The White team won the Purple & Gold scrimmage 57-54.

I know what you're thinking (neither team was wearing Purple or Gold -- at least that's what I was thimking).

It was a good, competitive game (I did miss the first few minutes because I was writing my UAlbany football game story).

According to our "unofficial" official stats, D.J. Evans led all scorers with 17 points, while Mike Rowley had seven rebounds.

I liked what I saw, in terms of competition and the late-game situations gave this young, inexperienced team a chance to work through some things.

There is a long way to go though.

"It's a work in progress," said junior Sam Rowley.

This team should be big and talented up front, led by Rowley. The Great Danes also have John Puk (6-10), Luke Devlin (6-8), Levan Shengelia (6-9) and Mike Rowley (6-8).

"Our frontcourt's pretty big," said coach Will Brown. "It's pretty good."

I think the team has a lot of pieces and should be solid and competitive for sure. The overall success they have will be determined by how they come together as a unit, like last year's team did so terrifically down the stretch.

Brown will have to work to see what lineup combinations will play the best on the floor and he has less than three weeks to figure it out.

The Great Danes will scrimmage at Iona on Oct. 27 and at home against Marist, on Nov. 2, before the season-opener against Siena on Nov. 8.

University at Albany players Mike Black and Sam Rowley talk about Thursday night's victory over New Hampshire.

University at Albany basketball players Sam Rowley and Peter Hooley talk about the team's 65-49 loss to Stony Brook on Tuesday.

The loss is the Great Danes (5-4, 16-7) third straight and knocks them into fifth in the America East Conference standings. 

J.S. Carras - The Record

ALBANY - The mood in the UAlbany locker room at Patrick Gymnasium, in Burlington, Vt., last Saturday afternoon was one of shock.

The Great Danes were expecting a early-season battle for first place -- what they got was a massacre, a 70-45 loss, and they left with their pride diminished.

“Even Ohio State didn’t beat us like that," said senior point guard Mike Black. "It was shocking, heartbreaking. It was an eye-opener for us that day.”

UAlbany's next league game wasn't a must-win, it was only the third conference game, but that's how Monday's game against Binghamton felt.

“It was a must-win game in reality," said sophomore Sam Rowley, who scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, as the Great Danes bounced back with a 71-59 victory over the Bearcats.

In reality it wasn't a true must-win, but UAlbany needed to get back to its winning ways.

“We just needed to play," said coach Will Brown. "The way we played at Vermont wasn’t the way we’ve played all year long. We let them get in a comfort zone, we never got in any type of rhythm and we played on our heels the whole game. You live and you learn.”

In the midst of winter break, the team has been fully focused on basketball and they found out the best way to bounce back from a crushing defeat.

“The best way to move on from a loss is get a win the day or two days after," said Rowley. 

The Great Danes (2-1, 13-4) face another stiff challenge, when they host Maine (2-1, 7-9) on Saturday.

Logan Aronhalt is a very good basketball player.

The scary thing could be that Aronhalt, who averaged 14.6 points per game last season, might get better still.

Asked today if he was the healthiest he's been since arriving at UAlbany, his response was yet.

“My freshman year I wasn’t healthy at all,” he said. “Last year, I was still up and down a little bit.

Aronhalt dealt with a number of foot issues when he first arrived at UAlbany and red-shirted his first season.

He earned third team all-conference honors last year, as a sophomore, and now is primed for another big season.

"I definitely think, now, I'm ready to go," he said.

While he and fellow junior Mike Black were left off of the preseason all-conference team, coach Will Brown is confident they are two of the best players in the league.

“I think both of those guys want to be first team all-league guys,” Brown said. “Both of them are ready to take the next step. Does that mean they’re both going to be first team guys? I don’t know because we have other guys who are going to play on the perimeter for us.”

The Great Danes actually have six newcomers this season - Peter Hooley, Jayson Guerrier, Tanner Gibson, Gerardo Suero, Sam Rowley and Chris Page.

“This is probably as good of a group of newcomers that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Brown said. “How that translates when the lights go on will be interesting, but it was pretty good for us when we went to Canada.”

UAlbany opens the season against Pitt, on Nov. 11.

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.

ALBANY - University at Albany head men’s basketball coach Will Brown announced the signing of three student-athletes on Monday.

Tanner Gibson (Zanesville, Ohio), a 6-foot-1 guard, Jayson Guerrier (Oviedo, Fla.), a 6-4 guard and Peter Hooley (South Adelaide, Australia) a 6-4 guard will play for the Great Danes in the 2011-12 season.

Those three join Chris Page, Sam Rowley and Gerardo Suero, who all committed in the fall. It was also announced that Derrek Tartt and Jake Lindfors will transfer from UAlbany.

University at Albany men's basketball coach Will Brown talks about signing Chris Page (who played with Blake Metcalf at Plainfield High), Sam Rowley (the program's second Australian player after Luke Devlin) and Gerardo Suero (who played at Our Savior New American the same school as Jamar Wilson and Tim Ambrose).