From The Stands: UAlbany at Yale
DanesRGood was one of the UAlbany faithful to make it to the Yale game and he put together a nice recap after what must have been an unpleasant ride home.
Never a good sign when pre-game pizza is the highlight of a road trip (Food GPS)
First thing I want to comment on is the buildings and ornate architecture of the Yale “campus”. Hard to call it a campus when it is spread throughout the city of New Haven. Anyway, the gym is in a beautiful old building, small and cozy with the most uncomfortable wooden high back chairs I’ve ever sat in. The crowd was fairly small and not very loud. I was surprised by this since Yale looks to be an improved team this season. Also, it was good to see Jon Iati in the crowd and Luke Devlin’s Dad as well. (Ed. Note: He’s in the United States too!?)
The Danes started off slow with 3 misses and 2 turnovers in their first five possessions. Yale was doing a great job of pressuring the ball and contesting shots but UA seemed a little tired with only one day of rest after the OT victory over Siena. Logan had an especially tough time tonight; he took many contested shots and missed the open shots he had. He really seemed out of rhythm and just couldn’t get it going… and he heard it from Coach Brown on a few occasions. Mike Black definitely seemed spent at times and even asked Coach Brown to replace him at one point. He also had a tough time getting it going on the offensive end.
When the team came out for the second half they looked energized on both ends of the court. The offense started to click and the Danes went on a 12-3 run to close within 1 point at 44-43, but that was as close as they got. At this point, Yale went on a HUGE run.
The following possessions consisted of: made three pointer, free throw, three pointer, free throw, free throw, three pointer, three pointer, three pointer to start a 26-2 run over an 8 minute period. This really took the wind out of the team and the UA contingent in the crowd. Coach Brown tried hard to stop the run with several time outs but it only got worse with back door cuts and wide open layups for Yale, including a big dunk. On the offensive end the Danes were missing shots all over the place whether contested or not. Just a very cold run. At that point the benches started to empty and the game was over. This was my first game watching in person this year and definitely not a good one. Yale has a nice team though. They are fast and can shoot the ball, played solid defensive, and took Logan out of the game early. This game should have been much closer and on another night I think the Danes can beat Yale but not tonight.
Side note: I went to Frank Pepe Pizzeria before the game, which has been featured on FoodTV and Travel Channel. WOW, what a pizza!!!
Morning Note: @fessland added what DRG implied by no mention of injuries: “[Black and Puk] looked fine to me re: injuries. Puk played very well in first half.”
Purple and Gold Nation 