UALBANY VS. MONMOUTH

ALBANY — University at Albany senior safety Larry Walker Jr. started his college career with an NCAA playoff appearance in 2019. He can end it with the program’s first Coastal Athletic Association championship.

In between, there was a pandemic and a lot of losing football. Which makes him appreciate that much more the chance to win a share of the CAA title with a victory in Saturday’s regular-season finale over Monmouth at Casey Stadium. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

“It means everything to me coming in as a freshman and being a part of UAlbany’s so-called best season here in the CAA,” Walker said. “Then the pandemic happens and… we get to the ’21 and ’22 seasons and have the outcomes that we had. We just came into this year saying we’re going to establish a standard and run with it and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Walker will be among 15 seniors honored before the game.

Ranked 12th in the media poll and 23rd in the coaches’ poll, the Great Danes (8-3 overall, 6-1 CAA) enter Saturday in a four-way tie for first in the CAA with Delaware, Richmond and Villa-nova. Delaware and Villanova play each other, while Richmond travels to William & Mary.

With a win, UAlbany will earn a share of its first title since joining the CAA in 2013. The Great Danes can also get the league’s automatic bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs if Delaware and Richmond both lose. UAlbany could also get the automatic berth in certain three-way tiebreaker scenarios.

While the Great Danes are already in very strong position for an FCS at-large bid, senior linebacker Dylan Kelly said he doesn’t want to leave anything up to the selection committee.

“You’ve got to have that mindset that you’re playing to win and playing to get into the playoffs,” Kelly said. “I think right now we still have to win to get in.”

UAlbany has a shot at a top-eight seed and a first-round bye in the FCS playoffs.

Kelly was on the roster of the 2019 team but didn’t play in any games. This season, he leads the FCS with135 tackles and is eight shy of the UAlbany single-season record of143 tackles set by Ken Schoen in 1974.

Kelly leads a defense that is No. 1 in the FCS against the run, allowing only 79.8 yards per game. The Great Danes will be tested by Monmouth running back Jaden Shirden, who’s first in the nation in rushing with 1,429 yards.

“It’ll be an interesting battle,” UAlbany coach Greg Gattuso said. “You don’t see that very often, where the top rusher goes against the top-rated rushing defense. It’ll be fun.”

Shirden ran for 160 yards and two touchdowns in Monmouth’s 38-31win at home over UAlbany last season.

“I don’t think there’s such a thing as shutting Shirden down,” Gattuso said. “Great players are going to make some great plays. He’s going to have some success. We’ve just got to limit the success and get him on the ground and keep being physical and tackle.”

The Hawks (4-6, 3-4) also present a passing threat. Wide receiver Dymere Miller is second in the FCS with 85 receptions and first with 1,241 yards. In last week’s 31-24 home loss to New Hampshire, Miller had 11 receptions for 333 yards, the second-most in CAA history.

UAlbany can try to cover him with cornerbacks Aamir Hall, who’s tied for third in the nation with 13 passes defended and four interceptions, and Bill Hackett.

“We have faith in our defense and we’re going to play our defense,” Gattuso said.

A UAlbany offense led by quarterback Reese Poffenbarger, who’s tied for second in the FCS with 27 touchdown passes, and freshman running back Griffin Woodell of Glens Falls will attack a Monmouth defense that’s ranked seventh in the CAA in scoring (26.2 points per game).

It they’re successful, the Great Danes will be CAA co-champs after being picked 11th in the preseason coaches’ poll.

“When I see that, it doesn’t faze me at all,” Kelly said. “Just seeing those rankings, they don’t know all the work we put in during the offseason.”

The University at Albany football team, picked 11th in the preseason coaches poll, is playing Saturday for a share of the program’s first Coastal Athletic Association championship.

If the Great Danes (8-3 overall, 6-1 CAA) beat Monmouth in the regular-season finale at Casey Stadium, they’ll finish in a two-or three-way tie for first and be recognized as league co-champion.

“From our standpoint, we’ve talked a lot about just, we’ve got to win a game,” UAlbany head coach Greg Gattuso said on Monday’s media conference call. “We’ve got a big game to play against a high-quality opponent, but yeah, it’s huge. This would be our first CAA title and it’s something that’s important to us. It’s why we play the game. It’s part of the goals we have every year when you go into it, is to make the playoffs and have a chance to win your conference. We’re really excited about it, but we spent the year just focusing on individual games.”

UAlbany enters Saturday in a four-way tie for first with Delaware, Richmond and Villanova. Delaware and Villanova play each other while Richmond travels to William & Mary.

While the Great Danes have practically locked up an at-large bid to the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs, they can still earn the CAA’s automatic bid on Saturday.

UAlbany will get the automatic bid if it finishes in a two-way tie with Villanova for first place because the Great Danes beat the Wildcats 31-10 on Sept. 30 in Albany. UAlbany can’t win a two-way tiebreaker with Delaware because it would come down to common opponents, and the Great Danes lost to New Hampshire, a team the Blue Hens defeated.

