GAME INFORMATION & LINKS
GAME #4: Daemen Wildcats (2-1, 0-0 ECC) vs. Slippery Rock The Rock (1-3, 0-0 PSAC)
Saturday, Nov. 24 | 2 p.m. | Amherst, N.Y. | Lumsden Gymnasium
Live Stats
Watch Live: ECC Network
Game Day
JUMP BALL
Daemen returns to Lumsden Gymnasium this weekend where they'll host a non-conference game against Slippery Rock. The Wildcats have been idle since suffering a 67-65 loss at Mercyhurst on Nov. 14. Slippery Rock has opened the season with one win in their first four contests, but expectations are high for The Rock as they were picked second in the PSAC Western Division preseason poll. Saturday's game will mark the fourth straight season that the teams have met, and the home team has prevailed in each of the three previous meetings.
RETURN OF THE MAC
Mike MacDonald returns to the bench for his fifth season as Daemen's head coach, and his 22nd season overall as a collegiate head coach. Since beginning to roam the Daemen sidelines, MacDonald has led the Wildcats to an 83-38 overall record. The Wildcats have won at least 19 games in each of MacDonald's first four seasons, and the team's 83 victories in that span are the second most among all NCAA Division II programs in New York State. Before coming to Daemen, MacDonald transformed the Division III program at Medaille into a perennial powerhouse, averaging 18 wins per season and advancing to the postseason six times in his eight years as head coach. MacDonald made his head coaching debut at the Division I level, leading the program at Canisius from 1997-2006. While there, MacDonald's teams racked up 108 wins making him the third all-time winningest coach in the program's history. The longtime bench boss holds a career record of 339-264.
TOP 25 RANKING
Daemen was ranked No. 22 in the Division II Bulletin preseason poll, marking the first time in the program's Division II era that they've been included in any of the several national polls. Division II Bulletin is a national publication that specializes in the coverage of NCAA Division II men's basketball. The Wildcats have also received votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and Division II Sports Information Directors of America (D2SIDA) preseason national polls. Daemen is ranked seventh in this week's D2SIDA regional poll.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
Redshirt sophomore center Andrew Sischo headlines Daemen's returning players. After earning first team All-ECC and ECC Rookie of the Year honors last season, Sischo was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year for 2018-19. An eight-time ECC Rookie of the Week selection in 2017-18, Sischo was downright dominant on the interior last season as he led the team in points (462), points per game (15.4), made field goals (195), field goal percentage (56.5%), rebounds (261), rebounds per game (8.7) and blocked shots (25). His point total established a new team record for scoring by a freshman, eclipsing the previous mark of 420 set by Brian Montanaro during the 2002-03 season. He was also the first Daemen player with more than 200 rebounds in a season since Gerald Beverly (373 in 2014-15), and his rebound total is second among freshmen players in team history. Appearing in all 30 games, Sischo reached double-figure scoring 25 times and totaled seven double-doubles. Sischo led all ECC freshmen and ranked among the league's overall leaders in scoring (seventh), rebounding (second) and field goal percentage (third). He was Daemen's first major award winner from the conference since Beverly earned ECC Defensive Player of the Year honors for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons, and the first freshman to earn first team All-ECC honors since John Petrucelli of Molloy College in the 2010-11 season. To start the 2018-19 campaign, Sischo was named to the ECC-CACC Challenge all-tournament team and the ECC Player of the Week after averaging 22.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in wins over Caldwell and Nyack. He posted his third straight double-double in last week's loss at Mercyhurst, and is averaging team-highs of 20.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per game this season.
BREAKOUT BREON
Junior guard Breon Harris enjoyed a breakout season in 2017-18, helping Daemen to wins in 16 of 18 games after he was inserted into the starting lineup. After producing just 3.1 points on 31.8 percent shooting while coming off the bench in the team's first 11 games, Harris contributed 13.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals per game, while shooting 51.4 percent from the field as a starter. After totaling just just three three-pointers in the first 21 games of his career, Harris has made at least one in 18 of the last 19 games (27 total three-point field goals in that span). A third team All-ECC and ECC All-Tournament Team selection, Harris finished the 2017-18 season averaging 9.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He finished second in the ECC in total steals with 70, becoming the first Daemen player with more than 60 steals in a season since Casey Sheehan (68) during the 2012-13 campaign. Harris opened the 2018-19 season by earning MVP honors at the ECC-CACC Challenge where he averaged 16.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists while leading Daemen to wins over Caldwell and Nyack. For the season, he's producing 15.3 points and 3.3 assists per game.
THREE-DICULOUS
Over the last two seasons, forward Jeff Redband has established himself as one of the preeminent three-point shooters in the ECC. In the 2016-17 season, Redband canned 68-of-151 three-point attempts becoming the first Daemen freshman with more than 50 triples since Brian Montanaro's 70 in 2002-03. He followed that up by shooting 69-for-169 from deep last season, becoming the first Daemen player with 60 or more three-pointers in back-to-back seasons since Montanaro did so in four straight seasons from 2002-06. A third team All-ECC pick in 2017-18, Redband averaged 11.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, while finishing third in three-point field goals and sixth in three-point shooting percentage among the ECC leaders. Redband currently ranks eighth in team history with 145 three-point field goals. He is off to a fast start this season, averaging 14.3 points per game while shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 61.5 percent from three-point range. He was named to the ECC-CACC Challenge all-tournament team after helping Daemen pick up wins over Caldwell and Nyack.
