Hutcheson gives lesson on rivalry
ALBANY — At only 22, Trey Hutcheson is the “old man” of University at Albany men’s basketball.
The senior guard/forward has been at Ualbany since 2019, longer than anyone else on the team or coaching staff.
“It’s kind of fun. Coach (Dwayne Killings) calls me the ‘Old Man’ all the time, but I’ve just been here for a while, so I’ve seen more stuff just about the program than other guys have,” Hutcheson said.
Thus, it fell to him and deputy athletic director Vic Cegles to explain the importance of the Vermont-ualbany rivalry to the rest of the team before the Great Danes (6-18, 1-8 America East) host the Catamounts (12-10, 6-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday.
“We kind of experienced it with the Siena game earlier, I told them, but this is similar to that, but we get to play Vermont twice a year, and it’s been going on for the last 20 years,” Hutcheson said. “I’ve been through games like that, I know how those games are … and it’s kind of cool to be able to share those stories with them.”
He was sharing knowledge given to him by former assistant coaches Jon Iati and Jerrad Knotts, both of whom battled with Vermont for America East titles as players and coaches.
“They just kind of passed it on and instilled it in me my freshman year how big of a rivalry it was, and just kind of trying to instill in these guys just how big of a game it’s going to be for the school, for the program, and just Albany,” Hutcheson said.
“I thought the message really hit home. You could feel it with the way that practice started today,” Killings said.
Ualbany has won once in the past six years, a 63-62 victory in Burlington in January of 2021 that snapped a
nine-game losing streak against the Catamounts. Hutcheson, then a sophomore, played 10 minutes with no points and a rebound. C.J. Kelly carried the team with 27 points, Jarvis Doles added 10 points and Jamel Horton had eight points and a team-high nine rebounds. Will Brown was the head coach.
It felt “amazing,” Hutcheson said. “That’s the only time I beat them, and I hope that it doesn’t stay that way.”
Hutcheson has been dealing with a back injury but will play Saturday, Killings said.
Despite Vermont’s recent dominance, it remains a strong rivalry, according to Vermont coach John Becker.
“In order to have a rivalry, both teams have to beat each other and beat each other in championship games,” he said. “That history is still there.”
The most memorable Ualbanyvermont matchup for him is one Great Danes fans won’t want to be reminded of: the 2017 championship game in which Vermont completed an undefeated America East season with a 56-53 win, dealing Ualbany its first loss in a title game.
Becker was planning to talk to his team about the history with Ualbany Saturday morning before shootaround. The Catamounts have seven new players: four freshmen and three transfers.
Two-time Player of the Year Ryan Davis graduated, but his shoes have been filled by fifth-year guard Robin Duncan, who is averaging 8.2 points and a team-high 6.9 rebounds per game. He has a league-best 2.9 assist to turnover ratio.
“He’s having a historic season as far as just how he’s playing on both ends of the ball and how consistent he’s been and how tough he’s been,” Becker said.
In addition to the meaning imbued by the rivalry, the Great Danes badly need a win. They’re on a six-game losing streak after falling at Umass Lowell on Wednesday. And more than anyone else on the team, Hutcheson knows a win won’t come easy.
“It’s always just a physical and intense game. They’re going to talk to us, we’re going to talk to them. They’re going to hit you, we’re going to hit them. It’s just a really physical game, really high-level basketball,” he said.