ALBANY, N.Y. – The five-seed UAlbany men's basketball team embarks on the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs in four-seeded Hartford's four-team pod, facing off against eight-seed NJIT on Saturday in the First Round.
 
Game Info
Saturday, February 27 vs. #8 NJIT in West Hartford, Conn. (5:00 pm)
Live Stats | ESPN+
 
Leading the Pack

• NJIT is the only team UAlbany swept during the regular season
• NJIT is the only team in the America East to win at least once against both one-seed UMBC and two-seed Binghamton
• UAlbany's pod includes #4 Hartford, #8 NJIT, and #9 Binghamton
• UAlbany and NJIT are the top two teams in the America East in turnover margin
• Antonio Rizzuto leads the America East in 3FG% and 3FG per game
• UAlbany ranks second in FT%
• NJIT ranks second in steals
• NJIT's Zach Cooks ranks second in scoring and steals

 
Scouting NJIT
NJIT has earned the eight-seed in their first season as an America East member institution.  The Highlanders were swept by UAlbany in their only meetings this season, falling by eight and 12 points in each game.  NJIT is 7-11 overall and 6-10 against America East opponents.  Despite placing eighth in the regular season, the Highlanders are the only team in the conference to defeat both UMBC and Vermont, the top two seeds in the playoffs.  NJIT enters the playoffs having lost each of their last three, and since playing UAlbany, the Highlanders are 3-5 overall.  NJIT leads the conference in turnover margin and ranks second in steals, and NJIT guard Zach Cooks ranks second in the conference in steals and in scoring.
 
Last Time vs. NJIT
The Great Danes successfully completed a sweep of NJIT, newcomers to the America East this year, in their first meetings as conference opponents.  It was the first time UAlbany swept a conference series this year, and also the first time the Highlanders had been swept in a conference series.  NJIT had previously split each of its first three series before playing UAlbany.  Antonio Rizzuto led UAlbany with 19 points, and three other Great Danes, Jarvis Doles, Kellon Taylor, and CJ Kelly, all scored in double figures.  UAlbany scored 83 points in both games against NJIT, their first two games eclipsing both the 80-point, and 70-point, barriers this season, exceeding their season average by nearly 20 points.  In the series' first game, head coach Will Brown claimed his 400th-career head coaching victory.
 
Last Time Out
The Great Danes closed the 2020-21 regular season with a victory, defeating Stony Brook 67-59 to snap a four-game skid against the Seawolves and split the series.  CJ Kelly scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, leading five Great Danes scoring in double-figures.  The UAlbany perimeter defense stifled the Seawolves from deep, holding Stony Brook to 2-10 from behind the arc in the first half, and just 1-14 to end the game.  The victory clinched the five-seed for the Great Danes in the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs.
 
Around the America East
The 2020-21 regular season has come to an end, and UMBC has earned the top seed in the 2021 Hercules Tires America East Playoffs by a tiebreaker after tying with Vermont at 10-4 in-conference.  The Retrievers and Catamounts earned byes into the semifinals, and will await the winners of the New Hampshire and Hartford pods.  UAlbany finished fifth, and will play in Hartford's four-team, single-elimination pod, featuring the Hawks, plus NJIT and Binghamton.  UAlbany has not played Hartford or Binghamton this season, but swept NJIT at SEFCU Arena in January.
 
Saturday's America East Games

• #6 UMass Lowell vs. #7 Stony Brook, 1:00 pm
• #9 Binghamton at #4 Hartford, 2:00 pm
• #5 UAlbany vs. #8 NJIT, 5:00 pm

 
Scouting Hartford
Hartford is one of three America East teams the Great Danes did not see during the regular season.  The Hawks have played just four games since January 17, splitting against both Stony Brook and NJIT.  The Hawks earned the four-seed and hosting rights for a pod in the playoffs with their 8-6 conference record.  Hartford ranks second in the league in scoring and three-point defense and first in steals.  UAlbany has lost the last three-straight games against Hartford, and four of the last six.
 
Last Time vs. Hartford
Despite a night for the record books with senior guard Ahmad Clark scoring his 1,000th career point and senior forward Romani Hansen setting a single-game record with 18 rebounds, UAlbany fell on the road at Hartford 66-60, getting swept in the season series against the Hawks.  Clark scored a game-high 24 points, but it was not enough as the Hawks held UAlbany in check from the floor, and particularly from the perimeter, where the Danes shot just 28.0% from the game.  Most damaging, UAlbany shot just 7-16 from the free throw line, while Hartford shot 14-16.
 
Scouting Binghamton
Binghamton is one of three teams UAlbany did not play during the regular season.  The Great Danes' most common opponent in program history, Binghamton finished the 2020-21 season ninth in the standings, behind a 4-13 overall and 4-10 in-conference record.  The Bearcats boast All-Conference Third Team selection in sophomore guard Brenton Mills.  Binghamton leads the America East in threes per game and ranks third in 3FG%.  UAlbany has won each of the last five against the Bearcats.
 
