If not a must-win, then close for UAlbany

PHOTOGRAPHER: Mark McGuire

UAlbany men's basketball coach Will Brown said Saturday his team has overachieved this season, but needs a heightened sense of urgency right now if it hopes to advance deep in the America East tournament next month.

The Great Danes say this afternoon’s Maine game is not one that falls into the must-win category, even though it follows a road loss to New Hampshire and precedes Wednesday’s clash with America East front-runner Stony Brook.

Fine. Call it a really need game. Or a can’t-lose game. Call it what you want, but UAlbany (9-3, 20-7) is mightily served by walking off the SEFCU Arena floor this afternoon with a W.

“We make sure we never lose two in a row on our schedule,” junior forward Mike Rowley said Saturday.

It goes beyond the Danes having a mere half-game lead over New Hampshire in the America East standings for second. (The Wildcats still have to travel to Stony Brook today and Vermont Feb. 24.) Head coach Will Brown said he needs his team to play with a sense of urgency — a familiar refrain this season — and at its best heading into the postseason.

“Right now we have four regular season games left. We are only guaranteed five more games,” Brown said Saturday. “It needs to come now.”

Brown has been frustrated at times this season by defensive lapses, but notes his Danes have been unexpectedly thin up front, especially with the loss of Travis Charles.

“Up to this point I think the team has overachieved a little bit,” Brown said. “We don’t have a lot of room for error.”

That was on full display Jan. 15 in Bangor, when Maine came away with an 81-79 upset for its first win in the series since 2013. Brown was irate afterward with the Danes’ defensive effort in the game: UAlbany allowed a season-high in field goal percentage (.569, 33-58) and assists (17). Four Black Bears finished in double figures as Maine used a small lineup to gash the Great Danes.

“Maine came out ready to play. We didn’t,” said UA guard Ray Sanders.

Sanders did call today’s conference game a must-win, but only in the sense that “every game in conference is a must-win game.”

“You want to have as many home games as you can get in the postseason,” said Sanders, whose Danes are undefeated at home this season (11-0). “We feed off our crowd’s energy.”

SAUERS TO BE HONORED

Former men’s basketball coach Richard “Doc” Sauers will be honored at today’s game for his ongoing 60-year association with UAlbany.

Sauers amassed 702 wins in 41 seasons as head coach from 1955-87 and 1989-97. He earned 11 NCAA invites in the Division III and II ranks. In his entire career he posted only one losing season.

He also served as the Great Danes’ women’s golf head coach from 1997-2012, and head baseball coach from 1958-59. Sauers is currently a special assistant to the director of athletics.