Arena #146: Strahan Arena: Texas St. vs. Jackson St.

For our fifth game in four days, we headed back north from the gulf shores to San Marcos, TX, the home of Texas St. University, for a visit to Arena #146, Strahan Arena.  Strahan Arena looks like a relatively new facility and is built to a size that seems appropriate for a school with as little of a recent basketball pedigree as Texas St.  On this night, however, the arena was much too large given the sparse attendance for the matchup between Texas St. and Jackson St.  Thankfully, at least, the band was out in full force to create a little atmosphere in the gym along with the cheer team.  I came into this game fully expecting this to be the least competitive game of the trip and it was, but it was still more competitive than I expected.  Jackson St. was obviously overmatched and there first and foremost to collect their paycheck like most SWAC teams have to do in the non-conference portion of their schedules, but they played hard throughout and were at least within shouting distance well into the second half.  In the end, Texas St. was too much and won by 15 in front of the hundreds in attendance this Monday evening.

Strahan Arena is quite impressive from the outside

Cheer team leading the players out with the TXST flags

Opening tip between Texas St. and Jackson St.

Jackson St. rising up for the jumper

Arena #131: Dedmon Center - Radford vs. Georgia Southern

A new day brought us back to the state of Virginia, but this time to Radford, VA for a solid low-major non-conference matchup between the Radford Highlanders and the Georgia Southern Eagles.  There was some excitement for this game as Radford had upset the Texas Longhorns down in Austin just a couple weeks prior and was coming off a Big South tournament title and NCAA appearance the prior year.  The Dedmon Center on the Radford campus is a bit of a multi-purpose facility as all the stands appeared to be temporary and there was a bunch of dead space behind the stands on each baseline that probably housed an indoor track setup at one time.  I did find the giant inflatable highlander in the corner of the court to be a nice touch though 😊.  As for the on-court action, the game was as competitive as I hoped for throughout the contest.  Both teams were fairly evenly matched, through Radford did have the clear best player on the court in Ed Polite, Jr., even if he didn’t have his best game on this night.  In the end, the Highlanders were able to pull away and defend their home court against the Eagles from Statesboro, GA.

Entrance to the Dedmon Center - interesting almost octagonal shape to the facility 

Inside the Dedmon Center - temporary bleachers set up on all sides of the court allowing the building to be multi-purpose

Opening tip between the Highlanders and Eagles

A giant inflatable Highlander overlooking play on the court

Arena #130: Holmes Convocation Center - Appalachian St. vs. Milligan

To complete the doubleheader for the day, we drove back to North Carolina and up through the Appalachians to Appalachian St. University for a matchup with NAIA school Milligan College.  I guess from the name of the school, I should have expected it might be a little cold outside at Appalachian St., but I certainly didn’t expect sub 40 degree temperatures on a cold, rainy night in Boone, NC.  Plus the half mile walk up and down a few hundred feet from the parking lot to the arena certainly didn’t help the enjoyment factor either  Given the weather and the fact this game was played a few days before the Christmas holiday with no students on campus, the attendance for this matchup was quite sparse creating very little atmosphere for this contest.  Even as a severely outmatched team, Milligan managed to keep the game close and relatively exciting up until halftime.  After the break, the Mountaineers imposed their will on both ends of the court scoring nearly 60 points after the break in a dominant half of basketball!

Sparse crowd on hand in the mountains of Boone, NC for this pre-holiday contest

"APP" flags leading the players out onto the court

Opening tip of the matchup between Appalachian St. and Milligan

App St. with a second half throwdown!

Arena #103: Trojan Arena - Troy vs. Georgia Southern

Third game in a third state in three days brought us to Troy, AL for a Sun Belt conference opener between the Troy Trojans and the Georgia Southern Eagles.  Troy, AL isn't exactly a large town, but the campus of the university is pretty impressive.  It's obvious that it's definitely not cheap to be a student here when you see all the buildings on campus, including the Trojan Arena.  What a perfect sized arena for a mid-major team (capacity was around 5,000) and even though it wasn't nearly full on this evening, it didn't feel barren either like many games we end up at during the week after Christmas.

Impressive southern architecture - wouldn't even know it was a sports arena

Top of the bowl of the arena...can't imagine there's a bad seat in this house

Trojan mascot on the paneling in the concourse of the arena 

Trojans protecting the rim in the second half