NEW YORK TECH: Sunday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and New York Tech…the teams met for the first time earlier this year at NYIT and the Bears posted an 84-79 victory…NYIT took its largest lead of the game (80-69) with 2:27 left, but Daemen put together a 10-2 run that made it a one-possession game at 82-79…two free throws by Erick Satchell with 10 seconds left closed out the scoring…Phil Izevbehai (22 pts) and Marcus Moore (15 pts, 11 rebs) led the Bears, while Uchechi Ogbonna totaled 17 points and 12 rebounds for Daemen.

THE WILDCATS (13-6, 10-3 ECC): Daemen returns 11 players and four starters from last year's team that set a program-record for wins in a season (27) and advanced to the championship game of the USCAA Tournament…the Wildcats are undefeated in their last nine ECC games…Daemen posted wins over STAC (69-65) and Mercy (82-68) last weekend and is coming off a 98-82 win over Roberts Wesleyan Tuesday…Daemen has won nine of its last 10 games and has averaged 87.6 points over that stretch…ECC wins have come over Roberts Wesleyan (77-72 OT, 98-82), Queens (90-77), STAC (79-75, 69-65), Mercy (99-92, 82-68), District of Columbia (97-42), Dowling (79-72 OT) and Bridgeport (90-79)…ECC losses have come against LIU Post (93-85), New York Tech (84-79) and Molloy (78-69)…junior forward Gerald Beverly and senior guard Casey Sheehan have paced an offense that is averaging 81.8 points a game…Beverly has scored in double figures in all 19 games and has recorded a league-best 10 double-doubles…a two-time ECC Player of the Week selection, he is averaging 17.5 points and leads the ECC in rebounding (10.2 rpg) and blocks (3.8 bpg…Sheehan scored 23 points in the win over RWC Tuesday…he ranks second on the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and assists (4.8 apg) and leads the team in steals (31)…senior forward Uchechi Ogbonna has started 18 games and is averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 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 equaled his season-high for assists (10) in last Sunday's win over Mercy and leads the league in both assists per game (6.0) and assist/turnover ratio (2.5)…senior forward Kadeem Johnson connected on 10-of-11 shots and totaled a career-high 23 points and a season-high 13 rebounds in Tuesday's win over RWC…is averaging 10.2 points and 5.3 rebounds….junior sharpshooter Jordan Greene is averaging 11.6 points with a team-high 37 three-pointers…he canned five three-pointers and equaled his career-high for points (28) in the win at Dowling…junior Aaron Davis (5.7 ppg) has scored in double figures in four of the last six games and scored a season-high 12 points in the wins over UDC and Bridgeport…sophomore guard Supreme Hannah equaled his career-high for points (13) in the win over UDC, while senior Kyle Clifford went 4-for-5 from three-point land and scored a career-high 16 points in the win over Bridgeport.

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 this weekend's action with 559 assists in 101 career games (5.5 per game)…he leads the conference in assists per game (6.0) this season and has totaled 51 assists and just 15 turnovers over the last seven games…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 29-game home winning streak into this weekend's action…Daemen's home winning streak ranks as the third longest active home winning streak in the nation among NCAA schools behind Division 2 West Liberty (39) and Division 3 Albertus Magnus (34)…Duke's 28-game home winning streak is the longest among Division 1 schools…the Wildcats have gone 30-1 at home since the start of the 2011-12 season and have won 80-percent (86-21) of their home games over the past eight seasons…Daemen will play six of its final seven games in the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium.

THE PIONEERS (12-7, 7-4 ECC): LIU Post returns just four players and two starters from last year's team that finished 18-9 (13-5 ECC) and advanced to the ECC Tournament…LIU was voted second in the ECC preseason poll…LIU has advanced to the NCAA Division II Tournament four of the last six seasons and claimed the NCAA East Region title in 2009…senior Vaughn Allen tops the list of returning players…the 6-foot-6 forward collected first-team All-ECC honors last year after averaging 15.5 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds…the Pioneers had an eight-game winning streak snapped following an 89-86 loss to Bridgeport on Jan. 8 and are 3-4 over their last seven games…LIUP suffered losses to Molloy (88-85) and Queens (79-77 OT) last weekend and is coming off an 88-84 win over NYIT Tuesday…six of their last seven games have been decided by four points of less and the Pioneers are 2-4 in those games…Allen and junior P.J. Torres have paced the Pioneers…Allen had 24 points in the loss to Queens and is averaging 18.1 points and 9.4 rebounds…Torres, a transfer from Division I Duquesne, totaled 24 points, 12 rebounds and five assists in the win over NYIT Tuesday and is averaging 18.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.6 assists…junior forward Tyuan Williams registered a double-double (19 pts, 10 rebs) in the loss to Bridgeport and is averaging 10.9 points and 7.8 rebounds…Division I transfer Akosa Maduegbunam (Penn State) and junior college transfer Isiah Stokley (Western Texas) have made immediate contributions…Maduegbunam has drained a team-high 31 three-pointers and is averaging 9.1 points…Stokley (9.5 ppg, 5.8 rpg) had 23 points and 12 rebounds in a recent win over STAC…sophomore Dillon Burns has also contributed (7.6 ppg, 4.2 apg).

