Under the Radar Game of the Day – Friday, January 22: Albany at Stony Brook

Under the Radar Game of the Day: Albany at Stony Brook, 9:00 PM Eastern, ESPNU

With Winter Storm Jonas bearing down on the East Coast, and games being re-scheduled left and right, the Albany Great Danes and Stony Brook Seawolves will try to beat the weather, and each other, tonight on Long Island.  These two teams have so far proven to be the teams to beat this season in the America East, and tonight’s game, along with the rematch on February 17 in Albany, could decide which team gets the top seed and home court advantage for the America East tournament.

Stony Brook enters play today with a record of 14-4, 5-0 in conference play.  The Seawolves also have strong power rating numbers, including a KenPom of 50.  They have won 10 straight games, and would make an interesting (though most likely unsuccessful) case for an at-large bid if they can win every game until the conference tournament.  Better yet, if they can get the top seed in the AEC and hold serve at home, the Selection Committee will only have to debate their seed in what would be the team’s first ever NCAA berth.  Jameel Warney is the star for the Seawolves, having scored in double figures every game so far and picked up a dozen double-doubles.  Perhaps his best game this season was in a win over Princeton, where he scored 26 points, pulled down 15 rebounds, blocked 8 shots and dished out 5 assists.

Albany enters play tonight at 15-5 overall, 4-1 in league play.  Their resume was marred by a bad loss at Maine last week, and although they rebounded from that game with a home win over Binghamton, the Great Danes have not been nearly as strong looking on the court since conference play began as their top rival this season.  Albany is led by a trio of star players in Peter Hooley, Evan Singletary and Ray Sanders.  All three are seniors that helped put this team in the Big Dance last season (and for Hooley, has helped put UAlbany in three straight NCAA Tournaments).  If the three stars are going to help lead this team back into the Dance one more time, they need to find a way to lead this team to a road victory tonight and avoid falling 2 games out of first place in the standings.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES

-RHODE ISLAND AT GEORGE WASHINGTON (Atlantic Ten).  This game tips at 3 PM today, presumably due to the threat of severe winter weather.  George Washington’s profile is in severe need of help and they can’t afford to be losing games at home to teams that are outside the bubble. (Also note that their fellow conference/Beltway neighbor George Mason will be tipping off at 2 PM today against Duquesne ahead of the Blizzard of 2016. – John S)

-VALPARAISO AT WRIGHT STATE (Horizon League).  Valpo has been blowing through the league and I expect they’ll continue to do so.  Wright State, who had a rough OOC portion of the season, has stepped it up in recent weeks so Valpo can’t just overlook them.