South Carolina Upstate Spartans 87 at NJIT Highlanders 98 (NCAA Basketball, ASUN) - January 6, 2018

This year, the NJIT Highlanders opened a new wellness and events center, suitably named the NJIT Wellness and Events Center. It replaces the Fleisher Center, where I attended a historic game back in 2015 (it was the first NCAA game to use the 30-second shot clock, which is now standard). The new venue made NJIT the only school in the area that I had not seen the active hoops arena, so I had to get there sometime, and chose the coldest day of the winter to do so. As an aside, it is ridiculous how the 24-hour news cycle hypes winter storms like they never happened before. Yes it snowed a lot, and yes it is cold, but these are not new occurrences, and certainly not deserving of three-hour breaking news specials.



Anyway, the WEC is located right next to the Fleisher Center on NJIT's campus and easily walkable from Newark Penn Station, though on a day like today, the light rail was worth the $1.60 to save 20 minutes outside. Exiting at the Warren Street/NJIT stop, you will find the WEC right there, with the main entrance at the corner of Warren and Lock. Before entering, I took a brief walk around to snap some exterior shots. The building looks quite nice and dominates a significant portion of the city block, but much of the interior is still under construction. Eventually, it will contain a fitness center, indoor turf area, pool, and extra courts for intramural activities.



Returning to the main entrance, you will walk up a long hallway to get to the box office. The windows on the left look into a large room below which I expect will be a gym or something, but is now mostly empty.



Tickets here are $10 for the upper bowl, which is all you need. In fact, you might be able to get in for free. After purchasing my ticket, I went through the door into the gym, looking for someone to scan or tear the ticket. But there was nobody there. I could have just walked in! But that would have not allowed me to secure the hard ticket that matters so much, so I have no regrets.



The new court seats 3,500 and was built to compete with other mid-major basketball venues, which it does very nicely. I was quite impressed with the layout, but there is still some work to be done on the overall building.



There are reserved box seats lower down on both sides of the court, and each end zone has single seat benches without a back, along with a couple of rows of box seats, as you can see below. There is an upper section of metal benches on one side of the court, which is general admission. I was doing some phone reporting at this game, so sat there and had the entire area to myself.



The concourse is carpeted and encircles the entire seating bowl, though there is nothing to see. A small concession stand is in one corner, but I just saw chips and soda on offer.



The picture below is taken from near the top of the GA section on the far side of the court. As mentioned, it was very cold on this day, and the NFL playoffs were on, so paid attendance was only 618, without actual turnout about half that.



Overall, the WEC is an excellent facility that still needs a bit of work. As a sports venue, it also needs some improvements, particularly in concession variety. Still, if you are a stadium chaser, this one is worth the trip to Newark if you are in NYC during hoops season.

The Game

The Highlanders were opening their ASUN schedule with the South Carolina Upstate Spartans enjoying their visit to frigid New Jersey.



The Spartans got out to a 14-7 lead, but Shawndale Jones scored 8 straight for NJIT and then assisted on a three from Zach Cooks as the Highlanders took an 18-14 lead and never trailed after that. A late three from Jones made it 44-39 at the half, and when NJIT started the second stanza on a 9-2 run, the game was pretty much over. USC Upstate tried fouling a lot down the stretch, but Shyquan Gibbs made 6 consecutive free throws and Cooks added a pair late as NJIT won easily 98-87.



This was a fast-paced game with excellent shooting from both schools, with NJIT going 31-59 (52.5%) including 12-23 (52.2%) from beyond the arc. NJIT only committed 6 turnovers as well, and showed that the combination of protecting the ball and shooting well is hard to beat.

Notes

The Highlanders were independent until last season, when they joined the A-Sun, which has teams in the Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. The Spartans are actually leaving the conference for the Big South, no doubt caused by having to fly to New Jersey in January. They will be replaced by North Alabama, who are transitioning from Division II.

