Friday, Feb. 14, 2014 - 5 p.m.
UDC Sports Complex, Washington, D.C.
Live Stats / Live Video

THE MATCHUP: The Daemen College men's basketball team travels to our nation's capital to face the University of the District of Columbia in an East Coast Conference matchup...Daemen is looking to keep pace with Dowling atop the ECC standings.

STREAKING WILDCATS: Daemen has won 10-straight games overall and 13-straight league games…Daemen owns the current longest winning streak (10) among NCAA Division II East Region teams…the Wildcats have also won 33-straight games at Lumsden Gymnasium, which ranks as the longest home winning streak among all men's Division II teams and the second longest in the nation among NCAA men's basketball programs—behind Division III Albertus Magnus (36)

THE COACHES: Don Silveri is in his 25th season as head men's basketball coach at Daemen and has posted a 410-343 (.544) 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 on Jan. 6.

THE SERIES: Sunday's game will mark the second all-time meeting between Daemen and UDC…the Wildcats cruised to a 97-42 victory over UDC earlier this year at Lumsden Gym…the game was tied at 6-6 five minutes into the first half before the Wildcats took control with a 26-2 run…Daemen led by 34 points (51-17) at halftime and held a 53-point lead (80-27) midway through the second half…Gerald Beverly led the way with 19 points, while Supreme Hannah added 13 points and five assists off the bench…Clenso Brannon III paced the Firebirds with 11 points and nine rebounds.

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 23-8 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 Feb. 7…it is the fourth-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 WILDCATS: 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 have won 10-straight overall and are undefeated in their last 13 ECC games…Daemen has averaged 87.7 points and allowed an average of 71.1 points (+16.6) during its 10-game winning streak…the Wildcats are averaging a league-high 83.3 points and feature five players averaging in double figures…Daemen posted wins over Molloy (111-72) and Queens (73-57) last weekend…junior forward Gerald Beverly has scored in double figures in all 21 games and has recorded a league-best 13 double-doubles…a two-time ECC Player of the Week selection, he leads the team in scoring (17.7 ppg), rebounding (9.9 rpg) and blocks (87)…senior guard Casey Sheehan scored 27 points (his sixth 20-point effort of the season) in the win over Queens last weekend…he ranks second on the team in scoring (15.9 ppg) and assists (4.8 apg) and leads the team in steals (37)…senior forward Uchechi Ogbonna is averaging 12.2 points and 8.3 rebounds…he has recorded six double-doubles and netted 18 points in a recent 94-91 win over LIU Post…senior forward Kadeem Johnson was a recent ECC Player of the Week selection…he connected on 10-of-11 shots and totaled a career-high 23 points and a season-high 13 rebounds in a 98-82 win over RWC and is averaging 11.5 points and 5.5 rebounds…senior point guard Mark Coppola has totaled 29 assists and just eight turnovers over the last four games…he leads the league in both assists per game (6.3) and assist/turnover ratio (2.7)….junior sharpshooter Jordan Greene has provided instant offense off the bench…he is averaging 11.5 points with a team-high 47 three-pointers…he canned 4-of-5 three-pointers and scored 20 points in the win over Molloy last weekend…junior Aaron Davis (5.3 ppg) scored a season-high 12 points in 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 a 90-79 win at Bridgeport…Clifford's four-point play with 3.3 seconds left lifted Daemen to its 84-83 win over NYIT two weeks ago.

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…the Firebirds have been hurt by injuries this season and have played with just seven players in recent games…UDC has lost 10-straight games and is coming off losses to LIU Post (91-52), NYIT (80-61) and Bridgeport (80-61)…seniors Michael Terry and Quasim Jones, the top two scorers last winter, were expected to play big roles this year but both were lost early to season-ending injuries…Terry scored 27 points in an early-season win over Alderson-Broaddus…Jones averaged 18 points over the first five games…junior Lenjo Kilo, a transfer from Division II Seton Hill, has made immediate contributions…he totaled 28 points and 14 rebounds in a recent 79-73 loss to STAC and is averaging 18.8 points and a league-high 10.2 rebounds…sophomore Omar Abbas drilled six three-pointers and totaled 24 points in a 69-66 loss to Mercy and is averaging 11.4 points with a team-high 42 three-pointers…freshman Reggie Sidbury was named ECC Rookie of the Week on Monday after shooting 55-percent (6-11) and totaling 36 points in the losses to LIU Post and NYIT last week…additional production has come junior Prince Ritson (9.4 ppg).

