ALBANY, N.Y. – Marking the latest start to a season on record, the University at Albany men's basketball team will kick off their 2020-21 campaign this weekend with a two-game series at SEFCU Arena against UMBC.
 
Game Info
Saturday, December 19 vs. UMBC (4:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN3
 
Sunday, December 20 vs. UMBC (2:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN3
 
Leading the Pack

• Cameron Healy is 47 points away from 1,000 for his career
• UAlbany welcomes eight new players to the 2020-21 roster
• December 19 is the latest date on record UAlbany has started a season
• UAlbany is 7-13 in season openers in the Division I era
• UMBC is 1-11 in SEFCU Arena since 2009-10

 
Scouting UMBC
Since dropping their season opener at Georgetown 70-62 on November 25, UMBC has rolled off four-straight victories, over Saint Francis, George Washington, Delaware, and Coppin State.  Originally scheduled games against Towson and Mount St. Mary's were postponed and cancelled, respectively.  The Retrievers were picked second in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll, garnering two first-place votes.  UMBC boasts reigning America East Player of the Week in forward Daniel Akin, who averaged 14.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in two games last week.  The Retrievers as a team lead the America East in scoring defense and ranks second in scoring offense, while ranking no lower than fourth in the conference in any major category. UAlbany has split the last five meetings with UMBC, but have won 11 of the last 12 meetings in Albany.
 
Last Time vs. UMBC
UMBC snapped an 11-game losing streak in SEFCU Arena last season, defeating UAlbany 69-50.  The game started poorly for the Great Danes, with UMBC opening on a 7-0 scoring run and UAlbany missing each of its first nine shots.  The Great Danes' shooting woes extended to the three-point line, where they missed each of their first 12 attempts.  Four Retrievers scored in double-figures, while UMBC outscored UAlbany 46-22 in the paint.  Ahmad Clark scored 18 points, and Trey Hutcheson grabbed a career-high nine rebounds.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany's season came to an end in the quarterfinals of the 2019-20 America East Tournament.  The Great Danes faced off against second-seed Stony Brook on Long Island, falling to the Seawolves in a 76-73 thriller.  Cameron Healy bounced back from his recent struggles due to injury to the tune of 28 points on 10-16 shooting, including 6-10 from deep to lead four Great Danes in double-figures.  Healy scored 19 of his 28 points in the second half. Stony Brook withstood Healy's onslaught, however, by shooting nearly 60% from the floor in the second half.
 
Around the America East
UMBC leads the America East standings at 4-1 as one of two teams in the conference to have played five games.  Hartford sits in second at 3-2.  New Hampshire and Stony Brook are third and fourth, respectively, followed by UMass Lowell.  Binghamton is the only other team to have taken the court this season, going winless in three games.  UAlbany is one of four teams, including Maine, NJIT, and defending regular-season champion Vermont, to have not yet played a game.
 
Saturday's America East Games
Stony Brook at Binghamton, 2:00 pm
Maine at Hartford, 2:00 pm
UMBC at UAlbany, 4:00 pm
NJIT at Temple, 4:30 pm
 
Sunday's America East Games
Maine at Hartford, 2:00 pm
UMBC at UAlbany, 2:00 pm
Stony Brook at Binghamton, 2:00 pm
 
Upcoming Milestones
Cameron Healy: 953 points, 244 rebounds
Antonio Rizzuto: 460 points
 
Approaching 1,000
Junior guard Cameron Healy is set to become the 13th UAlbany men's basketball player to hit the 1,000-point career milestone.  Through his first two seasons, Healy has scored 953 points, averaging 15.1 points per game.  UAlbany's last 1,000-point scorer was Healy's former teammate Ahmad Clark, who eclipsed the mark on February 12, 2020 at Hartford.
 
Approaching 400
At 14-15 in 2019-20, head coach Will Brown has won 398 games as a head coach, leaving him just two wins away from hitting the 400-win milestone for his career.  After spending three seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Rose, Brown earned his first head coaching position at Sullivan County Community College ahead of the 1998-99 season.  In three years at Sullivan, Brown went 90-10 before being named interim head coach at UAlbany in the 2001-02 season.  Brown was named head coach officially, and since has compiled 308 of his 398 career victories with the Great Danes.
 
Presidential Scholar-Athlete
Junior Adam Lulka was named one of six America East Presidential Scholar-Athletes for the Fall 2020 semester.  Lulka, who completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology in December with a 4.00 GPA, was one of three Great Danes to be recognized (men's lacrosse's Jakob Patterson and women's soccer's Hailey Summers).  To qualify as a Presidential Scholar-Athlete, an individual must be graduating with an undergraduate GPA of 3.75 or higher.
 
Preseason All-Conference
For the second-straight season, junior guard Cameron Healy was selected to the America East Preseason All-Conference Team.  Healy averaged 14.2 points per game last season, despite falling off in production over the final stretch of the year due to injury.  Healy led the America East in FT% in 2019-20, ranking fifth in the NCAA.  He also ranked second in the conference in 3FG% and 10th in scoring.
 
Picked Fourth
For the third-straight season, UAlbany has been picked fourth in the America East Preseason Coaches' Poll.  The Great Danes received 51 total points, behind Vermont, who claimed the top spot for the fifth-straight year, UMBC, and New Hampshire.
 
Father-Son Connection
Head Coach Will Brown's oldest son, Jackson, joined the team this season as a freshman.  Additionally, Coach Brown has a connection to transfer CJ Kelly.  Brown played with Kelly's father, Chris, in high school during clinics and summer camps on Long Island.  After transfering to Dowling College, Brown once again played with Chris.  Coach Brown describes Chris as a well-rounded, defensively-minded 6-3 wing with a high basketball IQ.  CJ, by contrast, prefers the offensive end of the floor compared to his father.  Additionally, CJ's mother, Marlene, also played at Dowling, and one of his sisters played at Siena.
 
Late Start
December 19 is the latest date on record that the UAlbany men's basketball team has played its season opener.  The previous latest date was December 6, 1975, when UAlbany defeated Cortland 75-45.
 
America East Announces Basketball Schedule Format
On October 19, 2020, the America East debuted its revised schedule format for the 2020-21 season.  The conference season will begin on December 19-20, with teams playing back-to-back games at the same site against the same opponent on Saturdays and Sundays.  There are built-in off weekends to accommodate potential postponements throughout the season.  It will also be the first year that the conference schedule expands to 18 games to account for NJIT joining the conference.
 
Iati Voted Among Top Assistants in America East
A vote by 20 America East men's basketball coaches selected UAlbany Associate Head Coach Jon Iati as the second-best assistant coach in the conference.  The vote, conducted by Stadium, saw Iati recognized among his peers as second behind only Vermont's Kyle Cieplicki.
 
Will and Jamie Brown Donate to American Cancer Society
A longtime participant in the Coaches vs. Cancer program, UAlbany head coach Will Brown and his wife, Jaime, announced a donation of $10,000 to the American Cancer Society in April to help cancer patients facing new struggles due to COVID-19.  Brown announced the donation as he received the Society's Champion Award, recognizing coaches who have shown extraordinary leadership and commitment to the Society' mission.  Coach Brown has been a participant in Coaches vs. Cancer for 15 years since UAlbany's inaugural Coaches vs. Cancer game.
 
Next: UAlbany hosts Niagara on December 22 at 3:00 pm.