Danes kneel, then get a victory
Recent events reason for gesture, players say; four in double figures
Albany First they took a knee, then they grabbed a victory — two occurrences that haven’t happened often this season for the University at Albany basketball team.
Seven Ualbany players kneeled Saturday during the national anthem before an America East game against the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The “Black Lives Matter” expression has been seen frequently throughout college and pro games, but it was the first time the
Great Danes have done it at SEFCU Arena.
After that, it was all basketball, and Ualbany made a statement on the court, too, hitting a season-high point total in an 83-75 victory over NJIT.
“We wanted to show how we feel about it,” said Ualbany guard Jamal Horton, who indicated it started with last Saturday’s game at St. Joseph’s. “That’s when the riots were happening at the Capitol. At that point, we said, you know what, maybe we should step in and show how we feel about it.”
The anthem stance fell along racial lines. The Danes’ seven Black players, including Horton, were kneeling. The seven white players and the entire coaching staff, which includes one Black member, remained standing.
Coach Will Brown, who earned his 400th career coaching victory (including his 83 wins in three seasons at Sullivan County Community College), said he had no issue with the gesture.
“They have the right to do what they want to do, what they’re comfortable with, what they believe in,” Brown said.
“My thing all along has been just handle yourself the right way. My job is to support the student-athletes and the coaches in my program. It’s not my job to tell them to stand or kneel.”
It is Brown’s job to tell the Danes (2-5 overall, 2-3 America East) how to play, and he allowed them to play at a faster tempo.
Ualbany had four doublefigure scorers — Horton with 18, Antonio Rizzuto with 16, Chuck Champion with 15 and Jarvis Doles with 12 — in establishing a season-high in points. The
Danes hadn’t scored more than 66 in their previous six games.
“They play a little different, so that affected how we were playing to start the game,” Riz
Ualbany women lose home opener.
zuto said. “We’ve been working on at practice trying to get out and go a little more and flow into our offense. Making some shots early helps us a little bit.”
The Danes, led by Doles’ seven points, were on top 26-14 with 11:30 to go in the first half. That was their biggest lead in a game this season.
The Highlanders (4-5, 3-4) led for only 15 seconds in the game, although they did rally to tie the game at 58 with 12:18 to play, but Ualbany answered with an 8-0 run over the next two minutes.
“Albany made a couple more plays, especially in that first half,” fifth-year NJIT coach Brian Kennedy said. “We had somewhat I call unforced turnovers that led to some fastbreak points. Then down the stretch, they made their foul shots and they made some plays down at the end of the game.”
Preseason all-america East selection Cameron Healy, who missed the past four games with an oblique injury, returned to the Danes’ lineup. He had two points and one rebound in 10 minutes as Brown limited his playing time.
The biggest boost came from Champion, the Loyola (Md.) transfer who had been averaging just 2.8 points before his 17-point outburst. Champion was 6-for-7 from the field and ended the first half with a length-of-the-court drive and layup just before the buzzer.
“I’ve been watching Chuck play since his AAU days when he played for the Jersey Shore Warriors,” Kennedy said. “He’s a long guard who makes tough shots. Unfortunately, he did it against us.”
Champion’s court time has been limited after a preseason foot injury.
“I just had to come to the realization that he’s played a lot of minutes in his college career,” Brown said. “Maybe we can hit the fast-forward button a little bit with him and maybe we don’t need him to get as acclimated to playing again as I think.”
The same teams will meet again at 5 p.m. Sunday at SEFCU.