I was also hoping to see Division III Newark-Rutgers, who had a game two hours after this one completed. I had planned to go to McGovern's, an old Irish Pub near both schools, but it was closed for no obvious reason. I tried another nearby bar, which was also inexplicably closed, so with no place to grab a bite, I headed back home rather than hang out in Newark for two hours. Venue 770 will have to wait.

Best,

Sean

2018 Schedule

Tue, Jan 2	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Boston Bruins 5 at New York Islanders 1	11,878
Sat, Jan 6	NCAA Basketball, A-Sun	NJIT Wellness and Events Center, Newark, NJ	South Carolina Upstate Spartans 87 at NJIT Highlanders 98	618
Mon, Jan 8	NBA	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Toronto Raptors 114 at Brooklyn Nets 113 (OT)	13,681
Sat, Jan 13	NCAA Basketball, Division III	Hunter College Sportsplex, New York, NY	College of Staten Island Dolphins 89 at Hunter College Hawks 76	214
Thu, Jan 18	NCAA Basketball, NEC	Peter Aquilone Court, Brooklyn, NY	Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers 73 at St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers 81	385
Sat, Jan 27	NCAA Basketball, A-Sun	NJIT Wellness and Events Center, Newark, NJ	Lipscomb Bisons 86 at NJIT Highlanders 79 (OT)	662
Sat, Feb 3	NCAA Basketball, Ivy League	Jadwin Gymnasium, Princeton, NJ	Brown Bears 102 at Princeton Tigers 100 (OT)	2,163
Tue, Feb 6	NBA	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Houston Rockets 123 at Brooklyn Nets 113	15,064
Tue, Feb 13	New York Open	Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY	Results	~300
Mon, Feb 19	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Minnesota Wild 5 at New York Islanders 3	15,342
Sat, Feb 24	NCAA Basketball, CAA	Daskalakis Athletic Center, Philadelphia, PA	UNC Wilmington Seahawks 83 at Drexel Dragons 82	1,094
Sat, Feb 24	NCAA Basketball, Ivy League	The Palestra, Philadelphia, PA	Harvard Crimson 71 at Penn Quakers 74	6,586
Thu, Mar 1	NCAA Basketball, Big Ten Tournament	Madison Square Garden, New York, NY	Iowa Hawkeyes 71 vs Michigan Wolverines 77 (OT)	13,815
Sat, Mar 3	NCAA Basketball, NEC Tournament, Semifinal	Steinberg Wellness Center, Brooklyn, NY	Fairleigh Dickinson Knights 77 at LIU Brooklyn Blackbirds 78	1,212
Tue, Mar 6	NHL	Madison Square Garden, New York, NY	Winnipeg Jets 3 at New York Rangers 0	18,006
Sun, Mar 11	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	LA Galaxy 1 at NYCFC 2	26,221
Thu, Mar 15	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Washington Capitals 7 at New York Islanders 3	10,740
Sat, Mar 17	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Orlando City FC 0 at NYCFC 2	18,584
Sun, Mar 18	NBA G League	Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY	Greensboro Swarm 96 at Long Island Nets 123	2,644
Thu, Mar 22	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Tampa Bay Lightning 7 at New York Islanders 6	10,354
Sat, Mar 24	AHL	Place Bell, Laval, QC	Charlotte Checkers 5 at Laval Rocket 3	6,757
Sat, Mar 24	NHL	Bell Centre, Montreal, QC	Washington Capitals 6 at Montreal Canadiens 4	21,302
Mon, Mar 26	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Florida Panthers 3 at New York Islanders 0	10,951
Fri, Mar 30	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Toronto Maple Leafs 5 at New York Islanders 4	13,018
Wed, Apr 4	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Philadelphia Phillies 2 at New York Mets 4	21,328
Thu, Apr 5	NHL	Prudential Center, Newark, NJ	Toronto Maple Leafs 1 at New Jersey Devils 2	16,514
Wed, Apr 11	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Real Salt Lake 0 at NYCFC 4	18,603
