Wildcats Host Slippery Rock Tuesday

11/20/2023 1:27:00 PM

JUMP BALL
Daemen returns to Lumsden Gymnasium Tuesday (Nov. 21) night for a non-conference matchup against Slippery Rock University.

GET YOUR TICKETS HERE
Tickets for all 2023-24 Daemen home games are on sale through Daemen's online ticketing portal. Lock in your tickets before arriving at Lumsden Gym. Please note, all tickets must be purchased online. No cash sales will be available at Lumsden Gym.

THE SEASON AHEAD
The Wildcats return several key players and a total of 14 players from their 2022-23 team which went 20-8 overall and 12-4 in the East Coast Conference. The Wildcats advanced to the ECC Tournament championship game, where they suffered a 72-66 loss to top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas College. Daemen was picked second in the ECC preseason coaches' poll and was receiving votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II preseason poll.

POLL POSITION
Daemen is ranked seventh in the D2 College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) East Region poll released Monday, Nov. 20.

THE SEASON SO FAR
Daemen has featured a balanced scoring attack and solid defense in its seven games thus far. Four of Daemen's five starters are averaging in double figures and the fifth starter is averaging 9.4 points. Four different players have led the team in scoring so far this season. Senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) has led the team in points three times this season and was named the MVP of the East Region Challenge hosted by Daemen after scoring 21 points in a 75-67 win over Goldey-Beacom. He is averaging 14.3 points and ranks second on the team in three-pointers (12). Sophomore Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) has scored in double figures in all seven games and is averaging 13.3 points and 2.6 assists. Graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), the ECC Preseason Player of the Year, is averaging 12.9 points and 6.6 rebounds and leads the ECC in steals (14). Senior Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) has reached double figures in points the last four games and is averaging 11.0 points with a team-high 19 three-pointers. Senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) is contributing 9.4 points per game, while sixth man Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) is producing 7.0 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest.

WILDCATS EDGE NATIONALLY-RANKED MERCYHURST
Daemen opened last week with a 64-63 win at nationally-ranked Mercyhurst University. The host Lakers were ranked No. 25 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II preseason poll. Senior Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) led the way with 15 points.

WINNING STREAK SNAPPED AT DOMINICAN
Daemen saw its three-game winning streak come to an end following a 75-72 loss at Dominican (N.Y.) Saturday afternoon. Both teams entered the game ranked in the D2CSC East Region poll. The Wildcats rallied from a 60-45 deficit midway through the second half and had a chance to send the game to overtime, but a buzzer-beating three-pointer by senior Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.) was off the mark. Fasoyiro scored a game-hig 21 points, while graduate student Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.) stuffed the stat sheet with 19 points, a career-high 13 rebounds and a career-high five steals.

SHARP SHOOTERS
Daemen ranks first among ECC teams in field goal percentage (.479) and has shot over 45-percent from the field in five of its seven games. The Wildcats are 2-0 this year when they shoot 50-percent or better from the field.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
Daemen has limited four of its seven opponents to less than 70 points and leads the ECC in team defense, allowing just 70.1 points per game.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Wildcats have won their last nine home games dating back to last season and are 92-18 (.836) at home during Daemen's NCAA Division II era (2015-present).

NOTEABLE
Joey Atkins recorded his 300th career rebound and 100th career block during Saturday's loss to Dominican. Dylan Fasoyiro is three points shy of 500 for his career. Andrew Mason is five three-pointers shy of 200 for his career.

RETURN OF THE MAC
Head coach Mike MacDonald returns for his 10th season on Daemen's bench and his 27^th overall as a collegiate head coach. Daemen has posted at least 20 wins in five of the last six seasons (Daemen only played 16 games during the COVID-19 shortened 2020-21 season) and MacDonald has led the Wildcats to a record of 182-77, three NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and the 2021 NCAA Division II East Region title. He has won more games at Daemen than during previous stints as the head coach at Canisius (108 wins in nine seasons) and Medaille (149 wins in eight seasons). MacDonald is among an elite fraternity of coaches to have achieved 100 victories across all three NCAA divisions. His overall career record stands at 439-303 and Daemen's 81-72 win over Roberts Wesleyan on Dec. 8, 2021 was the 400th of his career.

