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There is a huge buzz on campus, in the locker rooms and on the America East message boards for what is expected to be an emotional, intense, hard-fought match Wednesday night between Binghamton University and SUNY Albany at the Events Center.

But it’s more than the SUNY rivalry. It’s more than Binghamton’s Senior Night. And it even goes further than two teams battling for conference tournament seeding.

Will Brown’s post-game comments after Binghamton’s 71-57 victory over Albany in the teams’ first meeting back in January are ones that have not been forgotten.

“It’s a slap in the face and I’ll never forget it,” said Binghamton head coach Kevin Broadus. “It bothered me and has been bothering me. It was unprofessional. We don’t do that in the coaching fraternity. I don’t know the guy, but you don’t do that. It’s classless.”

In Brown’s opening statement after the game, he said, “I thought coming into this game Binghamton was very talented. Like I said earlier, I think Al [Walker] left the cupboard full with some of those guys. They have good experienced players. I’m an Al Walker guy. I thought he did a good job.”

Brown then turned the attention from the former Binghamton coach to the current players.

“We let a good player in Gordon get in a rhythm. It’s probably a career night for him shooting,” Brown said. “I don’t think he’s ever shot that well. If you look at his percentages, that’ll prove it.”

Gordon went off for a career and school record-tying 32 points as well as setting a school record for eight 3-pointers. Brown also had something to say about Reggie Fuller, who made his impact on the game scoring six points while grabbing six rebounds and adding four assists and three blocks.

“We’re playing against Reggie Fuller, not Dikembe Mutombo,” Brown said. “I mean, come on. Fuller’s a decent player at this level. He had six points and three blocks. We’re pump-faking and hesitating like we’re trying to score over Mutombo. It’s not a knock on Fuller. He’s a solid player. But why not go right through the guy. Pump-fake, go right through him. We were soft. I’ve got no problems saying it. We were soft.”

“You just don’t do those things. I would never talk negative about Albany,” Broadus said. “The way we are going to do things is with class. The guys play with class and play hard. That’s the way we are going to build things. I’ll never forget this as long as I’m a coach because you just don’t do that in the coaching fraternity like that.”

“One thing I’ll do is protect my players and as long as they are in the right, I’ll protect them,” Broadus added. “And I will address it when I see the guy.”

But while the battle of words will continue prior to, during and probably after the game, these teams will be playing for more than just bragging rights. An America East conference seed is also at stake. Both teams have an 8-6 conference record and sit tied in third place with Vermont and Boston. And while Binghamton plays Stony Brook in their season finale, Albany takes on Boston.

“I know how important this game is,” Broadus said. “It’s important for standings in the tournament. My thing is I just want to win this game and go into this tourney as a higher seed. We are battling for third and the winner has the inside track. We have to help ourselves.”

It’s been a weird season for an Albany team that has beaten Vermont twice and Hartford once, but also lost to New Hampshire and Maine.

Albany is led by senior Brian Lillis, who is averaging 16.0 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 3.6 apg. Lillis scored 25 points on 8-for-16 shooting adding 11 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals in the loss to the Bearcats. But it was Albany’s role players, such as Brian Connelly and Brent Wilson that struggled against the Bearcats in January, that could be the difference along with Binghamton’s role players.

The Bearcats’ home crowd will also be a huge factor in the game as Broadus is expecting and hoping all of the students will be there.

“I want everyone to be out in their green and white and cheer these guys on,” Broadus said. “These guys will be hyped up. And I will be hyped up. I may be even more sky high than the players. The guy [Brown] put something in my system that will not go away.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m., Wednesday at the Events Center.