@ Columbia 12/30

[Dane Pound]

Hopefully everyone can find their Ivy League Network passwords from the Yale game.

 

The Lions are coached by Jim Engles formerly of NJIT. Some decent road wins against Stony Brook and Q so far this year. They play @ Miami on Wednesday night before heading home to play us.

 

Luke Petrasek is their big man who shoots threes, the kind of player that often gives us problems. If I remember correctly, we recruited him to some degree when he was in high school.

 

The Columbia message board: http://boards.basketball-u.com/showforum.php?fid/39/

Edited December 27, 2016 by Dane Pound

[UAalum72]

You can also squeeze a little more out of your Ivy League donation by watching the women at Dartmouth on Thursday night.

 

Massey and Sagarin both have us as very narrow road favorites Friday night. Would help a lot if Lands can make an appearance.

[Dane Pound]

Solid effort by Columbia against Miami. They lose by 11 but it was a tighter game than it looks.

[UAalum72]

TU+ pregame story http://www.timesunion.com/tuplus-sports/article/UAlbany-s-David-Nichols-takes-in-coach-s-point-10825576.php on Nichols' time in the doghouse.

 

Brown began getting nervous with Nichols — who hardly played at all as a freshman — when he was not displaying the proper leadership qualities that the coach demands out of his point guard.

"He is the point guard, he is the extension of the coach," Brown said. "It comes with a tremendous amount of responsibility. You can't be too high and you can't be too low. Everything that goes wrong is the point guard's fault. He needs to understand that and embrace that. When things are going poorly, you can't act differently from when things are going well."

Brown said he and Nichols met after the benching. Nichols scored 12 points in 24 minutes against St. Francis Brooklyn and then played 33 minutes and had eight points and five assists in the 71-53 loss at SMU. Brown said he talked about what he expected out of the point guard. And, he absolutely told Nichols that the blueprint to a successful relationship between player and coach can only happen if things are done the way Brown expects them to be done.

"David is a smart kid," Brown said. "I think he understood, to a certain extent. He is very fiery and gets very defensive. He is very stubborn and so am I."

Being the UAlbany point guard means not having a score-first mentality. And Nichols is a player who seems to want to be a scorer first. "If he wants to be a scorer and play off the ball, let me know, and I will go find another point guard," Brown said. "If you want to be the point guard, we have to be on the same page consistently."

Nichols wants to be the point guard. Most of all, he wants to win. He admits he might brood for a while if he doesn't make a play he thinks he should have made. A missed layup can drive him into a funk. A pass that sails into the stands can do the same thing. He says he has to learn to let those go and get ready for the next possession. "Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing," Nichols said of his intensity. "I have to keep my emotions in check. I can't be so up and then so down. I have to be more even keel. I just have to keep playing my game."

 

 

Lands won't be back until conference play. "Jaraan Lands will miss the final two nonconference games (the Danes play Cornell on Monday at SEFCU) because of his lingering hamstring injury. Lands, who hasn't played since Nov. 16, has missed the past 10 games. "We expected to have him back," Brown said. "He saw the doctor two days before Christmas and he was told he has to miss another 10 days."

[UA'08]

Nothing is worse than having to deal with someone stubborn. Now when there's a stubborn person dealing with another stubborn person woof.

[Eli]

So is he going to start this game or is he still in the dog house...?

[ZLK]

He's starting from what the article said...seems like we are good to go. Should be a fun one tonight.

[Clickclack]

Bad start to second half... Getting worked.

[Dane Pound]

Petrasek. Good Lord.

[Clickclack]

That kid is bombing away...

[Eli]

As of 14:45 left:

 

UA: 31.4 FG%, 33 3PT%, 100 FT%, 26 REB, 10 TO

COL: 45.7%, 31.3%, 80%, 18 REB, 6 TO

We're playing like crap and hanging in there. If someone can get hot late we can steal this.

EDIT: NVM, they hit another 3 lol.

UA: 3-9

COL: 6-17

Edited December 31, 2016 by Eli

[Dane Pound]

Not sure how many Albany fans are there but they're being nice and noisy.

[Clickclack]

Good run to get back in the game...

[Eli]

Upped our FG% a whole 5%...I'm not watching just following stats. Good job. Keep at it.

[UAalum72]

Pregame Zach Said they were sending teams' fans to opposite sides of the gym, looked to be 2/3 Albany