Aronhalt fights through injuries

   Expectations were high for freshman Logan Aronhalt last season following a senior year at Zanesville High School in Zanesville, Ohio, where Aronhalt earned player of the year honors.
   Then he suffered a series of foot injuries.
   After two surgeries and a year of not being able to play basketball Aronhalt now finds himself in the starting lineup and is earning more honors at the collegiate level being named America East Conference Rookie of the Week on Jan. 18. During his rookie-of-the-week performance Aronhalt averaged 12.5 points and shot 52.9 percent while UAlbany picked up a conference win over UMBC.
   “It was an exciting feeling because it was our first league win,” said the redshirt freshman. “Our team got it together a little bit and got our first win. Coming off a rough year last year I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to run. I think it’s shown how far I’ve come as a player.”
   Aronhalt, who comes from the same high school as Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Martin, said he chose UAlbany because he liked Head Coach Will Brown’s mentality.
   “I think Coach Brown represents someone who brought a program to the table that is very similar to what I was used to in high school,” he said. “He’s very structured, someone who cares a lot about academics and wants us to do the right thing. And I like the Albany campus, the Albany area. It’s very nice.”
   Aronhalt had grown up with basketball around him at all times as his father is the coach for the Zanesville Blue Devils. He said he thought about giving up the sport in middle school, but decided to drop all other sports and focus on basketball.
   “It was really big in our town,” he said. “When I was five-years-old our high school team won the state championship. I remember the whole town celebrated. We had a parade, celebrations and parties for a couple of weeks. Everybody still talks about it. Our basketball program was very successful, so it was just the thing to do.”
Coach Brown said he believes Aronhalt isn’t playing at full power right now because of the multiple surgeries and a screw placed in his foot as a result of the surgeries.
   “He’s had two surgeries. He’s been out for over a year,” Brown said. “He was cleared Oct. 1 to jog for the first time in over a year, so the fact that he’s averaging double figures for us as a freshman [when] he’s probably at about 60 percent right now says a lot about the kid.
   “You’ll see a totally different player next year because he needs the spring and summer. He can’t condition right now, can’t do any extra running, can’t do any extra agility work because we’re worried about that screw popping.”
   Coach Brown believes that Aronhalt is a great fit for the Great Danes.
   “He loves the game. You can’t give me enough kids that love the game,” Brown said. “He’ll be in the gym all day. I have to kick him out of the gym. I think he’s a great kid. That’s a great combination – a gym rat who’s a great kid. I can’t get enough of those guys. And he’s a great student too. He’s in the honors college here. He’s got a lot of positives.
   Aronhalt, who switched his major from business to biology because he wishes to be a strength and conditioning coach, said that “basketball is pretty much it.” He also said that health is very important to him.
  “I’m an amateur chef. I like to cook my own food,” he said. “I’m very into health since I’m trying to be a strength and conditioning coach, so I like to watch what I eat and try to live an active lifestyle. Anything active is fun for me.”
   Looking forward Aronhalt believes that the team needs to improve this year and that will help leading into next season.
“We definitely need to win some games. We have to turn this season around,” Aronhalt said. “Personally, I want to get better as a player. I came of a tough year last year. I played two minutes in one game. I’m still trying to get back to where I was.
“For the team, we just have to get better with every game. A lot of these guys will be back next year. We just have to get better. The goal for next year is to definitely make the NCAA tournament. I think we can. We have the talent.”