The Great Danes could win a three-way tiebreaker, but it’s murkier because it will involve point differential in conference games, which will change based on Saturday’s scores.

Getting the automatic FCS bid could strengthen UAlbany’s case for a top-eight seed and a first-round bye when the NCAA announces the 24-team field at 12:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU.

“Obviously, (a first-round bye) would be great, but we’re really focused on trying to win this football game,” Gattuso said. “We’re in rarified air and we feel like this is a big game for us as every game has been leading up to it. This conference is really tough. Anybody can get you at any day. You see it week in, week out. You’ve got to go out and play a really tough team in a big game and we need to focus on that. We’ll worry about the other stuff afterward.”

UAlbany moved up in the polls on Monday, rising from No. 18 to No. 12 in the Stats Perform Top 25 and from 25th to 23rd in the FCS coaches poll, the one that’s used by the selection committee.

The Great Danes have the top-ranked rushing defense in FCS at 79.8 yards per game. It will be tested by Monmouth running back Jaden Shirden, who leads the nation with 1,429 rushing yards.

Monmouth is 4-6, 3-4.

ALBANY — All of the good vibes that the University at Albany men’s basketball team built up during preseason were stripped away Monday night in a 92-71 loss at Massachusetts.

Now the Great Danes are looking to rebound, and not in the grabbing-missed-shots-off-the-backboard way. UAlbany continues its season-opening stretch of four road games Saturday night with a nonconference matchup against Columbia in New York City.

“The important thing is to take it as a learning process,” said Tyler Bertram, a graduate transfer who scored 11 points against UMass. “You can’t be down too much on yourself on these losses because these games happen. We just need to learn from that. If you just take care of those lessons, then we can use it as a positive note.”

The good news entering Saturday: UAlbany has won all seven previous meetings in a series that dates back to 2002. Three were by a single point, including 60-59 two years ago in Albany.

The bad news: Columbia is one of three teams in the country returning more than 90 percent of its scoring from last season.

The good news: The Lions were 7-22 last season.

The bad news: The Danes weren’t much better at 8-23.

“Their record from last year is not reflective of how talented they are,” UAlbany coach Dwayne Killings said. “(Geronimo Rubio) De La Rosa is a really good guard. They played some high-level basketball against Providence the other night (78-59 loss), probably 10 or 12 minutes, and then Providence broke the game open. They’re a good team. It’s a good test.”

UAlbany, sporting five transfers and four freshmen, would like to believe the same of itself.

The Great Danes were overmatched in virtually every statistical category in their opener. Sorting through the numbers and trying to find things to build on can be tough.

“We just got the nervous energy out,” Killings said. “We’re going to win a lot of games. This is a good basketball team. We were just nervous and timid and second-guessing ourselves. We taught our guys, you want to make a play, you like a shot, you feel like you can get to a ball fast, go after it. Don’t second-guess yourself. Don’t play and be timid. Be really aggressive about everything you do on the competition floor.”

“We’ve got to get better on both sides of the court,” said point guard Sebastian Thomas, a Rhode Island transfer who led the Danes with 19 points. “Offensively, we have to get to know each other more. Me and Jonathan (Beagle), I have to get to know him a little bit more, know his tendencies, where he likes to get the ball. He’s a big important piece for our offense. Defensively we just have to be more focused. We need to be in the right spots. That really comes with preparation, so if we prepare better, we’ll have a better outcome.”

Beagle, the reigning America East Rookie of the Year and the Danes’ top returning scorer (12.4) and rebounder (7.5), was held to eight points and three rebounds in 25 minutes Monday night.

UAlbany should be bolstered by the return of sophomore forward Marcus Jackson, who is recovering from a broken wrist. Jackson started 19 of 28 games last season.

“It’s a learning experience,” said sophomore Ny’Mire Little, who missed most of last season because of a torn labrum in his hip. “Some guys, it was their first game. Some guys, like me, coming back from surgery. I thought we were prepared going into (the UMass game). We didn’t have the outcome we want, but we definitely want to bounce back.”

Pete Dougherty is a freelance writer. He can be reached at pete.dougherty7@gmail.com.

UALBANY AT COLUMBIA

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium, New York

TV/radio: SNY, WTMM 104.5 FM

ALBANY — It’s popular to say anything can happen in a rivalry game. It’s easy to guess what’s probably going to happen in this one.

Entering Saturday’s renewal of the Golden Apple Trophy rivalry, the University at Albany is surging toward an NCAA playoff bid. Stony Brook is winless and has lost every game but one by at least 19 points.

The Great Danes won last year’s meeting 59-14, when they weren’t even that good.

But UAlbany offensive tackle Ozzie Hutchinson said he won’t be lulled into a false sense of security entering this game on Long Island.

“What they’ve been telling us this week is, it could be a trap game for some people,” Hutchinson said. “But I try to look at it as, I don’t focus too much on the opponent. Whether they’re 0-9 or 9-0, treat every team like they’re the same. Go in and do your work and give it the best effort you can every week, and you’ll have the outcome that you want on Saturday.”

