UAlbany-New Hampshire pregame thoughts

With the Great Danes down to eight available players ...... head coach Will Brown said today having fewer players does simplify matters entering Thursday’s game at New Hampshire.

“It’s made my job easier because we basically have eight guys,” Brown said. “The guys we’re bringing off the bench, it’s actually unique the way it works. (Freshman forward) Billy Allen can play on the perimeter, or we can use him as an undersized 4-man (power forward), depending on who we play. (Junior forward) Will Harris can play on the perimeter and we’re playing him at the 4 some, too, and Brett Gifford and Jimmie Covington just rotate in and out at the 5 spot (center), so I think in the eight-man rotation, we have some flexibility coming off the bench where guys can play different positions.

“It’s made my job easier,” Brown repeated. “I don’t really have to think as much with these eight guys.”

Brown said it probably makes the players’ lives easier, as well.

“I’m sure,” he said. “When you don’t have a lot of options, the kids look at it as, `Hey, I’m going to get an opportunity to play, relax, go out and play and see what happens.’ When you have eight guys in uniform, as opposed to 11, 12 or 13, kids get the sense they’re going to get an opportunity, and hopefully they embrace that opportunity and run with it.”

Brown said he again won’t have freshman point guard Anthony Raffa (sprained toe) or sophomore guard Louis Barraza (Achilles’ tendinitis and bad back). Brown said Raffa had an X-ray today and won’t be able to practice until next Wednesday, at the earliest, which means he’ll miss the final two regular-season games. He might be done for the season.

Brown plans to start the same five as the Maine game with Jerel Hastings at small forward and Mike Johnson at the point. Both are known more for their defense than their outside shooting.

UAlbany sophomore guard Tim Ambrose said the lack of depth can also be a drawback.

“I like playing in general, but having a short bench means we’ve got to play a lot of minutes,” Ambrose said. “It can help us in the long run, or it can hurt us. But we’re in shape now. Coach Brown made sure of that. So we’re just going to go out there, and when you get tired, you ask for a sub.”

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At least Ambrose is staying on the floor.

He played 32 minutes in Sunday’s win over Maine, in no small part because he didn’t pick up his first foul until 18:12 remained in the game. That was a change from his tendency to have two fouls before some fans settle into their seats.

“Just not reaching,” Ambrose explained. “Just playing people with my feet instead of my hands. I tend to reach every now and then and I get caught every time I do it.”

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The seeding implications of Thursday’s game weren’t lost on Ambrose as UAlbany is in a three-way tie for fifth in America East with UNH and UMBC.

A win would be a major step toward locking up the fifth seed in the conference tournament and likely playing Stony Brook in the No. 4-vs.-No.5 quarterfinal on March 7 at 2:30 p.m in SEFCU Arena.

“It’s a very important game,” Ambrose said. “I feel like if we win this game, we’ll be in fifth place, and we’ll have to play Stony Brook, and that’ll be a good game, even though they beat us twice in the regular season. Hey, anything’s possible. Just got to come out ready to play tomorrow.”

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UNH is playing well lately, winning two of its past three games.

The Wildcats humbled UAlbany 10 days ago with a 78-59 victory that was UAlbany’s worst margin of defeat at home since SEFCU Arena opened in 1992.

Then the Wildcats beat Maine before taking America East co-leader Binghamton to overtime in a 70-69 loss on Sunday.

“Our guys, because we played (UNH) a week ago, understand their personnel and what they do and what we didn’t do,” Brown said. “I think the preparation aspect of it is fresh in their mind, and so is the beating we took.”

UAlbany shot 20-of-33 from the free-throw line in the first meeting.

“UNH is going to play us mostly man-to-man,” Brown said. “That helps Mike (Johnson), that helps Jerel (Hastings) on a consistent basis. We were very aggressive in the second half against UNH offensively and really got to the free-throw line but we didn’t make our free throws. I think we need to establish the inside game and be aggressive early on against UNH up there and we’ll see what happens.”

By Mark Singelais