Last Time vs. Binghamton
UAlbany kicked off its second half of America East play in 2019-20 hosting Binghamton at SEFCU Arena just before the Danes' second bye of the season.  Despite limited minutes from leading scorers Ahmad Clark and Cameron Healy, UAlbany secured a 13-point victory over the Bearcats behind dual 17-point performances from Antonio Rizzuto and Trey Hutcheson, as well as an 11-rebound night from Romani Hansen.  Senior walk-on and captain Nick Fruscio made an early appearance, subbing into the game in the first half and recording three assists and one steal in four minutes of action.  UAlbany's defense held 2018-19 America East Rookie of the Year Sam Sessoms scoreless in the first half.  Sessoms finished the game scoring just nine points on 2-11 shooting.
 
Upcoming Milestones

• Cameron Healy: 989 points

 
Milestones Reached

• Will Brown: 400 head coaching victories – vs. NJIT, January 16, 2021
• Cameron Healy: 250 rebounds – at New Hampshire, January 23, 2021
• Antonio Rizzuto: 500 points – at Vermont, January 3, 2021

 
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 989 points, averaging 13.5 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.
 
Schedule Strength
Of the teams remaining at the end of the 2020-21 regular season, UAlbany held the second-highest strength of schedule based on in-conference opponents' winning percentages.  UAlbany opponents collectively held a winning percentage of .544, just behind Binghamton's .548.  The Great Danes' America East schedule kicked was tough from the very beginning, with three of their first four series featuring the preseason #1, #2, and #3 selections, each of whom finished in the top three in the conference standings.
 
All-Conference
Junior guard Antonio Rizzuto's breakout season culminated in a pair of All-Conference honors.  Rizzuto was named to the America East All-Conference Second Team as well as to the All-Defensive Team.  Additionally, junior forward Adam Lulka was named All-Academic for the second-straight season, posting a perfect 4.00 undergraduate and graduate GPA, the highest of any other All-Academic selection.
 
Five Seed
Splitting their final series of the regular-season against Stony Brook, the Great Danes finished fifth in the regular season standings and would play in Hartford's four-team pod.  UAlbany's opponent in the playoffs would be eight-seed NJIT, the only team the Great Danes swept during the regular-season.  On the other side of the pod bracket, four-seed Hartford will play nine-seed Binghamton.  The winners of each game face off for a bid into the semifinals on Sunday, February 28.
 
America East Revamps Playoff Format
The America East Conference reworked the format for the 2021 Hercules Tires Men's and Women's Basketball Playoffs, accounting for schedule adjustments due to COVID-19 protocols at its member institutions.  The regular season would end one week earlier than originally scheduled, and the top two seeds in the women's standings would get a bye into the semifinals.  The remaining seven teams would play in two pods, with each pod winner reseeded before playing one of the top two seeds in the semifinal round.
 
400
On January 16, 2021, head coach Will Brown won his 400th career game in his head coaching career, in an 83-75 victory over NJIT.  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 had compiled 310 of his 400 career victories with the Great Danes.
 
Captain
Head Coach Will Brown selected junior guard Antonio Rizzuto as the team's lone captain for the 2020-21 season.  The decision, made by Coach Brown on January 12, marks a departure in the team's usual format for selecting captains.  Brown noted Rizzuto's consistency and work ethic as reasons he felt Rizzuto was particularly suited to lead the team through the unprecedented season.
 
500
In the second of back-to-back games at Vermont, junior guard Antonio Rizzuto matched his career-high with 21 points, leading the Great Danes in defeat.  The total allowed Rizzuto to eclipse the 500-point milestone for his career.  He entered the game just two points shy of 500 through four games in his junior-year season.  In two-plus years as a Great Dane, encompassing 60 appearances and 41 starts, Rizzuto is averaging 8.7 points per game.
 
Storming Back
Trailing by as many as 18 in the first half at Vermont, and by 16 at halftime, UAlbany stormed back in the second half, using a 21-3 run, including 16-0, over nearly 11 minutes to stun Vermont to clinch the team's first victory of the 2020-21 season.  The win also snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Catamounts, a nine-game overall losing streak dating back to the end of the 2019-20 season, and was the program's first victory over Vermont in Patrick Gymnasium since 2016.  CJ Kelly led the way for UAlbany, scoring 27 points, including nine of the Great Danes' first 12.
 
Double-Double
Kellon Taylor recorded UAlbany's first double-double of the season, scoring 12 points to go with 11 rebounds in the team's defeat against Niagara on December 22.  Taylor shot 6-8 from the floor against the Purple Eagles, playing 38 minutes.
 
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 transferring 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: The winner of UAlbany's game against NJIT will play the winner of Saturday's first game between Hartford and Binghamton.