ALBANY — After one of the UAlbany men’s basketball program’s non-conference games earlier this season, Tyler Bertram laughed as he remembered back to when he’d last gotten as hot from 3-point territory.
“The last time I actually did that was against UAlbany,” Bertram said after making six 3-pointers in a Nov. 29 win against Boston University, the game that saw the Great Danes open up their renovated Broadview Center. “So, it’s kind of nice to be able to do that for UAlbany now, and be on this side of things.”
The game Bertram referenced was a February 2022 game, a one-point win for the Great Danes that saw Bertram make five 3s for Binghamton. Now with UAlbany to cap a college career that’s had several stops along the way, Bertram and his current teammates play against Binghamton in America East Conference action Saturday at 4 p.m. at Broadview Center.
“I've been thinking about it for a while — like, the whole year — and I'm just excited,” Bertram said this week of playing against one of his former programs, which still has a couple of his old teammates on its roster. “I'm excited to go and compete against them. We had a good relationship; I had a good relationship with the coaches. So I'm really excited to go and compete against them, and get the win.”
UAlbany’s top scoring option off the bench, Bertram is averaging 7.8 points per game this season. Bertram is in his fifth season of college basketball, having played at Charlotte, Binghamton and UAB before heading to UAlbany. Bertram said he played against Charlotte with UAB, but said he expects playing against Binghamton — where he spent two seasons — to be a bit more emotional than that experience.
“This one's going to hit a little different,” Bertram said. “It's going to be a little different competing against these guys.”
UAlbany head coach Dwayne Killings said that Bertram has emerged this season as one of the Great Danes’ leaders. While there’s been some games where his 3-point shooting has helped lift the team, Killings said the college basketball veteran has given the program a strong presence beyond his scoring.
"I think the best part about Tyler is [that] his voice all season long has been about what it takes to win,” Killings said.
THE MATCHUP
While UAlbany (1-0 America East, 9-7 overall) heads into this weekend’s game off a road win against NJIT, Binghamton (0-1, 8-6) comes into the game off a loss Thursday against Bryant.
Five players average at least 8.8 points per game for Binghamton, which is led by junior guard Tymu Chenery at 14.9. The Bearcats’ top all-around player is likely graduate student guard Symir Torrence, who previously played at Syracuse and Marquette. Torrence is averaging 8.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.1 assists per game.
Before becoming UAlbany’s head coach in 2021, Killings was an assistant coach at Marquette and coached Torrence.
“I think they're a good team,” Killings said of the Bearcats. “They're going to be hungry.”
In its last game, UAlbany received big games from Sebastian Thomas, Jonathan Beagle and Aaron Reddish. Thomas had a team-high 22 points in playing the full 40 minutes, Beagle combined 19 points with 16 rebounds, and Reddish had 16 points and nine rebounds.
PROTECTING THE COURT
It’s become a goal for UAlbany, playing its first season at the renovated Broadview Center, to post a perfect record inside the building this season.
The Great Danes are 4-0 at home this season, and sophomore guard Marcus Jackson said UAlbany wants to make sure the three-game homestand it starts this weekend goes the same as one earlier this season.
“The last time we had three back-to-back home games, we got them,” said Jackson, referencing wins against Boston, Dartmouth and Potsdam. “So I think it's huge. I think our guys take a lot of pride in our new arena. We have a lot of desire to win in our new arena — obviously, every other game as well — but we just want to protect our home.”
After this weekend’s game, UAlbany plays next Thursday against UMass Lowell and two days later against Bryant.
“We say every day in the locker room, we want to be undefeated at home this year,” Bertram said. “This is just another step for us to do that — three games in a row, three very tough teams in the league, as well.”