University at Albany coach Will Brown isn’t known for his modesty. He says everything that needs to be said, and often times, things that don’t.
Last night, after his team’s 70-63 victory over Boston University at Case Gymnasium — a battle of the two biggest disappointments in the conference thus far — Brown’s outspokenness forewent him once again when he tabbed senior guard Brian Lillis the best player in America East.
“I think Brian’s the best player in this league right now,” Brown said. “Definitely the most valuable player in this league. He’s had one sub par game in league play and that was against [the University of New Hampshire], and the whole team was flat. Other than that, he’s dominated every game he’s played in.”
And while Brown’s reputation speaks for itself, Lillis’ performance against the Terriers — as well as his numbers throughout the season — are hard to ignore.
The Iowa native made his 100th career game a memorable one, torching BU for 27 points — including a 15-of-16 effort from the free-throw line — and grabbing 12 rebounds. His 12 boards tied a career high, while his point total fell two short of his personal best (29) — set last Sunday against the University of Vermont.
With the graduation of two-time America East Player of the Year Jamar Wilson (18.8 ppg) and fellow scorer Jason Siggers (13.8 ppg), the biggest question mark surrounding the Great Danes — and perhaps part of the reason why BU was picked to finish ahead of them — was whether their experienced roster could fill the scoring void.
Lillis has. He’s registered double-figure point totals in 16 of Albany’s 17 games, and has posted three of his four career double-doubles this season — two of which came in consecutive games. Last season’s conference Defensive Player of the Year exhibited a scoring touch in 2006-07, but didn’t come close to dominating games the way he has since Albany began conference play. Lillis’ lock-down defense garnered the majority of opponents’ attention last season, when he averaged only 6.8 points per contest.
Now, Lillis tops America East in conference scoring (22.8 ppg) and is leading an Albany team that hit a rocky mid-season skid back to the level of competitiveness conference foes are used to encountering.
“When this team plays at Brian Lillis’ level, energy and enthusiasm-wise, it’s as good as any in this league,” Brown said. “When it doesn’t, it’s as bad as any in this league.”
With 4:09 remaining in last night’s game, Lillis was whistled for his fourth foul and started jogging to Albany’s bench. However, after pleading with Brown, Lillis stayed in the game.
“He’s a senior. He’s been through the battles,” Brown said. “I have a lot of confidence in him, but we came out of that timeout playing zone because I wanted to hide him. I didn’t want him to pick up that fifth foul.”
The protection of Lillis proved pivotal down the stretch, as the Terriers trimmed the lead to four twice within the final two minutes. Lillis made nine of his 15 foul shots in the game’s final two-plus minutes to secure the victory. In the first half, he was one of two players to go to the line for Albany.
“Not a lot of other people were shooting free throws, so I had the confidence [to make them down the stretch] because of the beginning of the game,” Lillis said.
Oddly enough, all of Lillis’ second-half points (13) came from the charity stripe.
“That’s the type of kid he is,” Brown said. “He made 15-of-16, but when we needed to inbound the ball, he looked right at me and said, ‘Coach, let me inbound the ball.’ I think that shows how unselfish he is. A lot of kids, if they’re in the groove and they’ve shot a lot of free throws, they want to get back to the line and get some more points.”
Defensively, nothing has changed for Lillis. He pestered Terrier shooters all night, and is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Albany’s lock-down defense in the opening six minutes helped the Great Danes settle into an offensive groove and build a 17-point advantage midway through the first half.
“Right at the beginning we wanted to be a defensive-minded team and have our defense key our offense,” Lillis said. “Our record’s under .500 right now because we let our offense affect our defense.”
When asked if he intended on becoming the best player in the league, Lillis pointed to a more fundamental goal.
“No, not at all,” he said. “Whatever it takes to win, that’s all we want to do. These veterans have experienced the NCAA Tournament, and that’s the most important thing, by far.”