UAlbany vs. New Hampshire: Loss to Terriers had an impact on Danes

PHOTOGRAPHER: Bob Weiner

University at Albany will try to bounce back from a devastating home loss to Boston University and a big hit to its confidence level when the Great Danes visit Lundholm Gymnasium to take on the University of New Hampshire tonight in Durham, N.H.

The Great Danes (7-5 America East Conference, 15-11 overall) squandered a 16-point lead with a little over 11 minutes left and lost to the Terriers, 81-78, Monday night at SEFCU Arena. UAlbany’s defense allowed 50 points in the second half, including 25 from Darryl Partin, who finished with a career-high 33 points.

“Our [fractured psyche] is a concern right now,” said UAlbany head coach Will Brown when reached by phone during his team’s long bus ride Wednesday afternoon. “Our players are down right now. We need to understand that we can’t have any hangover effect from Monday’s loss to BU. UNH doesn’t care that we lost to Boston University or to Stony Brook. They won’t feel sorry for us. They’ll give us a great effort, and we haven’t played well at UNH over the years.”

Brown said his team’s confidence level took a major dip against the Terriers.

“This is a tough group,” he said. “It’s also an emotional group. We have a very low-key bunch of players, and I’ve always said that you can’t tell if we’re up 10, down 10 or tied because of our demeanor. We are very laid back and quiet. There’s some concern that this team will let our last game stay in their minds.”

Brown said he and the rest of the coaching staff tried to put what happened against Boston University to bed very quickly during his team’s scouting report for the 3-8, 8-14 Wildcats.

“This is a very important road swing for us. We’ve got two games in 72 hours, and obviously, we’re worried about the first one,” he said.

“We did watch some of the film on the BU game, but once we got done with that, we tried to bring closure to that game, and we shifted gears to New Hampshire.”

Brown said his team’s defense once again let the Great Danes’ down in both their last two defeats, against Stony Brook and Boston University, respectively.

“We played fairly well against Stony Brook for about 34 minutes, and we played fairly well against BU for most of the game. But that’s not enough right now. We have to play with great energy at UNH. There will be no fans there, and it will be easy for us to come out flat. It’s a sign of a resilient team to come back from adversity.

“We scored enough points to win against both Stony Brook and Boston University, but the tough thing about our team is that we’re not made to stop the other team consistently. As much as we’ve let this team play offensively, we haven’t been able to come up with the stops we need.

“We played pretty well, offensively, against BU, but we actually lengthened the game for them in the last 10 minutes by taking too many quick shots. They got into a rhythm, and we allowed BU to get back into the game.”