Danes’ season was a struggle
It was a rough year for the University at Albany men’s basketball team and the fans who watched it struggle all season long.
The Great Danes never won two games in a row, finished in last place in the America East and missed the playoffs for the first time as a Division I program.
Ualbany (8-23, 3-13 America East) won its first league game on Jan. 8 against Umass Lowell and then lost nine straight contests before going 2-2 to end the regular season. The Danes had a chance to make the conference tournament on the last day of the season but lost at No. 1 Vermont by 18 points.
Inexperience and injuries were two of the biggest problems facing Ualbany, and the Great Danes, one of the youngest teams in Division I, couldn’t overcome them.
Coach Dwayne Killings, who finished his second season at Ualbany, plans on holding a meeting next week to discuss the season’s trials and tribulations with the players.
“Obviously injuries were a part of it, but what were the other things that they saw? What are the other things that they think? I think it’s really important that you give the guys a chance to download the season after they’ve digested it,” Killings said.
Sophomore forward Justin Neely, last season’s conference Rookie of the Year and the team’s top returning scorer, injured his ACL early in the season in his second game back from a shoulder injury. Sophomore guard Ny’mire Little (hip) went down a few games later. Only four players stayed healthy all season, with senior guard/ forward Trey Hutcheson, junior guard Malik Edmead, sophomore forward Aaron Reddish and freshman guard Marcus Jackson all missing games due to injury.
Staying healthy is one of Killings’ top priorities next season.
“The ability to keep our guys on the floor has cost us our true potential both in our first year and in our second year,” Killings said, referring to leading scorer Dre Perry’s meniscus injury that sidelined him most of last season.
Jackson filled in for Little and junior Will Amica at point guard, but Killings plans to target someone who can be “a true leader at the point guard position” in the transfer portal to join what he predicts will be “one of the best frontcourts in mid-major basketball” in Neely and freshman forward Jonathan Beagle.
Beagle was named America East Rookie of the Year, the second time Ualbany has won back-to-back Rookie of the Year awards. He averaged 12.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game.
Outside of Beagle and senior forward Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who led the team with 15.7 points per game and hardly ever came off the court, no one else was able to score consistently.
“We had all these different guys who had really good moments at different points, but you couldn’t get sustained, consistent production from guys, whether it was defensively or offensively,” Killings said.