BURLINGTON, Vt. - Luke Devlin sat with an Australian flag draped around his neck at the postgame press conference and waited his turn to answer some questions.

Devlin waited his turn for much of the season and Saturday was his time.

Devlin shot 6-6 from the field, finished with 12 points, five rebounds and two steals in 20 minutes, as the University at Albany defeated Vermont, 53-49, and punched its ticket to the NCAA tournament. 

“Devlin was good," said Vermont coach John Becker. "He made shots.”

Devlin was an all-rookie selection his freshman year, but last season he struggled and this year, he's had his difficulties and found himself behind Blake Metcalf, John Puk and Sam Rowley. 

“Our bigs have played tremendous," Devlin said. "I've adjusted to my role coming off the bench and I've been happy with that because we've been winning. I just got the opportunity to play a bit more tonight and knock down some shots.”

Devlin took advantage of being less of a priority of the Vermont defense. He was able to make jumpers and finishing easy looks from his tammates.

“He just made shots," said Vermont's Luke Apfeld. "Even when we did a good job of rotating, he just made good, contested shots.”

 

Despite being outrebounded 37-21, the Great Danes big men asserted themselves and didn't allow the Catamounts any easy baskets.

“I thought we were aggressive," said UAlbany coach Will Brown. "I thought we were physical.”