Ualbany back in action vs. Navy
ALBANY — When the University at Albany men’s basketball team arrives this evening, at Alumni Hall, in Annapolis, Md., the hard part may be over.
Some of the Great Danes will have traveled for days to reach their destination, slowed by delays, cancellations, reroutes and change of plans.
UAlbany (9-3) takes on Navy (6-7) tonight, at 7 p.m., in both teams first game since a short hiatus for Christmas.
“We’re anxious,” said senior point guard Mike Black. “We’re coming off a tough loss against Quinnipiac, but we have to put that in the past.”
The Great Danes, who are ranked No. 24 in the College Insider Mid-Major Top 25, are just lucky to have all of their players with them.
Due to the winter storm, many of the players had a difficult time returning to the Capital District following the holidays. Some players had flights delayed, some were canceled and one player even spent the night at an airport, trying to get back to campus for practice.
UAlbany was supposed to fly out of town on Thursday evening, but they decided to bus seven hours instead, because of the threat of a cancellation of their flight.
“It’s not convenient,” said UAlbany coach Will Brown. “But there’s not much you can do about it.”
Three of the players missed Wednesday evening’s practice and arrived midway through Thursday morning’s session, just in time to get in some work before hopping on the bus.
Black, whose plane from Chicago was only delayed, knows his team is still feeling good, despite losing its last contest.
“We’re still very confident,” he said. “We haven’t lost any confidence at all.”
Rather than risk it, junior center John Puk stayed in town and celebrated with senior Blake Metcalf and his family, who came into the area from Indiana.
“I knew I’d probably run into something,” said Puk, who is from Iowa.
This is just the second game in the past 16 days for the Great Danes, who had been playing well when they got into a rhythm,
“We had gotten off to such a good start because we had gotten into a real good flow,” said Brown.
The Midshipmen are 4-2 at home this year, but did lose to Siena in overtime, 54-49 (Nov. 11).
“They play very hard,” Brown said. “(Coach) Ed DeChellis has done a tremendous job with them. They’re good at home.”
UAlbany won’t be at 100 percent because sharpshooter Jacob Iati is dealing with a calf strain and an Achilles issue on his right foot. He is expected to play, but his effectiveness could be limited.
“It’s going to be a constant battle the rest of the way,” said Brown.
One key for the Great Danes could be rebounding. UAlbany was outrebounded by Quinnipiac 39-30 in its last game, but it’s a stat they usually control and one Navy struggles with.
“We’ve done well on the glass all year,” Puk said. “I think we’re going to look to get back to doing that.”
One more win would give the team 10 non-conference victories, setting a new Division I record for the program.
“We’re excited to get back out there and play a good team,” said Puk.