Great Danes head coach Greg Gattuso recalled the 2018 game, when Stony Brook was ranked 10th coming into Casey Stadium for the regular-season finale. UAlbany was only 2-8, but upset the Seawolves 25-23 on Ethan Stark’s 48-yard field goal that bounced off the crossbar and over as time expired.

“I literally just keep telling these guys, let’s focus on ourselves,” Gattuso said. “That’s been our motto all year. It’s been what we started doing when we started playing better last year. We’re focused on doing our jobs and they’re buying into it.”

UAlbany (7-3 overall, 5-1 Coastal Athletic Association) enters Saturday in a five-way tie for first place in the conference. The Great Danes are in contention for their first CAA title and are just one victory from the eight-win plateau that would make it extremely difficult for the Football Championship Subdivision selection committee to deny them at least an at-large bid.

UAlbany is 7-1 against FCS opponents, with the other two losses coming at Marshall and Hawaii.

“We’ve played a tough schedule and I think some people are starting to notice that,” Gattuso said. “This is a very, very important, got-to-win game. But when you get to eight wins at this level, and with the strength of schedule and in our conference, it’s a pretty tough argument not to take you in the playoffs.”

Stony Brook head coach Chuck Priore, a UAlbany graduate, has seen his team lose its last three games by margins of 31, 35 and 39 points. The closest the Seawolves (0-9, 0-7) came to victory was a 20-19 loss to Richmond Sept. 23 on a last-minute field goal.

This is Stony Brook’s season finale, while UAlbany has another game remaining Nov. 18 at home against Monmouth.

“It’s certainly a rivalry game, the apple, Albany’s playing for a lot,” Priore said. “It’s a good opponent for us to see where we’re at and to handle the stuff from the shoulders up. Our kids have come out of every game upset, not happy, and we’ve been able to go into every game and come out of the tunnel and compete early.”

UALBANY VS. STONY BROOK

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: LaValle Stadium, Stony Brook

Radio: WTMM 104.5 FM

ALBANY — Equate it to waiting until Christmas morning to unwrap presents. Ny’mire Little and Kayla Cooper didn’t want to see their newly renovated basketball arena until it was ready.

The official unveiling came Wednesday, when Broadview Center, home to the University at Albany men’s and women’s basketball teams, was opened to the players and coaches.

“I wanted to wait until the finished product,” said Little, a redshirt sophomore from Chester, Pa. “I know some of the guys came in and out as they were progressing, but I wanted the full experience. It’s my first time seeing it. Definitely impressed.”

“I was super excited,” said Cooper, a senior guard from Frederick, Md. “We’ve been allowed to come in here as the process has been going, but I specifically said I don’t want to see it until it’s fully done. When I came in here this morning, I was so happy. It was so crazy.”

The year-long, $12 million renovation of the previously labeled SEFCU Arena caused both basketball teams last season to practice in a converted swimming pool in the basement of an adjacent building and to play their home games at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy.

Now each squad has its own spacious locker room, including theatre seating for film study.

“The efficiency of what we’re trying to do, it was always a challenge, not having a home,” Great Danes men’s coach Dwayne Killings said. “You’re watching a TV on what was once a pool on a practice court. It’s not the best learning environment for the guys. Somebody’s coming in right after you, so it’s not your own dedicated space. This is now our space.”

UAlbany’s women practiced there Wednesday. The men will get their first chance Friday.

“It’s a long time coming, and it just came out beautiful,” Great Danes women’s coach Colleen Mullen said. “It’s the premier venue in our league.”

Neither team will play a game here for a few weeks. The men are scheduled to christen the basketball facility Wednesday, Nov. 29, against Boston University. The women’s first game in their new home arrives Saturday, Dec. 2, a 2 p.m. game against crosstown rival Siena. That will be part of a doubleheader, as the men will play host to Dartmouth at 5 p.m.

The court lies perpendicular to the previous layout. All of the seats have backrests except for a student section in one end zone. Workers were still installing those seats and performing other finishing touches Wednesday.

“It’s great for us,” said Justin Neely, a redshirt sophomore from Miami, Fla. “This is my third year here, and each year it gets better and better. We’re blessed to be able to play in a brand-new arena, be given a new locker room and film room. We’ve just got to take advantage of it.”

The building first opened in the spring of 1992 as the Recreation and Convocation Center, or RACC. It was a key component to UAlbany’s 1999 transition into Division I athletics.

Because of the reconfiguration and the additional chair-back seating, basketball capacity has been reduced to 3,800, 700 fewer than the old arena. New hospitality areas have been created.

“Awesome” was a word heard often Wednesday as the players took in their new digs.

“It’s awesome,” said Lilly Phillips, a junior from East Greenbush. “We have a great fan base, awesome people that come and support us. To have the gym to go along is awesome.”

Pete Dougherty is a freelance writer. He can be reached at pete.dougherty7@gmail.com.