Hoping foundation built for long postseason
The last time it entered the America East basketball Tournament with exactly eight losses, the University at Albany won the championship and moved on to the NCAA Tournament.
That was in 2015, and, of course, the caveat is that those Great Danes played a full schedule of 29 games before the postseason. This Ualbany team, courtesy of COVID -19 and the scheduling complexities accompanying the pandemic, managed only 14 games, winning six.
Is that enough foundation to build a four-game winning streak and earn the school’s first NCAA trip since that team of six years ago?
“It feels a little bit rushed,” Ualbany junior guard Cameron Healy said, “but you’ve got to step up to the moment. You can always say we wish we were more prepared, but we’re in the same position as them. We just need to go out there and show the conference what we think we can do, win it all.”
In this case, “them” is the New Jersey Institute of Technology Highlanders (7-11 overall, 6-10 conference), a first-year America East member that enters the tournament as a No. 8 seed. The Danes (6-8, 6-6) are No. 5.
The teams meet at 5 p.m. Saturday at Chase Arena as part of the “Hartford pod.” No. 4 Hartford and No. 9 Binghamton will square off at 2 p.m. Saturday, and the winners of those two games play at 3 p.m. Sunday in Hartford for a berth in the America East semifinals.
Ualbany swept NJIT in the regular season, 83-75 and 83-71, on Jan. 16-17 at SEFCU Arena.
“You can’t overlook any opponent,” Danes junior forward Jarvis Doles said. “Just because we had success with them earlier in the year doesn’t mean we’ll have success in the next game. It’s hard to beat a team three times, and we understand that.”
Coach Will Brown said he should have his full roster available. Sophomore forward Trey Hutcheson and freshman guard Will Amica sat out last weekend’s games against Stony Brook with undisclosed injuries but are expected to be available. Doles and junior guard C.J. Kelly missed the previous weekend’s games vs. Umass Lowell because of COVID -19 protocols but started both games against Stony Brook.
That gives Brown nine players who have started two or more games this season and three others who have at times been in the playing rotation.
“We’re going to go with the guys that had been playing before the pause, after New Hampshire,” said Brown, referring to a Jan., 24 road victory that was followed by a 19-day COVID pause. “That’s our mindset, whether it’s seven or eight guys, the focus is on our preparation, winning and moving forward.
“It’s crazy to say this, I still think our best basketball is ahead of us. We were playing really good through that New Hampshire series, we went on pause, and then we didn’t have Jarvis and C.J. for about three weeks, our best scorer in C.J., and Jarvis is our best frontcourt scorer. I’m hopeful we can finish strong and we have some good performances as a group left in us.”
In the two earlier victories over NJIT, the Danes led 92 percent of the time (compared to 3 percent for the Highlanders). Six Ualbany players averaged in double figures for those two games: Antonio Rizzuto (17.5), Jamel Horton (13.5), Doles (13.5), Kelly (11.5), Chuck Champion (11.5) and Kellon Taylor (10.5). The 83-point output marked Ualbany’s high for the season, also reached in the game at New Hampshire.
“Looking back,” Doles said, “we were unselfish against NJIT. If we look at the stat sheet, we had six guys averaging double figures. It was the starting five, and that was when Chuck Champion started to come on. That’s important for us, just the presence of our bench, and our bench is even stronger now.”
“We’re playing the only team in our league that beat both Vermont and UMBC during the season, the two teams that have tied for first,” Brown said. “They’re a dangerous team with good talent, and we need to be focused and embrace our preparation.”