FAMILIAR FACES
All-ECC selections Joey Atkins (Watervliet, N.Y.), Dylan Fasoyiro (Houston, Tex.), Nick MacDonald (Amherst, N.Y.) and Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) all return in 2023-24. Atkins earned first-team All-ECC honors in his first season as a starter last year after averaging 11.9 points and 6.2 rebounds. He also ranked eighth among all Division II players in blocks (65). Fasoyiro averaged a team-high 13.4 points in his first season with the team, while MacDonald contributed 12.4 points. Mason averaged 10.9 points and led all three NCAA divisions in three-point field goal percentage (.516) last year. Veteran point guard Ryan Salzberg (Manlius, N.Y.), who started all 28 games last year and averaged 32 minutes a game, was set to return but suffered a preseason injury. Senior Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.), a 6-foot-6 forward, is coming off a breakout season in which he averaged 9.0 points and a team-high 6.5 rebounds off the bench. Sophomore guard Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) is set to step into the starting lineup following the loss of Salzberg. Glover played in 23 games (seven starts) as a freshman and averaged 4.9 points and 1.8 assists. Ayden Harrison (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) and Jackson Kulik (Webster, N.Y.) also join the mix after red shirting their freshman season last year.

NEWCOMERS
Three newcomers join the fold in 2023-24. Redshirt sophomore guard Jarius Jones (Gahanna, Ohio) spent the past two years at Ohio Dominican University. Freshmen Zach Philipkoski (New Harford, N.Y.) and Ryan Heath (Rochester, N.Y.) both earned New York State Class A all-state honors last winter and Philipkoski was also honored as the New York State Class A Player of the Year.

SUSTAINED SUCCESS
The Daemen program has been built on sustained success, winning at least 19 games in 11 of the last 12 seasons. That span encompasses the end of Daemen's NAIA Era, its NCAA transition period and the first eight seasons of full NCAA Division II membership. The Wildcats have won 72% of their contests, going 247-98 in that span. Looking more recently, Daemen is 120-45 since the start of the 2017-18 season (.730 winning percentage).

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK
Daemen earned three consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament berths from 2019 to 2021. The Wildcats won 24 games (NCAA era program record) and earned at-large bids to the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2020. The Wildcats entered the 2021 tournament as the No. 2 seed in the East Region and picked up their first-ever NCAA tourney win with an 81-69 defeat of third-seeded Bloomfield in the opening round. The Wildcats then upset top-seeded Saint Thomas Aquinas in the regional championship game en route to the program's first regional championship and Elite Eight appearance. Daemen has posted 20 wins this last two seasons, but was denied an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament each year.

SCOUTING THE ROCK
Slippery Rock (1-0, 0-0 PSAC) is a member of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. The Rock went 17-12 overall (11-11 PSAC) and lost in the opening round of the PSAC Tournament last year. Ian Grady is entering his sixth season as head coach and his 15th season overall at SRU. SRU lost their top three scorers from last season and return two starters and 10 players overall. Senior forward Lashon Lindsey started 22 games last year and averaged 9.3 points and 6.7 rebounds. Redshirt junior guard Bobby Clifford is also back after starting 19 games and averaging 5.5 points. Redshirt sophomore guard Jomo Goings averaged 9.2 points in 21 minutes off the bench last year. SRU brought in four transfers. Graduate student Maceo Austin tops the list of newcomers. A former two-year player at Division I Dusquene, he makes his return to college basketball after sitting out the last two seasons. He connected on 9-of-11 shots and totaled 25 points, seven assists and three blocks in SRU's season-opening 100-71 win over West Virginia Wesleyan. 6-foot-6 guard Ike Herster, who spent the last three season at Gannon, hit three three-pointers and scored 16 points in the win over West Virginia Wesleyan. Lindsey recorded a double-double (18 pts, 11 rebs) in the season opener, while Goings hit three three-pointers and scored 15 points. Slippery Rock was picked fourth in the PSAC West Division preseason coaches' poll.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday's tilt will mark just the sixth all-time meeting between Daemen and Slippery Rock. The Rock outscored the Wildcats 44-25 in the second half en route to an 82-60 win over the Wildcats last year at Slippery Rock. Daemen prevailed 78-71 the last time the teams played at Lumsden Gymnasium during the 2018-19 season.

ON THE HORIZON
Daemen is idle until Sunday (Nov. 26) when it travels to Pennsylvania to play Clarion University in a non-league game.

Daemen University features the premier NCAA Division II athletics program in the Buffalo-Niagara region, sponsoring 17 intercollegiate teams. For the latest information on Daemen Athletics, follow the Wildcats via social media on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, or sign up to receive customizable news alerts, e-mail newsletters and weekly schedule alerts.

Follow the Daemen men's basketball program on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @DaemenMBB.

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