ALBANY - University at Albany coach Will Brown told his team following the Yale game that he was giving them a free pass.

He was still disappointed in the 74-53 loss to the Bulldogs, but he put some of the blame on himself.

"Even if we would have won, I shouldn't have scheduled a game that close to the Siena game," Brown said. "Whether we had beaten Siena or lost to Siena, I think you need a couple days to take a deep breath and relax."

The game was played so close to the Siena game because finals at UAlbany begin Friday and it was the only date the two teams had.

Brown said he's already looked at next year's calendar and assuming the Siena game will be played at or around the same date as its been, moved another game further back.

Brown said he likes the way his team has been playing, up until that game against Yale.

"We had been playing pretty good basketball up until Monday night," he said.

He's hoping that the team will pick up where they left off, when they take on Central Connecticut on Saturday evening at SEFCU Arena.

"We've moved forward," Brown said. "We're worried about other things."

Sophomore point guard Mike Black got a couple of days rest and should be ready to go come Saturday night.

Black took Tuesday off as did all of the Great Danes and then asked Brown if he could sit out of Wednesday's practice for my time to heal.

While Black admitted, he's not 100 percent, he said his ankle feels much better.

"It feels a lot better than the Siena game," he said.