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The University at Albany men’s basketball team spent part of Super Bowl Sunday on a bus. About four hours to be exact. The Great Danes’ destination was Durham, where they will play New Hampshire in an America East Conference game Monday night.
The Danes are coming off loses in two of their past three home games to fall to 5-5 in the league (14-11 overall). The losses came to the top two teams in the league, Vermont and Stony Brook.
UAlbany is in fifth place in the league, not where it wants to be when the regular season ends in three weeks. The top four teams in the league get home playoff games.
Even though the Danes have hardly been world beaters at home in the league (3-3), the last thing coach Will Brown wants to do is get on a bus in early March.
New Hampshire (5-4, 14-9) is in fourth place. The Wildcats already have beaten UAlbany, 75-67, on Jan. 11 at SEFCU Arena.
The Danes lost, 72-65, at home to Stony Brook on Saturday night. UAlbany has very little turnaround time for this one. Brown and his staff watched film of the Stony Brook game Saturday night, then started preparing a scout for New Hampshire. After practice Sunday, the Danes were scheduled to get on the bus at 1 p.m.
UAlbany vs. New Hampshire
When: 7 p.m. Monday
Where: Lundholm Gymnasium, Durham, N.H.
Radio: WTMM (104.5 FM)
The last thing Brown wanted his team to do was play the pity game. The loss Saturday came in front of a sellout crowd of 4,538 on Big Purple Growl night, the annual winter homecoming weekend.
“It doesn’t get any easier for us,” Brown said. “If we feel sorry for ourselves, we are going to go up there and get smacked.”
New Hampshire has had more time to get ready for the Danes, as the Wildcats have not played since Wednesday, when they dropped a 64-61 decision at Stony Brook. New Hampshire also lost its previous game, in double overtime at UMBC, 105-103.
New Hampshire is 2-2 in league games at home this season.
“We have not done a good job of defending our home court,” New Hampshire coach Bill Herrion said. “Now, we are focused on Albany.”
Herrion watched the Stony Brook-UAlbany game on ESPN3, and he expects more of the same of what has transpired between the two teams the past couple of seasons.
The eight-point win New Hampshire got over the Danes earlier this year was the largest margin of victory either team has had in the past six meetings.
UAlbany had won five straight games against New Hampshire dating back to 2014, and four of those wins came by five or fewer points. The Wildcats have won the past two meetings; New Hampshire beat the Danes in Durham last season, 69-68.
In the first meeting this year, New Hampshire forward Tanner Leissner, who leads the Wildcats in scoring (16.7 points per game). scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Guard Daniel Dion, who averages 14.1 points, scored 20.
“You know my feelings about (Albany),” Herrion said. “We know how hard a game it always is with them. I think we are good, but we have been in a tough stretch. We will be ready to go.”
That is the hope Brown has for his team, too.
The Danes have shown they can beat up on the weaker teams in the league — they are 4-1 against teams behind them in the America East standings — but are 1-4 against teams ahead of them.
“If we respond like I expect us to respond, we will go up there and really compete and put ourselves in a position to win,” Brown said.
twilkin@timesunion.com • 518-454-5415 • @tjwilkin
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