Okay, I couldn't resist with the title, but UAlbany freshman Derrek Tartt had clearly his best performance of the year in Friday's 71-55 victory over Alcorn St at SEFCU Arena.

“When he plays hard, he’s very good,” said UAlbany coach Will Brown. “When he’s in chill mode, he’s just okay.”

In fact, he had so many points (13) that senior Will Harris was pointing it out to him in the box score before they both spoke to the media, following the game.

“I was looking at the points, but I wasn’t looking at my points, I was looking at his points,” said Harris, who also chipped in with a team-high 15. “I thought that he was aggressive and making shots and it makes me happy because everyday in practice, I’m in his ear, 'You have to be aggressive' and he came out tonight and he was aggressive, so that makes me happy. It makes me feel like a proud uncle.”

Tartt has a nice lanky frame at 6-foot-3 and 175 pounds and Brown likes him as a perimeter defender and may also consider playing him more at the two or three as opposed to the point guard position.

“I think he’s much more comfortable as a wing and being a secondary ball handler,” Brown said. “When he’s played at the point, he looses his aggressiveness. When he plays on the wing, he’s more in attack mode and he’s more aggressive.”

While Brown was happy with the win, he wasn't totally thrilled that the game got close in the second half.

“The difference between a 15-point win and a 25-point win is executing the scouting report and not helping off (Jonathan) Boyd at all,” Brown said. “We left him a couple of times which is disappointing.”

Brown said that Mike Johnson left Boyd, who hit four 3-pointers, to help on defense, when the report was to stick with him.

"He's trying to be aggressive and trying to be a good team defender, but we needed him to be a smart team defender," said Brown.

Brown also wasn't happy with the team's 21 turnovers.

Alcorn State committed 19 turnovers, which didn't thrill their coach, Larry Smith.

“We have to play mistake-free basketball, for the most part,” said Smith. “We can’t continue to turn the ball over. We're averaging more than 20 turnovers a game and that’s killing us. We have to value the ball more.”

This is the first of three straight games and Brown tried to limit some players minutes so that they would stay fresh throughout the weekend.

Harris said he has his own measures to stay relaxed and refreshed - bubble baths.

Harris said he has some salts to put in the bath and he will be taking a nice soak tonight, I'm sure while reading the scouting report prepared by assistant Jeremy Friel on Detroit.

“That’s what I’m going to be doing,” said Harris about taking a bath. “I have to take care of these legs.”

The Great Danes improve to 2-2, getting 13 points from freshman Derrek Tartt and senior Will Harris added 15.

That's a final from the SEFCU Arena in the first game of the night.

From what I saw (which was just the last 13 minutes or so) both of these teams will prove stern tests for UAlbany.

The Great Danes tip with Alcorn State in 10 minutes.

Penn State junior Talor Battle became the 29th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point mark for his career on Thursday, but the Nittany Lions fell to UNC-Wilmington in the first round of the Charleston Classic.

Battle was The Record's Boys' Basketball Player of the Year in 2007 after leading Bishop Maginn High School to the Class AA New York State title game.

Battle, who averaged 26.7 points per game in his senior season with the Golden Griffins, was a first team All-Big Ten selection last season and is a first team preseason pick this year.

If you're not making the trip to Staten Island and want to watch the UAlbany football game against Wagner, it will be on Time Warner 3 at 1 p.m.

Paul Dottino, the New York Giants game day reporter for WFAN/Giants Radio Network will handle the play-by-play, while Matt Harmon will provide the color commentary.

The UAlbany fans and coach Will Brown have both been hoping to see more of junior college transfer Fran Urli, especially after Brown's high praise during the preseason.

That hasn't been the case though as the 6-foot-8 forward played just 21 minutes against No. 25 Syracuse before coming out with a bad ankle.

Brown said Thursday that he is hoping to play Urli, who hasn't played in the last two games, tomorrow night against Alcorn State in the 2K Sports, Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at SEFCU Arena at 7:30 p.m.

“We need him to be effective because he gives us scoring on the low blocks,” said Brown.

Even if Urli can play tomorrow night, Brown said he'd be "shocked" if he can play in all three games this weekend.

“If he can play tomorrow, Saturday (vs. Detroit) and Sunday (vs. Robert Morris), I’d be shocked,” Brown said. “I don’t know how much he can help us.”

The first day that Urli has run in practice since the Syracuse game was yesterday.

Meanwhile, junior Louis Barraza still needs a few more days, according to Brown.

Brown is hoping the team will be fully healthy for the Florida trip, when the team takes on Central Florida (Nov. 28) and Florida Atlantic (Nov. 30).

ALBANY - Siena junior forward Ryan Rossiter didn't have any points for the first 25 minutes of Monday's game.

He finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds.

“In my opinion, he’s an all-league player,” said Siena coach Fran McCaffery. “He was voted that in the preseason and I think he’s proving that today, that’s what he’s going to be.”

While Rossiter wasn't struggling (he was only 0-for-2), he credited McCaffery for keeping him on the floor.

“I think Coach McCaffery does a great job of letting us play through it,” Rossiter said. “I know his confidence is always in me, so it makes my job a lot easier. I just have to go out there and play hard and eventually the shots are going to fall.”

Rossiter's ability to bring great offense is something that makes Siena a very tough team.

“I think Ryan Rossiter makes them extremely difficult to prepare for,” said Northeastern coach Bill Coen said. “He seems to outwork every big man he faces.”

Rossiter said his mentality is that he will get every rebound, something his father Steve instilled in him.

“He and (Alex) Franklin are a formidable duo there on the glass and it allows our perimeter players to do what they do,” said McCaffery.

Rossiter even stepped out and knocked down what almost was a 3-pointer with 11:46 remaining in the game.

“He’s got a lot of offense in his game,” McCaffery said. “That jumper he hit, was not a surprise to me. He’s got a terrific stroke.”

Kenny Hasbrouck was at the game wearing a boot on his injured foot and he was on the bench acting like an assistant coach.

“He’s got a bright future,” said McCaffery.

McCaffery said Hasbrouck helped recognize that Northeastern guard Baptiste Bataille was pressuring point guard Ronald Moore, but then immediately backing off.

“That was a very good suggestion that he made and Ronald took advantage of it,” McCaffery said.

Hasbrouck was also encouraging the Siena players when the team was down in the first half.

“He loves the game of basketball and is eager to get out there and play, but having him on the sideline and giving us some words of wisdom is really helpful," said Moore.