THE HAMILTON PRODUCTION
Redshirt senior guard/forward Deion Hamilton returns to the lineup after missing the final 20 games of the 2017-18 season. The 6-foot-4 slasher provides another viable scoring option for the Wildcats with a career scoring average of 11.0 points per game. Hamilton was leading the team in scoring (15.1 ppg) through the first 10 games last season, while also chipping in 4.2 rebounds per game. He's also been a two-time All-Tournament Team pick at the season-opening ECC-CACC Challenge. Daemen is 17-7 since the start of the 2016-17 season when Hamilton shoots 50 percent or better from the field. He's averaging 13.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-high 4.0 assists through the first three games of the 2018-19 season.
INJURY BUG
Daemen has been hit hard with the injury bug early this season as incumbent starting guards Darius Garvin and Jay Sarkis have each missed time. Sarkis played just 11 minutes in the season-opener vs. Caldwell before going out, and Garvin exited after four minutes the following day vs. Nyack. The duo has a combined 148 games, including 128 starts, between them. Garvin has increased his statistical impact on the team in each of the last three seasons, and he was voted as the team's MVP by his teammates in 2017-18. Only Sarkis logged more minutes than Garvin's 1,022 last season. He finished the year averaging 9.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, and was one of only two players in the ECC to record double-figure points, rebounds and assists at some point during last season. In 30 games last season, Sarkis produced 12.5 points and a team-best 3.6 assists per game and earned third team All-ECC honors. Sarkis finished the season ranking among the ECC leaders in total minutes (1,057 - 3rd), minutes per game (35.2 - 5th), three-point field goal percentage (42.5 - 5th), three-point field goals (68 - 4th), total assists (106 - 3rd) and assists per game (3.5 - 6th).
STARTING 1-0
Daemen's 75-60 win over Caldwell on Nov. 9 extended their winning streak in season openers to 17, a streak that dates back to the 2002-03 season. The wins in that span have come over 14 different opponents. Fisher (Mass.), Wilfrid Laurier (Ont.) and Caldwell are the only opponents Daemen has defeated twice in season openers during the streak. The Wildcats' average margin of victory during the streak is an astonishing 23.8 points per game; in the team's six season openers since beginning to play a full Division II schedule, the average margin of victory is 18.2 points per game. Just two games - a 68-65 final over Toronto in 2011, and a 62-57 final over Felician in 2017 - have been decided by single digits. Daemen has gone over 100 points in three of the last seven season openers; the high-water mark came in 2013 when they downed Ohio Valley 111-90. Daemen's last loss in a season opener came at the Spring Hill College (Ala.) Tournament against the hosts on Nov. 2, 2001, falling 75-35.
DEFENDING THE DEN
Daemen posted a 12-3 record at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium last season, reaching double-figure home wins for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, Daemen is 84-13 at Lumsden Gymnasium (.866 winning percentage).
SLIPPERY ROCK SCOUTING REPORT
Slippery Rock is a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, and The Rock are led by acting head coach Ian Grady. Despite returning only player, SRU was picked second the PSAC Western Division preseason poll after posting a 21-9 overall record and a 14-8 PSAC record during the 2017-18 season. The team's lone returner is 6-foot-7 redshirt junior forward Micah Till who earned All-PSAC West and All-Atlantic Region honors last season when he produced 21.3 points and 12.0 rebounds per game. Till was named a Preseason All-American by Street & Smith Magazine in September. Of the remaining 15 players on the roster, 11 are transfers. Despite earning just one win in their first four contests, Slippery Rock is scoring 80.3 points per game. The Rock's first win of the season came on Nov. 14 when they downed Carlow 108-70. SRU is coming off a 64-59 loss to ECC member District of Columbia this past weekend. Till has led the way thus far, averaging 23.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. He ranks 31st in the country in scoring. Junior guard Jared Armstrong has come off the bench in all four contests, and is contributing 19.0 points per game. Armstrong, a 5-foot-10 transfer from Butler Community College, is shooting 65.9 percent from the field and 55.2 percent from three-point range, and ranks 16th in the country by averaging 4.0 made three-pointers per game.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Daemen vs. Slippery Rock: 1-2
Streak: Lost 1
Last Meeting: Slippery Rock 80, Daemen 77 | Nov. 26, 2017 | Slippery Rock, Pa.
More Details
DID YOU KNOW?
* Daemen is 4-7 in games against PSAC opponents since Mike MacDonald took the reins of the program beginning with the 2014-15 season. All four of the wins have come in the last eight matchups.
* Daemen is 13-3 in November home games since the start of the 2014-15 season.
UP NEXT
Daemen stays at the friendly confines of Lumsden Gymnasium to host Lake Erie for a non-conference affair on Monday (Nov. 26) evening, the team's last tune-up before East Coast Conference play gets underway (Dec. 5 @ Roberts Wesleyan).
