Albany

Siena men's basketball coach Jimmy Patsos paid a compliment this week that would have been hard to fathom coming from anyone in Loudonville years ago.

"I think you do measure your programs against Albany," Patsos said. "Albany goes to the NCAA (Tournament). They're really good."

The Saints and Great Danes meet for the 14th straight year at Times Union Center on Saturday night in a rivalry that was revived in 2001 after a quarter-century hiatus. At that time, Siena was the established Division I program with UAlbany trying to make a name for itself after upgrading from Division II in 1999.

The Saints and their fans owned bragging rights over their neighbors from Western Avenue with victories in eight of their first nine encounters in the Division I era. Since then, however, the Great Danes have gained the upper hand with three wins in the past four years.

"We are still a young Division I program," UAlbany head coach Will Brown said. "The thing that bothers me is I don't see why we can't have two good Division I programs in the area. ... I think there is mutual respect for each other as far as the game is concerned."

UAlbany (2-6) is coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances as America East champion for Brown, in his 14th season. Siena (3-4) is trying to climb back to the top of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in its second year under Patsos.

While the MAAC title is the primary goal, Siena senior guard Rob Poole would like to reclaim ownership of the Albany Cup, which goes to the victor of this game.

"I want to win it a lot," Poole said. "I won it freshman year, and then the last two years Albany's had a really good team, went to the NCAA Tournament, so it'll be a great win if we can get it."

It's a local rivalry that has an international flavor. UAlbany senior forward Sam Rowley, who is Australian, leads his team with 13.8 points per game and 8.8 rebounds per contest.

Though 8,640 tickets were sold as of 1 p.m. Friday and the crowd could surpass 10,000, Rowley acknowledged that the game doesn't carry the same meaning for him.

"It's cool," Rowley said. "It's a good event. You see a bit of a blowup in the media attention and in social media. People are aware of the game. Honestly, I am not from this area and I don't mean to sound belittling to people who think it's a big deal."

Rowley scored 17 points to lead UAlbany to a 74-62 victory last season, a game in which the Great Danes rallied from a 16-point deficit in the first half.

That game was the college debut for Siena sophomore center Javion Ogunyemi, a Troy native who had never been to the Albany Cup until his senior year of high school.

"We definitely want to change it," Ogunyemi said. "The fact we lost to them last year has been sitting on our mind for around a year. Very frustrating."

UAlbany will try to end the frustration of a four-game losing streak coming into Saturday. The Great Danes are scoring only 63.2 points per game while shooting 40.4 percent from the field, compared with Siena's 77.1 and 44.9 percent, respectively.

"I think the higher-scoring the game, the more it favors Siena," Brown said. "Our team is ready to grind it out."

Meanwhile, Siena is trying to put together 40 solid minutes, which has often eluded it this season. The Saints are short-handed in the frontcourt because of injuries and have to beware of Rowley inside. Patsos also talked about his respect for UAlbany junior guard Peter Hooley (13 ppg), another Australian.

This is the final game of the contract between the teams, leaving the future in doubt with UAlbany seeking more equitable terms in an extension. The game has never been played at SEFCU Arena, UAlbany's home court. Both sides say they hope to continue the rivalry.

"I think it's great that there's a cup involved," Patsos said. "I think that it's a wonderful game. It's as good a mid-major game as you're going to get."

Tim Wilkin contributed to this story

msingelais@timesunion.com • 518-454-5509 • @MarkSingelais