Fri, Apr 13	OHL Playoffs, Round 2, Game 6	K-Rock Centre, Kingston, ON	Barrie Colts 1 at Kingston Frontenacs 2	5,132
Sat, Apr 14	AHL	Yardmen Arena, Belleville, ON	Utica Comets 1 at Belleville Senators 3	3,502
Tue, Apr 17	American League	Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON	Kansas City Royals 3 at Toronto Blue Jays 11	18,645
Tue, Apr 17	CONCACAF Champions League, Final, First Leg	BMO Field, Toronto, ON	Chivas Guadalajara 2 at Toronto FC 1	29,925
Sun, Apr 22	American League	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Toronto Blue Jays 1 at New York Yankees 5	43,628
Thu, Apr 26	American League	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Minnesota Twins 3 at New York Yankees 4	40,758
Sun, Apr 29	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	FC Dallas 1 at NYCFC 3	22,115
Tue, May 1	American League	Target Field, Minneapolis, MN	Toronto Blue Jays 7 at Minnesota Twins 4 (10)	16,245
Wed, May 2	American League	Target Field, Minneapolis, MN	Toronto Blue Jays 0 at Minnesota Twins 4	16,420
Thu, May 3	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Atlanta Braves 11 at New York Mets 0	26,882
Sun, May 6	Eastern League	NYSEG Stadium, Binghamton, NY	New Hampshire Fisher Cats at Binghamton Rumble Ponies	ppd.
Mon, May 7	International League	NBT Bank Stadium, Syracuse, NY	Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders 8 at Syracuse Chiefs 3	2,043
Tue, May 8	AHL Playoffs, Round 2, Game 4	Oncenter War Memorial Arena, Syracuse, NY	Toronto Marlies 2 at Syracuse Crunch 1	4,369
Tue, May 15	MLB Interleague	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Toronto Blue Jays 2 at New York Mets 12	28,967
Wed, May 16	MLB Interleague	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Toronto Blue Jays 12 at New York Mets 1	28,400
Sat, May 19	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Colorado Rapids 0 at NYCFC 4	21,494
Wed, May 23	South Atlantic League, Game 1	SRP Park, North Augusta, SC	Charleston RiverDogs 0 at Augusta GreenJackets 4
Wed, May 23	South Atlantic League, Game 2	SRP Park, North Augusta, SC	Charleston RiverDogs 3 at Augusta GreenJackets 2	2,895
Fri, May 25	International League	BB&T Ballpark, Charlotte, NC	Indianapolis Indians 1 at Charlotte Knights 2	8,762
Wed, May 30	MLB Interleague	Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD	Washington Nationals 2 at Baltimore Orioles 0	20,370
Thu, May 31	Carolina League	Frawley Stadium, Wilmington, DE	Frederick Keys 5 at Wilmington Blue Rocks 2	3,111
Wed, Jun 6	MLB Interleague	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Baltimore Orioles 1 at New York Mets 0	30,366
Sat, Jun 9	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Atlanta United 1 at NYCFC 1	25,628
Thu, Jun 14	AHL Playoffs, Calder Cup Championship, Game 7	Ricoh Coliseum, Toronto, ON	Texas Stars 1 at Toronto Marlies 6	8,818
Thu, Jun 21	American League	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Seattle Mariners 3 at New York Yankees 4	46,658
Sun, Jun 24	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Toronto FC 1 at NYCFC 2	23,930
Thu, Jun 28	CFL	McMahon Stadium, Calgary, AB	Ottawa Redblacks 14 at Calgary Stampeders 24	23,454
Fri, Jun 29	CFL	Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, AB	BC Lions 22 at Edmonton Eskimos 41	29,940
Tue, Jul 3	MLB Interleague	Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON	New York Mets 6 at Toronto Blue Jays 8	24,010
Wed, Jul 4	MLB Interleague	Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON	New York Mets 6 at Toronto Blue Jays 3	26,038
Mon, Jul 9	National League, Game 1	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Philadelphia Phillies 3 at New York Mets 4 (10)	24,139
Sat, Jul 14	Formula E	Brooklyn Street Track, Brooklyn, NY	New York City E-Prix	~20,000
