Arena #144: Moody Coliseum - Abilene Christian vs. Pepperdine

After the afternoon matinee at Incarnate Word, it was off for a 4 hour trip northwest to Abilene Christian for an evening matchup between the Abilene Christian Wildcats and the Pepperdine Waves from Malibu, CA.  Arena #144, Moody Coliseum (not to be confused with Moody Coliseum at Southern Methodist in Dallas), was a solid place to watch a game from.  I personally love arenas like this that are almost perfectly circular in nature to where every seat points towards the court.  This place reminded me a lot of the State Farm Center in Champaign, IL or Mackey Arena in West Lafayette, IN , just on a bit smaller basis with a lot less fans in attendance.  Abilene Christian is the defending Southland Conference champions so it was a bit disappointing not to see a bigger crowd at the game, especially when the whole seating bowl is general admission and tickets are only $8 for adults!  Pepperdine plays in the West Coast Conference (WCC) with Gonzaga so I’m pretty familiar with them and know they have expectations to be a mid-level contender in the conference this season.  I was definitely impressed with parts of their play (offense was strong most of the time with solid outside shooting), but it’s clear they’re not likely to be consistent enough to compete with the top 3 of the WCC yet.  On this evening, however, they were extremely competitive with the Wildcats with both teams trading the lead and going shot for shot deep into the second half.  Ultimately, the Waves got a couple key stops at the end to pull out a 4 point road win in this one.

Inside Moody Coliseum in Abilene, TX

Opening tip between the Wildcats and the Waves

Abilene Christian pulling up for 3

Tough battle for a rebound in the closing seconds of the contest