Peter Hooley's first view of the University at Albany campus was a dark one.

That' s not because Hooley wasn't happy to be in Upstate New York, rather it was midnight and he had just finished three-day journey to arrive at UAlbany.

Hooley, who had never been on the UAlbany campus, Sam Rowley and Luke Devlin all flew in from Australia and it was quite the trip.

Hooley departed his hometown of South Adelaide on Sunday and flew into Sydney to stay with Rowley and Devlin for the night.

The three boarded a plane and landed in Los Angeles at 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning. Their flight to Chicago was delayed two hours. Once the reached the Windy City, their flight was delayed three and half more hours and they finally got to UAlbany on midnight, Wednesday morning where they were picked up by one of the coaches and taken to their dorms.

"You always hope to sleep on the plane, but that didn't happen," said Hooley, after Wednesday's afternoon practice.

Hooley said that he and Rowley asked Devlin many questions about college hoops in America, on the plane. Devlin, who was an America East All-Rookie selection, learned a lot over the past season about the difference in play from Australia to the U.S.

Having three players from Australia will help all of them feel more comfortable, especially when it snows.

“It’s like I’m bringing a bit of family here,” Hooley said. “Our families are so far away and especially when I’m rooming with them, it’s just like living at home.”

The Aussies and the rest of the Great Danes made it on to the floor for the practice, the first of 13 before the team leaves for Canada on Aug. 18.

"This was a good day for us," UAlbany coach Will Brown said.

Brown mentioned that the two biggest reasons Canada was chosen as the destination for the squad were cost and distance of travel.

There will be some different rules on the court for UAlbany (24-second shot clock, 8 seconds to get ball across half court, no inbounding ball into the backcourt from frontcourt), but they hope this trip will get them on the same page.

"I feel like this is a good opportunity for us to build our chemistry," said junior point guard Mike Black.

While the Great Danes have four returning starters (only Tim Ambrose graduated), the team has six new faces.

Here is the schedule for games.

Friday, Aug. 19 - at University of Quebec at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Aug. 20 - at McGill University, 7 p.m.
Monday, Aug. 22 - at Dawson College All-Stars, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 24 - at University of Ottawa, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Aug. 25 - at Carleton University, 7 p.m.