AMHERST, N.Y. — Saturday afternoon at the KeyBank Center in downtown Buffalo, the Daemen Wildcats will take on Wilmington University.
The game is the first of a doubleheader, with Canisius and St. Bonaventure playing in the nightcap.
Daemen is off to a great start this season. The Wildcats have won six straight games after dropping their season opener. Daemen played exhibition games at the University at Buffalo and in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse.
The Wildcats' regular season started with a game against the No. 1-ranked team in Division II, Northwest Missouri State University.
The schedule doesn't get any easier. Coach Mike MacDonald told 2 On Your Side's Stu Boyar on Thursday that playing a tough schedule should benefit the Wildcats down the road.
"Our schedule this year is incredible. Every time we play a visiting coach, they all say to me, what were you thinking with the schedule? What are you, crazy?" he said. "And I just say, 'Yeah, I'm an idiot. But it's getting us battle-tested for later on, big games in February and March."
The Wildcats have experienced depth. Redshirt junior Andrew Sischo leads the way. In seven games this season, the 2018 East Coast Conference player of the year has seven double doubles.
MacDonald compared Sischo to one of his former players at Canisius, Darren Fenn.
"When Darren played for me, he wasn't really a 3-point shooter, although he'd probably tell you differently," MacDonald said. "But when he went overseas and played for 10 years, he became a 3-point shooter and became a guy who could really stretch the floor. I see that down the road for Andrew too."
Breon Harris, Jay Sarkis, Jeff Redband and Sischo have started for more than three years, and they have been all conference players.
Saturday's game is a noon tip-off.
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