UNCASVILLE, Conn. – Surely no one was happier to get home from the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament than Albany. And yet, the Great Danes couldn’t get comfortable there for long. So goes the November portion of their non-conference schedule, which has been more than a grind and included a tough 67-64 loss to Loyola (Md.) in the Springfield Bracket championship game on Sunday.
The Great Danes opened the season at home against Duquesne on November 9. Two days later, they lost at Ohio State, and went right from Columbus to Seattle, where two days later they beat Washington. They were barely home when they headed to Connecticut for two games this weekend, and had to fly to South Carolina on Monday for a Tuesday night matchup at South Carolina State, which they won in a romp 83-55.
So maybe they can now take a deep breath, and head coach Will Brown hopes to give them a day off or two. They are surely thankful for, among other things, getting to sleep in their own beds once again, but perhaps for more than that. All in all, they could have navigated through this stretch worse than they have to this point.
“I’m hoping on Wednesday we can take a deep breath and I can give them a couple of days off,” Brown said after Sunday’s tough loss.
The big development on Sunday was that the Great Danes fought back from big early deficits, and a lot of the rally happened with team leader Mike Black on the bench. Loyola ran out to leads of 18-5 and 28-10 and looked poised to run the Great Danes out of the building. Albany would slowly rally, but for the most part it seemed as though Loyola would hold them off. They would ultimately tie it at 64 on a very deep three-pointer by Jacob Iati in the final seconds, but Loyola came right back with a quick three-point play that Albany could not match.
Black was dealing with a hip injury that wasn’t getting better, and while he was willing to go back in the game, Brown decided against it. He felt the group that was on the floor was playing well and that the game was not going to make or break their season, much as he wanted to win and was not happy they lost it.
Although there was the short-term loss, and everyone wanted to win, a silver lining for the long run did come from the rally without Black on the floor.
“It’s definitely good for the new guys,” said forward Blake Metcalf. “It’s something that will help their confidence, it’ll help Coach’s confidence in them that he can trust them to make big plays if Mike gets in foul trouble. It really helps this team’s psyche going forward.”
Black returned to the lineup on Tuesday night and showed how much he means to this team. He scored 23 points on 9-11 shooting and handed out six assists. That led the way for a Great Danes team that shot over 53 percent from the field, including 15-29 from long range, and had 24 assists on 31 made baskets against just 12 turnovers.
Brown feels much better about the fact that they went through this tough stretch at 4-2. He didn’t have Duquesne on the schedule originally, but new Dukes head coach Jim Ferry is a longtime friend of Brown’s and needed games, and was also willing to go on the road. Instead of opening with Ohio State, they opened at home with Duquesne. They also got a win at Washington, so there was plenty of good that came out of this, plus, as Brown noted, “The good thing is we’re going to places some of our guys have never been to.”
Added Metcalf, who scored 12 points on 6-7 shooting and grabbed eight boards on Sunday: “This trip has been something else. I looked at the schedule when it first came out. Playing through it is a lot harder than I ever thought it was going to be. Not sleeping in your own bed, not eating your own food, being on the road all the time is taxing.”
Albany will host the America East Tournament this year, and Brown said this opening stretch should make them appreciate even more that they are the hosts. At that time, the road weariness from the beginning of the season will be a distant memory, and they hope that being home at a better time of the season works to their advantage – to say nothing of what they gained by going 4-2 in such a difficult stretch.
