James P. McCoy

Men's Basketball Opens Season At Saint Anselm

11/6/2026 2:00:00 PM

By: CONTACT: Mary Margaret Johnson, Director of Athletics Communications | mmjohnso@daemen.edu

BACK AT IT!
The #15 ranked Daemen University men's basketball team returns to the hardwood for their 2026-27 season opener on Monday, Nov. 9 on the road at RV Saint Anselm in Manchester, N.H. The Wildcats, ranked #15 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) preseason poll, will face the Hawks, who are receiving votes in the NABC preseason poll, in a rematch of the 2026 NCAA Div. II East Region Championship that Daemen handily won 94-73 to earn the program's second East Region title and punch their ticket to the 2026 Elite Eight.

PRESEASON POLL
The Wildcats received the #1 spot in the 2026-27 East Coast Conference Men's Basketball Preseason Poll, released on Oct. 20, after becoming the first ECC program since Philadelphia Textile in the 1992-93 and 1993-94 seasons to record back-to-back undefeated conference regular seasons. The Wildcats led the conference in assists to turnover ratio, assists per game, blocks per game, effective field goal ratio, field goal percentage, fastbreak points, field goal percentage defense, fouls per game, rebounding margin, rebounds per game, scoring defense, scoring margin, three-point percentage, three-point percentage defense, turnovers per game, and winning percentage. The Wildcats led NCAA Div. II in blocks, and ranked in the top-10 in assists (2nd), winning percentage (2nd), scoring margin (4th), rebound margin (6th), fouls per game (8th), and rebounds per game (9th). Daemen has won 42 straight ECC regular season games, a streak that dates back to Feb. 9, 2024.

MR. PRESEASON PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Daemen redshirt senior forward Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) was named the ECC Preseason Player of the Year after a breakout 2025-26 season. Nwugwo played in all 35 games for the Wildcats last year, including making 11 starts in the middle of the season, and finished the year averaging 8.9 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. While in the starting lineup, Nwugwo averaged 13.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He finished the year ranking fifth in total blocks with 38 and ninth in blocks per game in the conference. With Nwugwo as a key member of the Wildcats starting lineup this season, he had a standout performance in Daemen's exhibition game against St. John Fisher on Oct. 17, finishing with 32 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks while shooting 66% from the floor and pulling down a game-high seven offensive boards.

HISTORIC RUN
The Wildcats return to the court as the reigning East Coast Conference and NCAA Div. II East Region champions after a historic 2025-26 campaign that saw a program-best 33-2 record after sweeping the conference (16-0) for the second straight season. Daemen earned their second consecutive ECC tournament title with wins over #5 seed D'Youville (73-59) and a big 20-point victory over #6 seed Roberts Wesleyan (86-66) in the conference championship game. The Wildcats hosted the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row and cruised through the region, dominating in all three games (111-78 over #8 seed Goldey-Beacom, 85-62 over #5 seed Saint Michael's, 94-73 over #3 seed Saint Anselm) en route to hoist the program's second East Region trophy, first since 2021, and punch their ticket to the Elite Eight. Daemen entered as the #4 seed and played #5 Lander in an instant classic in the Elite Eight, trading points throughout the game before the Wildcats fell in a three-point heartbreaker, 74-77, to the eventual national champion runners up Bearcats. Following the season, head coach Mike MacDonald left to take the head coach position at his alma mater St. Bonaventure. The Wildcats have won 42 straight ECC regular season games, a streak that dates back to Feb. 9, 2024.

NEW LOOK CATS
First-year head coach Ryan Grandits was hired in April as the seventh men's basketball coach in program history, making his return to Main Street after spending the 2025-26 season as the head coach of Point Park University in Pittsburg, Pa. Grandits was the longtime top assistant under MacDonald for nearly a decade and inherited a program that went 61-3 over the last two seasons, won a pair of ECC titles, went undefeated in conference play in back-to-back seasons and earned the regional title. The Wildcats return seven players from the 2025-26 campaign. Redshirt senior forward Phil Nwugwo (Rochester, N.Y.) highlights the returners after a breakout redshirt junior season where he finished sixth on the team in scoring, averaging 8.9 points and 4.8 rebounds per game along with shooting an impressive 61.9% from the field and totaling 38 blocks defensively. 2025-26 newcomers Nakyhi Harris (Buffalo, N.Y.) and Jaiden Harrison (Buffalo, N.Y.) also return to the team after playing solid minutes in their first season with the Wildcats. Grandits rounded out the roster by adding 10 new players, eight incoming freshmen along with junior transfer Kenny Freeman (Rochester, N.Y.) who spent his first two seasons at Herkimer County Community College and redshirt junior transfer Trevor Barrett (Cary, N.Y.) who comes to Daemen after playing his first two years as a starter at the University of Charleston in West Virginia.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to Lumsden Gymnasium to host the East Region Challenge next weekend, Nov. 13-14. Daemen will play RV Saint Michael's in their home opener on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 PM and will face the reigning national champion #3 Gannon on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 2 PM.

SCOUTING THE HAWKS
Playing in their final year of NCAA Div. II men's basketball in 2026-27 before Saint Anselm makes the move down to NCAA Div. III, the Hawks have a very different team than the team that won the NE-10 and played in the 2026 East Region championship game. The Hawks return just six players from their 2025-26 squad, including one starter, 7-foot junior Paulius Rapolius who averaged 6.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Saint Anselm lost their leading scorer to graduation, and their next five top scorers all transferred to Division I teams following the 2025-26 season and the announcement that the school would be moving down to Div. III after this school year. Daemen is 6-1 all-time against Saint Anselm and have won the last five meetings between the two teams, including both match ups last season.

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