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

LEAGUE RANKINGS: Here is how players from the two teams rank among the ECC leaders…Gerald Beverly ranks first in blocks (3.8) and double-doubles (13) and second in rebounding (9.9) and field goal percentage (55.1)…he also ranks fifth in scoring (17.7)…Casey Sheehan ranks ninth in points per game (15.9), third in assists per game (4.8), fifth in steals per game (1.7), ninth in three-pointers (39) and 11th in free throw percentage (75.5)…Uchechi Ogbonna ranks first in field goal percentage (56.5), 10th in rebounding (8.3) and 18th in scoring (12.2)…Mark Coppola leads the league in both assists per game (6.3) and assist/turnover ratio (2.7)…he also ranks 10th in steals (1.5)…Jordan Greene ranks third in three-point field goals made (47), 12th in three-point field goal percentage (35.9), 12th in free throw percentage (75.0) and 21st in scoring (11.5)…Kadeem Johnson ranks fourth in free throw percentage (83.0), sixth in field goal percentage (53.0) and 21st in scoring (11.5)…Lenjo Kilo of UDC ranks first in rebounding (10.2), third in scoring (18.8) and ninth in minutes (32.8)…Omar Abbas  ranks first in free throw percentage (88.9), seventh in three-pointers (42), 10th in three-point percentage (36.8) and 25th in scoring (11.4)…Reggie Sidbury ranks first in three-point percentage (44.1), 10th in free throw percentage (76.2) and 18th in three-pointers (26)…Prince Ritson ranks fourth in minutes (34.2) and 14th in assists (2.8).

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 Friday's action with 588 assists in 105 career games (5.6 per game)…he leads the conference in assists per game (6.3) this season and has totaled 46 assists and just 15 turnovers over the last six games…he tied the school-record for assists in a season (203) last year.

BEVERLY'S BLOCK PARTY: Gerald Beverly has recorded at least one block in 28-straight games (and 37 of the last 38 games) dating back to the end of last season…Beverly has totaled 32 blocks over the last seven games (4.6 pg) and swatted a career-high 11 shots during DC's win at Mercy on Jan. 6…he already ranks second in career blocks (196) among Daemen's all-time leaders behind Ron Wright (233)…Beverly scored his 1,000th career point during Daemen's win over LIU Post on Jan. 31 and recorded his 500th career rebound during Daemen's win over Dowling on Jan. 17…he is set to become the first player in program history to total 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 200 blocks.

SHEEHAN MOVING UP THE RANKS: Casey Sheehan scored his 1,400th career point during the win over Queens this past Sunday and currently ranks seventh in career points (1,407)…he also ranks third in both career assists (451) and career steals (176).

JOHNSON SAVES HIS BEST FOR LAST: Senior Kadeem Johnson has come through with some of the best games of his four-year career in recent weeks…he was named ECC Player of the Week on Feb. 3 after shooting 74-percent (25-for-34) from the field and averaging 19.7 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists during wins over Roberts Wesleyan, LIU Post and NYIT…he connected on 10-of-11 shots and totaled a career-high 23 points and a season-high 13 rebounds in the win over RWC…he has shot 69-percent (35-51) and has averaged 17.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists over the last five games…Johnson will be playing in his 100th career game Friday…he has totaled 740 career points and 466 career rebounds, and has shot an impressive 58-percent (305-526) from the field over his career.

DID YOU KNOW?: Daemen is 8-1 this season and 34-2 since the start of the 2009-10 season when it scores 90 or more points…the Wildcats are 14-0 this season when leading at halftime.

WHAT'S NEXT: Daemen closes out the regular-season when it hosts Dowling College (Feb. 21) and the University of Bridgeport (Feb. 22) next 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.