ALBANY, N.Y. – The University at Albany men's basketball team welcomes newly-scheduled Niagara to SEFCU Arena on Tuesday as the team's first non-conference opponent of the new season.
 
Game Info
Tuesday, December 22 vs. Niagara, 3:00 pm
Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Leading the Pack

• Cameron Healy is 31 points away from 1,000
• Coach Brown is two victories away from 400
• UAlbany leads the America East in FT% (.750) and turnover margin (+6.0)
• Antonio Rizzuto leads the America East in 3FG per game and ranks second in 3FG%
• JoJo Anderson ranks third in assists
• UAlbany ranks 12th nationally in turnovers per game (10.0), 16th in turnover margin, and fifth in total turnovers (20)
• UAlbany is 5-10 vs. Niagara but has won four of the last five

 
Scouting Niagara
Under second-year head coach Greg Paulus, Niagara has started their season 2-3, and enter Tuesday's matchup riding a two-game winning streak after dropping their first three.  Niagara hosted MAAC opponent Fairfield over the weekend, sweeping the Stags in two games by an average margin of victory of 18.5 points.  The Purple Eagles return more than 70% of their production from last season in scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, and blocked shots, one of just 17 Division I schools to do so.  Additionally, Niagara held national top-25 rankings in fewest turnovers per game, turnover margin, and three-point field goal percentage.  Marcus Hammond and Raheem Solomon earned Preseason All-MAAC honors this year, and the Purple Eagles were picked to finish sixth in the Preseason MAAC Coaches' Poll.  UAlbany is 5-10 lifetime against Niagara, but 4-1 in the last five meetings.
 
Last Time vs. Niagara
UAlbany and Niagara have faced off each of the last two seasons, with UAlbany claiming victory in both.  Last year, in Albany, N.Y., the Great Danes' victory gave head coach Will Brown his 300th as head coach of UAlbany.  Led by Ahmad Clark, who scored 26 points with six rebounds and eight assists, and Trey Hutcheson, who scored a career-high 18, the Great Danes outscored Niagara 55-40 in the second half, shooting 73.9% from the floor after the break.  Collectively, both teams combined to shoot 26-29 from the free throw line in the second half.
 
Last Time Out
UAlbany finally opened its season, after a 287-day layoff, with a two-game series at SEFCU Arena against UMBC.  The Retrievers swept the Great Danes in two games, winning 65-64 and 65-60 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.  Antonio Rizzuto led UAlbany's efforts over the season's first weekend, averaging 12.5 points coming off the bench.  Head coach Will Brown played 12 players over the weekend, with none reaching more than 55 minutes played in two games.
 
Around the America East
UMBC leads the conference at 6-1 overall and 2-0 against America East opponents.  They share a conference record with Hartford (5-2 overall) and Stony Brook (4-4 overall).  UAlbany is one of four overall winless teams in the America East, three of which have played conference games.  Preseason favorite and defending regular-season champion Vermont have yet to open after their series at UMass Lowell was pushed to Monday/Tuesday.
 
Tuesday's America East Games
Maine at Boston College, 12:00 pm
Niagara at UAlbany, 3:00 pm
Vermont at UMass Lowell, 3:00 pm
CCSU at Binghamton, 4:00 pm
 
Upcoming Milestones
Cameron Healy, 969 points, 246 rebounds
Antonio Rizzuto, 485 points
Will Brown: 398 victories
 
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-plus seasons, Healy has scored 969 points, averaging 14.9 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
Through two games in 2020-21, 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.
 
Layoff
On December 19, the UAlbany men's basketball program played its first game in 287 days, last taking the court in the 2020 America East quarterfinal round at two-seed Stony Brook on March 7.  The men were also the first UAlbany team to host a home game since the shutdown, the last also being March 7 when the women's lacrosse team defeated Canisius.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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's next scheduled opponent is Vermont for a two-game series in Burlington on January 2-3, 2021.