Daemen Men's Basketball Retains No. 1 National Ranking

Release courtesy of Daemen University Sports Information AMHERST, NY – The Daemen University men's basketball team held their No. 1 ranking for the third consecutive week in the latest  National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll with 392 points and 11 first-place votes. Additionally, the Wildcats held their No. 2 ranking in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) National Poll  with 327 points and four first-place votes.  The last undefeated men's basketball team across all of Divison I, II or III, Daemen topped the NABC National Poll for the third consecutive week. Nova Southeastern (Sunshine State) remained in second with 387 points and the remaining five first-place votes while Alabama Huntsville (GSC) closed the top three with 372 points. The Wildcats are the only Division I or II school across New York to be ranked No. 1 in a national poll for three-or-more consecutive weeks since the 2019-20.  Within the latest D2CSC poll, Nova Southeastern held their top rank with 346 points and 10 first-place votes to edge out Daemen's 327 points and four first-place votes. Washburn (MIAA) rounded out the top three with 327 points.  Currently 25-0, Daemen is just the fourth school in ECC history and first since C.W. Post during the 2008-09 season to go undefeated during the regular season. Under head coach Mike MacDonald, Daemen has continued to lead the nation in field goal percentage defense at .371. The 'Cats rank second nationally in both scoring margin (22.6), bench points per game (38.6) and rebounding margin (10.5). Daemen is also third in scoring defense (62.4), fourth assists per game (19.7) and fourth in field goal percentage (.521). Individually, redshirt sophomore center Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) finished the regular season ranked third nationally in field goal percentage at .730 while graduate student guard Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) ended the regular season as the ECC leader in assist/turnover ratio at 2.41. Daemen is idle until March 8 when they will play the No. 4 seed Roberts Wesleyan or No. 5 seed Staten Island in the 2025 ECC Men's Basketball Championship. Tip-off from Lumsden Gymnasium is set for 5 p.m.
Read More...