Men’s Basketball Defends Albany Cup in Season Opener Against Siena on Friday

ALBANY, N.Y.- The Great Danes begin their journey for another NCAA appearance at the Times Union Center this Friday at 7 p.m., against crosstown rival Siena.

TROPHIES GALORE
UAlbany enters the 53rd all-time meeting against the Saints as the defending America East Champion. The Purple & Gold advanced to the 2013 NCAA Second Round to face Duke in Philadelphia, falling 73-61.

LAST TIME OUT
The Great Danes and Saints are meeting in UAlbany’s season opener for the third time under head coach Will Brown. Brown’s squad has won two of the last three meetings, including a 69-56 win last season to take back the Albany Cup. In the win, UAlbany went 21-for-24 from the charity stripe (87.5%), including a 7-for-7 effort from John Puk. The Great Danes shot 24 free-throws, while the Saints managed just seven.

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER
This year’s meeting marks the fourth time the two teams have met in the month of November. The last time UAlbany and Siena met in November was in 2004, with the Great Danes winning by 21 points, 86-65.

A LOOK AT THE NEWCOMERS
Mike Rowley joins his brother Sam on the UAlbany roster in 2013-14. The freshman-junior duo from Sydney, Australia is the first pair of brothers to play in the same season under Coach Brown, and just the second all-time. Twin brothers Brad and Scott Hughes led the 1994-95 Great Danes to their fourth and final NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in six season under Doc Sauers.

Sophomore Anders Haas can say he’s a Great Dane in two ways. The shooting guard hails from Copenhagen, Denmark making him the first true Dane in the program’s history. Haas and power forward Levan Shengelia helped UAlbany amass its largest international contingency (six of 14 on the roster) in the program’s history.

CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN
Seniors Luke Devlin and David Wiegmann, as well as junior Sam Rowley and sophomore Peter Hooley were named captains for the 2013-14 season.

UNDER-DANES
UAlbany was picked to finish third in the America East preseason coaches poll, released in October. The Great Danes won the league championship last year as the No. 4 seed, the lowest seed to ever do so in America East history.

PROBABLE STARTERS
UAlbany Siena
TBD 1 Marquis Wright, Fr., G
2 Javion Ogunyemi, Fr., F
5 Evan Hymes, Jr., G
24 Lavon Long, Fr., G/F
33 Rob Poole, Jr., G