Men’s Basketball Competes in Annual Purple & Gold Scrimmage

By Gabriel Kitt | October 20, 2025

Men’s basketball warming up for the scrimmage on Saturday.

Photo Credit: Gabriel Kitt | The ASP

On Saturday, the University at Albany Men’s Basketball team played their annual purple and gold scrimmage. This scrimmage serves as the first public game the team participates in each season, and is a chance for fans to take a sneak peek at the roster for the upcoming season. 

The group split into two teams that faced off in two 15-minute halves, followed by situational simulations.

The Purple team started out hot, with a 4-0 lead, but following that Gold team went on a 11-4 run which led the purple squad to call a timeout. 

The entire first half was a back and forth affair with lots of fast-paced basketball, and neither team holding a lead of larger than five points.

The highlight of the first half was a buzzer-beater three pointer by Fordham transfer Will Richardson from deep to give the Purple team a lead of 24-21 at the half. 

The Purple team came out of the half on a 9-4 run to take an eight point lead, which was their largest lead of the night. With five minutes left in the game the purple team had a 49-44 lead. However, this is when the game turned as the Gold team went on 14-1 run led by Northern Illinois transfer Nas Muhammand who made a pair of three-point shots in this stretch. 

The Gold team was leading 58-50 with eleven seconds left. However, head coach Dwayne Killings called the competitive action game and began doing situation work with both squads.

Turnovers were a recurring issue for both teams, with the Great Danes still working through growing pains as they adjusted to the offense in a game situation.

Although this was just an intersquad scrimmage, several Great Dane newcomers impressed. Richardson did a commendable job running the offense for the Purple team and Mohamed and JUCO transfer Jaden Kempson led the way scoring. On defense, FIU transfer Okechukwu Okeke made several blocks and was a presence at the rim. 

The Great Danes first official game of the season is on Monday, November 3rd when they travel to Milwaukee to play the Marquette Golden Eagles at 8pm. Their home opener is scheduled for November 11th, when they face the SUNY Delhi Broncos.