QUICK FACTS
Head Coach: Mike Grosodonia II (10th season at St. John Fisher)
2025-26 Record: 13-4 overall (8-8 Empire 8 regular season)
2025-26 Leaders: Scoring (Max Michalski, 12 ppg), FG percentage (Michalski, 53.9%), 3PT percentage (Alex Hayes, 41.1%), Rebounding (Michalski, 6.2 rpg), Assists (Max Schneider, 87), Steals (Andrew Violante, 45), Blocked Shots (Michalski, 51)
SETTING THE SCENE
The 2025-26 season brought plenty of highs and lows for the Cardinals, who finished 13-14 overall and went 8-8 in Empire 8 Conference regular-season play.
After letting some games slip away earlier in the season, the Cardinals showed growth at the end, closing out a 65-59 victory over rival Nazareth in the regular-season finale before knocking off top-seeded Russell Sage in the first round of the Empire 8 Tournament. Their season ended with a 74-57 loss to No. 4-seeded SUNY Brockport in the E8 semifinals.
St. John Fisher returns almost all of its key players from last season, including junior forward/center Maximus Michalski, who led the Cardinals in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots in 2025-26. In all, nine of the Cardinals’ returning players played in 20 games or more last season. Michalski(27 games, 26 starts), junior guards Jonathan McCaffrey (27 games, 27 starts), Andrew Violante (27 games, 20 starts) and Jack Janes (27 games, 1 start), and sophomore guards Mekhi Gidney (25 games, 14 starts) and Alex Hayes (27 games, 12 starts) played in 25 games or more.
The Cardinals’ 2026-27 roster also includes three transfer additions who figure to have roles – junior guards Jordan Cain and Kaelem Haskins and senior forward Christian Amica. Cain (Utica) and Amica (Brockport) began their collegiate careers playing for Empire 8 teams, while Haskins joined the Cardinals after two seasons at SUNY Morrisville.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
#0 Mekhi Gidney (So., G) – Gidney appeared in 25 games and made 14 starts as a freshman, averaging 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. He led the Cardinals with an 83.8% mark from the free-throw line and poured in a season-high 23 points against Brockport on Feb. 7, shooting 9-for-14 from the field and 4-for-6 from 3-point range.
#4 Jordan Cain (Jr., G) – Cain played in 47 games and made 35 starts for Utica over the last two seasons, averaging 11.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest. He averaged 14.5 points – the second most on the team – while shooting nearly 40% from the field and 75.3% from the foul line last season. Cain scored in double figures in all but six of the games in which he played in 2025-26 and erupted for a career-high 32 points while shooting 12-of-19 with three 3-pointers in a win over RPI. Also a strong defender, Cain led the Pioneers with 62 steals as a sophomore and had 25 over 21 games as a freshman.
#5 Christian Amica (Sr., F) – Amica played in 60 games (four starts) over the last three seasons for SUNY Brockport. He’s coming off his most productive season, as he averaged 5.5 points and 2.2 rebounds per contest while coming off the bench in 27 games for the Golden Eagles in 2025-26. Amica scored 10 points or more six times last season, posting a career-high 15 while shooting 4-of-9 overall (3-of-5 from three) in a win over Nazareth.
#10 Jack Janes (Jr., G) – Janes appeared in all 27 games last season, averaging 6.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest while making one start. He matched his career high with 17 points in Fisher's upset of top-seeded Russell Sage in the Empire 8 Tournament quarterfinals and earned a spot on the Empire 8 All-Tournament Team.
#11 Andrew Violante (Jr., G) – Violante played in all 27 games last season and made 20 starts, averaging 9.3 points per game. He led the Cardinals with 45 steals, ranked second on the team with 44 assists and scored a career-high 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting in a win over Elmira on Jan. 17.
#32 Maximus Michalski (Jr., F/C) – Michalski started 26 of 27 games last season and led the Cardinals in scoring (12.0 ppg), rebounding (6.2 rpg) and blocked shots (51). He shot 53.9% from the field, recorded three double-doubles and earned second-team All-Empire 8 honors.
A UNIQUE START TO THE SEASON
St. John Fisher unofficially begins its 2026-27 season with an exhibition contest against Daemen University at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, as part of the Greenlight Network Preseason Showcase.
The Cardinals will face the Wildcats before a Division I exhibition between St. Bonaventure University and Penn State University. Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased on ticketmaster.com.
Courtside seats (first row) and floor seats (second row) will include access to the KeyBank Center's 1970 Club, which will include a cash bar that opens at 1:30 p.m. and food service that begins at 3 p.m.
St. John Fisher has played Daemen four times previously but not since the 1987-88 season. The Cardinals own a 3-1 record against the Wildcats.
One of the top men's basketball programs in Division II, Daemen has a 61-3 record over the last two seasons and has reached the NCAA Tournament in five of the last eight years. The Wildcats went 33-2 and reached the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament in 2025-26.
The Cardinals this past season made history in the Empire 8 Conference Championship Tournament, becoming the first No. 8 seed in league history to beat a No. 1 seed with a 77-72 victory over Russell Sage. They ended the year 13-14 overall after falling to Brockport in the E8 Semifinals.
St. John Fisher opens the regular season against Virginia Wesleyan at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 6, in the Virginia Wesleyan Tip-Off Tournament.
DID YOU KNOW?
With their 77-72 victory over Russell Sage last February, the Cardinals became the first No. 8 seed to beat a No. 1 seed in Empire 8 history. Not only in men's basketball, but in any of the conference's championship tournaments.
