Siena, UAlbany prepare for Albany Cup clash

ALBANY, NY (NEWS10) -- The stage is set for another installment of the Albany Cup. The Siena and UAlbany men's basketball teams won't just be battling for the cup, but for bragging rights.

Siena holds the edge in this series leading 11-8 since UAlbany jumped to Division-I in 1999. The rivalry took a four year break from 2018 to 2022.

This will be the first taste of the rivalry for first-year head coach Gerry McNamara, who has the Saints out to a hot 3-0 start. While he hasn't coached in this game, he's certainly been briefed on what to expect by fans, and his local guys Marcus Jackson and Brendan Coyle. "Most of the people that I've seen in the community since the American game have all said the same thing," said McNamara. "'Hey, go get 'em Saturday night!' Or someone might say, 'Hey, we're going to get you guys Saturday night!' Just the experience and I know it's a local tie and a lot of pride in both programs and institutions. I'm looking forward to it. It's a lot of fun when you get a chance to play in these sort of environments."

"We've definitely talked about it, the importance of this game to the city," said Coyle, a Niskayuna native. "It's one of the games of the year, I would say, for the city. So we're definitely talking about this one. We're expecting a great atmosphere Saturday, but we've just got to look at it as another game, prepare for it as any other game and go out ready to battle."

As for UAlbany, they've won six of the last eight meetings, including an 86-51 win last year. This will be only the second time UAlbany will host on campus.

While the Saints have gotten a lot of buzz, the Great Danes enter this matchup 2-1 this season. Head coach Dwayne Killings believes this is an opportunity to sell local fans on what the Great Danes bring to the table. "Obviously, we want to keep the cup on campus, "said Killings. "We have the game on-campus for the first time in a number of years. I think that the intensity and the environment, we need to go out there and show what we're capable of to keep people coming in the building. We want our building to be sold out. We want that energy and emotion every single night. We need that to beat UMass-Lowell, Bryant, Vermont. I think this is a chance for us to be able to capture that and retain that energy in the building, because we need that investment as we're trying to grow our program to a championship level."

The players are looking to steal some of the shine the Saints have gotten across town. "With the hype they've got. I mean, the pressure's on them" said redshirt junior guard Amar'e Marshall. "I mean, it's really better for us. We're going into the game to show everybody what we can do. We're going to take the game. That's pretty much all you can do."

Tip-off Saturday is set for 7:00 PM at UAlbany's Broadview Center.