Closing in
After several delays related to COVID-19, team to play Saturday
After several delays, the UALbany men’s basketball team is set to play.
Final exams ended more than a week ago at the University at Albany, but the school’s basketball team has an additional hurdle to clear before officially starting its 2020-21 season.
“We have one more COVID test we have to pass to get to Saturday,” Ualbany coach Will Brown said Wednesday. “Everybody is excited that we’re going to have the opportunity to put the uniform on to play a game, and our guys can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
A month and a half later than originally planned, before COVID -19 restrictions threw college basketball and everything else into disarray, the Great Danes are scheduled to open Saturday at home against
Maryland-baltimore County. The America East teams also will play Sunday at SEFCU Arena.
Those will mark the Danes’ first games since March 7, when they lost at Stony Brook in the America East Tournament quarterfinals, and will be the latest start in the program’s 68-year history.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said CJ Kelly, a junior guard who transferred from Norfolk State. “Me and my teammates are shocked that we actually get a chance to play, but we’re ready. We’re excited to stop playing against each
other and actually playing against other people.”
Ualbany moved its scheduled Wednesday practice to the evening to accommodate junior guard and leading returning scorer Cameron Healy, whose trip to the dentist earlier in the day resulted in a root canal.
“He went to the dentist hoping it was a filling,” Brown said, “and obviously it was worse than that. But we’re glad that he got it taken care of, and we’re not expecting any issues moving forward.”
Injury report
Junior forward Adam Lulka is questionable for the weekend games after “a procedure” was done Tuesday, according to
Brown. “If he can play this weekend, it’s a bonus.”
Chuck Champion, a 6-4 guard who transferred from Loyola (Md.), had a screw put in his foot recently. He will play, but Brown said his minutes may be limited.
The coach also said Kelly and senior Jojo Anderson, both guards coming off knee surgery, will be available. He said Kelly is about 80 percent.
Schedule changes
The home game scheduled for next Wednesday against Bryant, which was the only nonconference game on the latest schedule, is off.
As of now, the Danes have no games scheduled between Sunday — the second of the back-toback games against UMBC — and the start of an America East series Jan. 2-3 at Vermont, but Brown hopes to change that.
“We’re close to adding one right around the same date the Bryant game was,” Brown said, “and we’re close to adding one after Christmas. That’s the goal. We’d like to play one before Christmas and one after Christmas.”
The school also announced that the UMBC games will be played at 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, one hour later than originally scheduled.