Nine Teams, Nine Days – Over the next nine days we’ll take a look at each of the America East’s nine men’s basketball programs in a lead up to the 2023-24 season. The regular season begins on Monday, Nov. 6 with eight teams in action and the full schedule of contests can be found here.
The UAlbany Men’s Basketball teams is home to the past two America East Rookies of the Year, and this season third-year head coach Dwayne Killings is confident that his talented underclassmen and an impressive group of newcomers are ready to help take this program back to prominence. To do that, the team is going to pick up the pace this season.
“We want to play fast,” said Killings. “I think that is what a lot of people talk about but in order to do that we have to be a solid defensive team, we have to be a good rebounding team. In the open court, I think we can make shots early in the clock.”
UAlbany brings back six players from last year’s team, highlighted by 2022-23 Rookie of the Year Jonathan Beagle and 2021-22 Rookie of the Year Justin Neely. Killings is excited about the physical development of Beagle, who averaged 12.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game last season. Neely, who is returning from injury, put up 6.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest during his 2021-22 rookie campaign.
In addition to those two, Aaron Reddish and Marcus Jackson both return this year. Reddish was third on the team in scoring at 8.5 points per game, while Jackson started 19 games as a freshman, averaging 4.0 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
To push the pace this season, Killings has brought in transfers, Sebastian Thomas, Amar’e Marshall and Tyler Bertram. Thomas played in 32 games with 13 starts for URI last season, averaging 5.8 points per game and 2.8 assists per contest. Marshall averaged 5.0 points per game at Hofstra last year while Bertram is coming from UAB.
This group will be tested early by its road-heavy non-conference schedule. UAlbany opens the year at UMass on Nov. 7 and begins the season with six straight road contests. The Great Danes are scheduled to christen the brand-new Broadview Center at UAlbany on Nov. 29 against Boston University. They also face off against Temple and USF in December before starting conference play at NJIT on Saturday, Jan. 6.
UAlbany – Roster - Schedule
Head Coach: Dwayne Killings
2022-23 Record: 8-23, 3-13 (9th)
Scoring Offense: 67.3 points per game (7th)
Scoring Defense: 75.2 points per game (9th)
Offensive Rebounds Per Game: 10.2 (4th)
Returning Starters (2)
Jonathan Beagle, F – 12.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg
Marcus Jackson, G – 4.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg
Notable Newcomers (9)
Sebastian Thomas, G – transfer from URI
Amar’e Marshall, G – transfer from Hofstra
Tyler Bertram, G – transfer from UAB
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