No. 1 in the Country! Daemen Men's Basketball Earns Top Ranking in Latest NABC National Poll

Release courtesy of Daemen University Sports Information AMHERST, NY – For the first time in program history, the Daemen University men's basketball team was named the No.1 team in the country as they moved into the top spot within the most recent National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) National Poll, as announced Tuesday afternoon. The Wildcats garnered a program record 394 points and 12 first-place votes.   The Wildcats are the first Division I or II team from Western New York to be ranked No. 1 in a national poll as they surpassed St. Bonaventure's then-record No. 2 ranking in the week 12 AP Poll back on Feb. 27, 1961. Daemen is also the first Division I or II men's basketball team from New York state to be ranked No. 1 in any national poll since Syracuse was tabbed No. 1 in the week 16 AP Poll on Feb. 17, 2017. The 'Cats join Adelphi as the only other team in ECC history to attain a No. 1 ranking in any national poll as the Panthers were ranked No. 1 in six consecutive polls from January 29-March 5.   The last undefeated team across all of Division II, Daemen sits six points ahead of No. 2 Nova Southeastern (Sunshine State) as they tallied 388 points and the remaining four first-place votes in the latest NABC National Poll. Alabama Huntsville (GSC) rose to third with 369 points while Washburn (MIAA) fell to fourth after losing two games this past week and garnered 340 points. Dallas Baptist (LSC) rounded out the top five with 335 points. Additionally, the Wildcats moved up to No. 2 in the latest Division II College Sports Communicators (D2CSC) National Poll with 313 points and five first-place votes. Nova Southeastern, who is 23-1 overall with their lone loss of the year coming Palm Beach Atlantic during Sunshine State Conference play, edged the Wildcats out for the No. 1 spot with 318 points and also garnered five first-place votes. Washburn closed out the top three with 283 points and grabbed the remaining first-place vote.    This season under head coach Mike MacDonald, seven different members of the Wildcats are averaging over 7.0 points per game, led by redshirt sophomore center and current ECC Co-Player of the Week Benjamin Bill (Hamburg, N.Y.) and his 16.6 ppg. On the glass, Bill and redshirt senior forward Justin Hemphill (Buffalo, N.Y.) have paced the Daemen rebounding efforts with 7.5 and 7.2 rebounds per game, respectively. As a team, the Wildcats continue to lead the nation in field goal percentage defense at .363. Daemen currently ranks second nationally in scoring margin (22.9), third in bench points (39.3), third in scoring defense (61.2), fourth in assists per game (19.6) and fourth in field goal percentage (.519). Individually, Bill leads the nation in field goal percentage at .727, graduate student guard Matt Becker (Fairfield, Conn.) leads the ECC and ranks 24th nationally in assists-to-turnover ratio at 2.83 while fellow graduate student guard Andrew Mason (Webster, N.Y.) recently moved into fourth all-time in the ECC for career 3-pointers with 307.   Daemen is back in action of Feb. 22 when they will head 20 minutes south to downtown Buffalo to face crosstown rival D'Youville. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from the Saints Center Gym.
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