UAlbany men’s basketball ‘growing up as a team’ ahead of matchup with rival Stony Brook – The Daily Gazette

ALBANY — There are several ways to measure progress.

Here’s a comparison that says a lot about how the UAlbany men’s basketball season is shaping up ahead of Saturday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Stony Brook at SEFCU Arena.

During their current three-game winning streak, the Great Danes have beaten their America East Conference opponents by an average of 12.3 points per game.

In their first three wins of the season, for which they needed 10 games, the Great Danes won by a total of seven points.

Winning tight games is important, but being able to win through multiple possession shows a different level of play.

A variety of factors and reasons have contributed to the difference in winning margins from these early victories to the more recent Great Danes. But UAlbany lead guard Jamel Horton said after the team’s most recent double-digit win, a 66-54 win at UMBC, one stood out for him.

“We’re growing as a team,” Horton said. “I thought we finished games so much better. We built on leads so much better. For me, that calls for growth, that calls for maturity.”

Even the loss of top scorer De’Vondre Perry, who sustained a season-ending knee injury last week, hasn’t thwarted the Great Danes. If anything, that loss of personnel appears to have spurred more growth for UAlbany as more Great Danes were forced to step up rather than relying so much on Perry to carry the team.

“You know, it’s just different now,” UAlbany head coach Dwayne Killings said of his team’s play since losing Perry. “We have to do things together.”

“They’re a better match now,” Stony Brook head coach Geno Ford said.

That’s not to say UAlbany is better off without Perry, especially in the long term. Killings confirmed Friday night that he underwent successful surgery that morning. So much of UAlbany’s offense flowed through Perry because he was the team’s most talented scorer, and his ability to consistently score in an isolated 1-on-1 environment is something the Great Danes have nowhere else on their list.

But UAlbany have made up for Perry’s absence in a number of ways and all have contributed to the growth that has been evident in recent games.

For starters, Matt Cerruti and Jamel Horton have been playing at the conference level lately. Since missing a few games due to health and safety protocols, Cerruti has averaged 16.7 points per game on 52.9% shooting. Horton has averaged 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game in conference play.

“Even if he’s not playing great,” Ford said of Horton, “he finds a way to get 15, 16 points for them and there aren’t many guys in our league that can do that.”

Other Great Danes alongside Cerruti and Horton have upped their game and collectively it has been at the defensive end of the pitch. UAlbany has conceded less than a point per possession in their last four games and leads by a solid margin in America East conference games in defensive points per possession.

Stony Brook (3-1 America East, 11-6 overall) plays faster and generally has a stronger offense than UAlbany (3-2, 7-10), but Great Dane junior Trey Hutcheson said his club was confident that this is possible. Trade baskets with the Sea Wolves if they need to do this.

But that is not the goal of UAlbany.

“I think we would prefer to defend and play the way we can,” said Hutcheson, whose team has averaged 60.3 points per game as they have won six of their last nine. “If we win the game 50-45 versus 80-75 I think we’re fine with that.”

Stony Brooks Ford spoke highly of the growth he has seen from the Great Danes, but the third-year Seawolves head coach – whose team was selected as conference winners in the pre-season poll – described his club as still “trying, to find yourself”. an uneven campaign.

“Here’s the weirdest stat about us: we’re 11-6, and five of our six losses were 22 points or more,” Ford said.

Just three players have appeared in every game for Stony Brook this season and expected standout Elijah Olaniyi missed a number of games earlier this season through injury and Ford said Olaniyi is now removed from the team on a “personal leave of absence”.

But Stony Brook has found ways to win games and will present a multitude of problems for Great Danes. Anthony Roberts is the Seawolves’ leading scorer this season with 14.8 points per game, and Stony Brooks’ list includes three double-digit scorers.

For Killings and some of his players, Saturday’s matchup is their first against Stony Brook, one of UAlbany’s SUNY rivals. Part of preparing for this weekend’s matchup was learning the history of the rivalry.

“I think you have to appreciate the past to understand the moment you’re in,” said Killings, who mentioned that he shared the clip of Peter Hooley’s memorable shot to win the conference championship against Stony Brook in 2015 on Thursday night had seen. “You don’t want anyone ever to care more about the game than you do, and that’s what we try to instill in our kids.

Another lesson of the past few days was one destined to further fuel Great Dane growth and maturity.

“Coach never preached too high and never preached too low,” Cerruti said. “So we try to stay on Kiel. . . . We want to keep improving and keep getting better and I think we’re doing well as a team.”

More from the newspaper:

Categories: College Sports, Sports

source https://www.bisayanews.com/2022/01/22/ualbany-mens-basketball-growing-up-as-a-team-ahead-of-matchup-with-rival-stony-brook-the-daily-gazette/