Arena #140: SIU Arena - Southern Illinois vs. Illinois St.

For the final road trip of the 2018-19 season, it was time to make a visit to the penultimate arena I had yet to check out in the state of Illinois, SIU Arena in Carbondale, IL.  On this day, the host Southern Illinois Salukis were taking on their upstate conference rival Illinois St.  SIU Arena is a pretty impressive facility for a school in the Missouri Valley Conference.  The arena is well designed and right-sized building given the fanbase and the location.  I always appreciate when arenas are laid out to where there’s really no bad seat in the building and I would say SIU Arena is one of those places.  Plus it’s always fun to be at a game on senior day, even if you have no real connection to the school or the players as there’s some added energy in the building on those days.  I wasn’t sure what to expect from the matchup, but it turned out to be a pretty competitive game throughout until the Salukis ultimately pulled away at the end to send the senior day crowd home happy.

Exterior of the SIU Arena in Carbondale, IL

Inside the seating bowl of the arena

Opening tip between the Salukis and the Redbirds

Illinois St. with a 3-point attempt during the second half

Arena #108: Western Hall - Western Illinois vs. South Dakota St.

After a couple hours on the backroads of Illinois to get from Edwardsville to Macomb, we arrived at Western Hall for a Summit League matchup between the Leathernecks and the Jackrabbits from South Dakota St.  Western Hall is definitely not one of the nicer or newer arenas I've been to on this journey so far, but it's sized right for the fanbase and one has to remember that Western Illinois hasn't really been good in basketball in recent times.  SDSU brought the clear best team in the league to Macomb, including reigning Summit League POY Mike Daum and it was obvious from the start of the contest that the Leathernecks were simply outmatched in this contest though it was a pleasure to watch how hard, yet effortlessly Daum competed throughout the game.

Main entrance to Western Hall - could use a few more lights in the evening...

Seating area of Western Hall

Opening tip between the Jackrabbits and Leathernecks

Mike Daum (#24) closing out the first half with a bucket

Arena #107: Vadalabene Center - SIU-Edwardsville vs. UT-Martin

Decent weather on a mid-January weekend where 2 teams in southern and western Illinois had home games means you take advantage of the opportunity to check both off the list.  The Vadalabene Center on the campus of fairly new to DI SIU-Edwardsville, was also fairly new and a good size for a school and fanbase up and coming in DI.  The crowd wasn't big, but the Cougars were on fire early and often from 3 in the contest leading to lots of "3 for the E" calls from the announcer...

Outside of the Vadalabene Center, including a rather interesting sculpture

Opening tip between the Cougars and Skyhawks

One of the plentiful 3 point attempts for SIUE in the first half

Final chance for SIUE to win the game (the shot did not go in)