AMHERST, N.Y. – Highlighted by hosting the 2024 East Region Challenge and a rematch against Saint Michael's College in the Doc Jacobs Classic, head Daemen University men's basketball coach
Mike MacDonald announced the teams 2024-25 schedule on Thursday. The Wildcats will play 13 home games at Lumsden Gymnasium, 12 road games and one neutral site game across their 26 game slate.
Daemen opens the year by hosting the
2024 East Region Challenge, presented by
Western New York Knee and Orthopedic Surgery PC, where they will face Chestnut Hill College of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) on Nov. 8 to begin their season before taking on Northeast-10 (NE-10) foe Saint Anselm College the next day. Last season, the Wildcats won both their game in the 2023 East Region Challenge, defeating Chestnut Hill, 88-50, and Goldey-Beacom College, 75-67.
Daemen's season-opening three game homestand concludes on Nov. 16 when they play the University of Charleston. The Wildcats hit the road for the first time during the 2024-25 campaign when they head to the Nutmeg State to face Post University on Nov. 23, before returning home to play California University (Pa.) University on Nov. 26.
The Wildcats begin the month of December with three road games, starting on Dec. 1 at Clarion University before beginning East Coast Conference play at Staten Island (Dec. 6) and the University of the District of Columbia (Dec. 8). Daemen returns home for their first ECC home games of the 2024-25 season against defending ECC Champions St. Thomas Aquinas College on Dec. 13, before playing Mercy College on Dec. 15 in their final home game of 2024.
The Blue and White end 2024 and start 2025 with a season-long five game road swing, beginning at the Doc Jacobs Classic, hosted by Saint Michael's. The Wildcats will play Southern Connecticut University on Dec. 20 before facing the host Purple Knights the next day on Dec. 21. Last year, Saint Michael's and Daemen played in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament East Regional with the Purple Knights winning, 86-62, at home in Colchester, Vt.
The Cats begin the 2025 calendar year in the Granite State against Franklin Pierce College on Jan. 3 before concluding their season-long five-game road swing with a pair of games downstate against Molloy University (Jan. 10) and Queens College (Jan. 12).
Daemen returns home for the first time in the new year when they face crosstown rival D'Youville University on Jan. 16. The Wildcats are 13-0 all-time against the Saints and have won both meetings last season by 15-or-more points. The Wildcats hit the court two days later to play Gannon (Jan. 18) in the final non-conference game of the season before ending the month with a road contest at Roberts Wesleyan (Jan. 25) and home game against Staten Island (Jan. 31).
The Cats open February at home against District of Columbia (Feb. 2) before their final two game road swing of the regular season against St. Thomas Aquinas (Feb. 7) and Mercy (Feb. 9). Daemen will host Molloy (Feb. 14) and Queens (Feb. 16) at home, play D'Youville on the road (Feb. 22) and wrap up the regular season against Roberts Wesleyan (March 1).
The 2025 ECC Tournament will be March 5-9 with the semifinals and championship games held at the highest seed.
The Wildcats return just two starters and a total of nine players from their 2023-24 team which closed out the 2023-24 season with a 25-9 overall record and a 12-4 mark in the ECC. The 25 wins are a NCAA Division II-era (2015-present) record for the Wildcats. Daemen made its fourth overall appearance in the NCAA Championship and its first since the 2020-21 season. MacDonald is entering his 11th season at Daemen and owns a 204-83 record with the Wildcats. He will be entering his 27th year as a collegiate head coach and owns an overall career record of 461-309. All-ECC selections
Justin Glover (Buffalo, N.Y.) and
Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) return, as does veteran sharp-shooter
Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.). Glover played in 33 of 34 games and is averaged 11.6 points and a team-high 3.3 assists. He also ranked third in three-pointers (52) and second in steals (47). Among the ECC leaders he ranked seventh in assists per game and second in assist/turnover ratio (2.4). Hemphill enjoyed the most productive season of his career as he played in 31 of 34 games (12 starts) and averaged 10.6 points and a team-high 7.5 rebounds. A two-time ECC Defensive Player of the Week and one-time ECC Player of the Week selection during the 2023-24 season, he scored in double figures 15 times and posted five double-doubles on the year. Mason started all 34 games last season and tied for the team lead in minutes played per game (30.8). He contributed 10.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game and ranked second among the ECC leaders in three-pointers made (82). He went 8-of-9 from downtown against FPU and established a new NCAA Division II era (2015-present) program record for three-pointers made in a game. Mason has started 101 of a possible 107 games over his career and ranks 20th among the program's all-time leaders in career points with 1,086 points. He has also totaled 411 rebounds and 227 assists and is one of only six players in program history to total 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 200 assists. He ranks fourth in career three-pointers made (258) at Daemen and his career three-point field goal percentage of 46-percent (258-563) ranks third in program history. The Wildcats added six players in the offseason with four freshmen and two transfers to bring their total roster to 17.
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.
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