THE BEARS (8-9, 6-5 ECC):  New York Tech returns seven players and one starter from last year's team that finished 19-10 (13-5 ECC) and advanced to the ECC Tournament…NYIT was voted fifth in the ECC preseason poll…senior Phil Izevbehai tops the list of returning players…the 6-foot-3 guard collected second-team All-ECC honors last year after averaging 15.0 points with a team-high 57 three-pointers…the Bears posted a season-best four-game winning streak earlier this month with wins over Bridgeport (94-92), STAC (79-70), Mercy (83-71) and Queens (69-63)…NYIT had the streak snapped following an 87-58 loss to Molloy last weekend and is coming off an 88-84 loss to LIU Post on Tuesday…Izevbehai and fellow senior Markus Moore have paced the Bears…Izevbehai had five three-pointers and 26 points in the recent win over Mercy and is averaging 14.6 points with a team-high 39 three-pointers…Moore had 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks in the loss to LIU Post on Tuesday and leads the team in scoring (15.4 ppg), rebounding (8.7 rpg) and blocks (46)…junior swingman Wayne Bradford, a transfer from Division I Weber State, is averaging 10.2 points and 3.9 assists…additional production has come from junior guard Jahleel Felix (10.1 ppg), sophomore guard Khalif Chaplin (8.4 ppg) and freshman forward Kachi Nzerem (7.5 ppg).

GETTING OFFENSIVE: This weekend's games will feature three of the top five offenses in the ECC…LIU Post ranks second in points per game (83.1), while Daemen ranks third (81.8) and NYIT ranks fifth (78.1)…Daemen is averaging a league-best 84.1 points in league games.

ECC RANKINGS: Here is how the teams rank among ECC teams in selected statistical categories.

Note: Rankings do not include games played 1/30/14

LEAGUE LEADERS: Here is how players from the three teams rank among the ECC leaders…Gerald Beverly leads the league in rebounding (10.2), blocks (3.8) and double-doubles (10)…he also ranks fifth in field goal percentage (53.0) and eighth in scoring (17.5)…Casey Sheehan ranks 10th in points per game (15.0), third in assists per game (4.8), sixth in steals per game (1.7), 12th in three-pointers (27) and 15th in free throw percentage (72.8)…Uchechi Ogbonna ranks first in field goal percentage (55.3), sixth in rebounding (8.7) and 19th in scoring (12.4)…Mark Coppola leads the league in both assists per game (6.0) and assist/turnover ratio (2.5)…he also ranks sixth in steals (1.7)…Jordan Greene ranks fifth in three-point field goals made (37), 10th in free throw percentage (75.8) and 20th in scoring (11.6)…Kadeem Johnson ranks fourth in field goal percentage (53.1)…Vaughn Allen of LIU Post ranks sixth in scoring (18.1), fourth in rebounding (9.4), eighth in blocks (1.2) and ninth in field goal percentage (52.1)…P.J. Torres ranks fifth in scoring (18.2), third in minutes (34.3), fourth in assists (4.6) and 11th in three-pointers (29)…also from LIU Post, Akosa Maduegbunam ranks eighth in three-pointers (31) and Dillon Burns ranks seventh in assists (4.2)…Marcus Moore of NYIT ranks ninth in scoring (15.4), third in blocks (2.7), sixth in rebounding (8.7), eighth in minutes (32.8) and 11th in field goal percentage (51.2)…Phil Izevbehai ranks 11th in scoring (14.6), third in three-pointers (39), sixth in free throw percentage (80.4) and eighth in three-point field goal percentage (38.2)…also from NYIT, Khalif Chaplin ranks second in both field goal percentage (54.5) and free throw percentage (84.6), and Wayne Bradford ranks 10th in assists (3.4).

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 6-1 this season and 32-2 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 its 98-93 OT loss at Dominican on Jan. 7…Gerald Beverly has recorded at least one block in 24-straight games (and 33 of the last 34 games) dating back to the end of last season…Beverly has totaled 54 blocks over the last 11 games and swatted a career-high 11 shots during DC's win at Mercy on Jan. 6…he already ranks second in career blocks (181) among Daemen's all-time leaders…Beverly recorded his 900th career point during the win over UDC and stands just 16 points shy of 1,000 for his career…Casey Sheehan scored his 1,300th career point during last Sunday's win over Mercy and currently ranks eighth in career points (1,327), fourth in career assists (431) and third in career steals (170).

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen is idle until next weekend when it hosts Molloy (Feb. 7) and Queens (Feb. 9) in ECC games.

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.