Men’s Basketball Hits the Road for Quinnipiac on Saturday Afternoon

ALBANY, N.Y. – UAlbany men’s basketball (2-0) will face its first true road test on Saturday afternoon at Quinnipiac at 2 p.m. The Great Danes are out to a 2-0 start for the first time since the 2006-07 season. EVANS SPINNING NOTHING BUT HITS
Starting point guard DJ Evans recorded a new career high in points with 20 in a 71-65 win over NJIT on Nov. 12. The senior broke his previous career high of 12 points in the opening nine minutes of the game, going 5-for-6 including 3-for-4 from three-point range. He also matched a career high in rebounds with four against the Highlanders.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
In two games, the Great Danes have shot better from the three-point line in the first half, but have improved in the second half in free throw and field goal percentage. Against Siena, UAlbany shot 3-for-5 from behind the arch in the first half, and shot just 1-for-5 in the second half; against NJIT, UAlbany went 10-for-28 (35.7%) from the field in the first half, and improved to 14-for-26 in the second half.
Will Brown’s squad is scoring an average of 12.5 points more per game in the second half than in the first half. The Great Danes have scored 60 points in two games in the first half, and 85 in the second half.
Nearly all of Sam Rowley’s double-digit scoring effort in the last two games has come in the second half. The junior co-captain is a combined 2-for-6 from the field in the first half in the first two games, and 10-for-11 from the field in the second half.
GREAT DANES CAN DIG IT
UAlbany scored 70 points or more in its first two games for the first time since the 2004-05 season. In 2004-05 the Great Danes also started 2-0 with an 85-67 win over Sacred Heart and an 86-65 win at Siena.
LAST WE MET
The Purple & Gold fell 59-57 at home last year to the Bobcats. In that contest, Sam Rowley had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting and seven rebounds. Ike Azotam scored what proved to be the go-ahead basket, and scored 17 points to go with eight rebounds.

AMERICA EAST STAT UPDATE
The Great Danes rank second in the league in free throw percentage (.768) and scoring defense, allowing an average of 63.5 points per game. UAlbany also ranks first in three-point field goal defense, allowing their opponents a 24.3 percent shooting clip from behind the arch.

Sam Rowley leads the league in field goal percentage, shooting 70.6 percent in a 2-0 start. DJ Evans ranks second in steals, totaling seven.

SCOUTING QUINNIPIAC
The Bobcats have out-rebounded their opponent in each of their last 34 games. Quinnipiac is netting a rebounding margin of +8.0 so far this season.

Quinnipiac returns four players from its five starters in this game a year ago, including Ike Azotam, Zaid Hearst, Shaq Shannon and Evan Conti. Azotam scored 17 points in the meeting last season, including the game-winning lay-up with 12 seconds remaining.

Dating back to last season, the Bobcats are 1-6 when their opponent shoots 25 or more free throws. UAlbany is averaging 28 free throw attempts per game, and is shooting at a 76.8% clip from the charity stripe.
Quinnipiac is coming off a 73-67 loss to La Salle in the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon. The game, as part of 24 consecutive hours of college basketball, tipped off at 9 a.m. Saturday will mark Quinnipiac’s home opener.
Quinnipiac was picked to finish seventh in the MAAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll in September. The Bobcats start their first season in the MAAC in 2013-14, having come from the NEC.