Mon, Jul 23	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	San Diego Padres 3 at New York Mets 2	21,731
Tue, Jul 24	National League	Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL	Arizona Diamondbacks 5 at Chicago Cubs 1	40,869
Fri, Jul 27	American League	Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, IL	Toronto Blue Jays 10 at Chicago White Sox 5	20,524
Sat, Jul 28	American League	Guaranteed Rate Field, Chicago, IL	Toronto Blue Jays 5 at Chicago White Sox 9	29,442
Sun, Aug 5	New York-Penn League	Dutchess Stadium, Wappinger Falls, NY	Brooklyn Cyclones 5 at Hudson Valley Renegades 6	3,770
Wed, Aug 8	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Cincinnati Reds 0 at New York Mets 8	24,287
Thu, Aug 9	New York-Penn League	Richmond County Bank Stadium, Staten Island, NY	Lowell Spinners 5 at Staten Island Yankees 2 (10)	4,243
Fri, Aug 17	National League	Nationals Park, Washington, DC	Miami Marlins 2 at Washington Nationals 8	37,106
Sun, Aug 19	MLS	Audi Field, Washington, DC	New England Revolution 0 at DC United 2	20,198
Thu, Aug 23	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	San Francisco Giants 3 at New York Mets 1	25,584
Mon, Aug 27	American League	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	Chicago White Sox 6 at New York Yankees 2	41,456
Thu, Aug 30	US Open	Billie Jean King Tennis Center, New York, NY	Vondrosouva def. Bouchard, Nishikori def. Monfils	~60,000
Fri, Aug 31	US Open	Billie Jean King Tennis Center, New York, NY	Babos/Mladenovic def. Gibbs/Santamaria, Anderson def. Shapovalov	~50,000
Tue, Sep 4	US Open Quarterfinals	Billie Jean King Tennis Center, New York, NY	Sevastova def. Stephens, Del Potro def. Isner	~40,000
Thu, Sep 6	US Open Men's Doubles Semifinals	Billie Jean King Tennis Center, New York, NY	Kubot/Melo def. Albot/Jaziri, Bryan/Sock def. Cabal/Farah	~2,000
Sat, Sep 8	MLS	Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY	DC United 1 at NYCFC 1	28,239
Sun, Sep 9	NFL	MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ	Jacksonville Jaguars 20 at New York Giants 15	77,992
Wed, Sep 12	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Miami Marlins 0 at New York Mets 13	20,423
Sun, Sep 16	NCAA Soccer	Pier 5, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Brooklyn, NY	Howard Bison 1 at St. Francis Brooklyn Terriers 3	426
Mon, Sep 17	NFL	Soldier Field, Chicago, IL	Seattle Seahawks 17 at Chicago Bears 24	61,735
Sun, Sep 23	Atlantic League, Liberty Division Championship, Game 5	TD Bank Ballpark, Bridgewater, NJ	Long Island Ducks 3 at Somerset Patriots 2 (10)	3,862
Thu, Sep 27	National League	Citi Field, Queens, NY	Atlanta Braves 1 at New York Mets 4	24,824
Sun, Sep 30	NFL	Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN	Houston Texans 37 at Indianapolis Colts 34 (OT)	57,716
Sat, Oct 6	AHL	Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY	Charlotte Checkers 4 at Rochester Americans 2	3,076
Sun, Oct 7	NFL	New Era Field, Orchard Park, NY	Tennessee Titans 12 at Buffalo Bills 13	68,202
Sun, Oct 14	NFL	Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, OH	Pittsburgh Steelers 28 at Cincinnati Bengals 21	60,594
Sun, Oct 21	J2 League	NHK Spring Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama, Japan	Omiya Ardija 1 at Yokohama FC 1	9,680
Mon, Oct 29	V.League	Ota City General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan	JT Thunders 2 at Suntory Sunbirds 3	3,000
Sat, Oct 27	Bledisloe Cup	Nissan Stadium, Yokohama, Japan	Australia 20 vs New Zealand 37	46,143
Sun, Oct 28	B.League	Aoyama Gakuin University Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan	Yokohama B-Corsairs 73 at Sun Rockers Shibuya 77	2,277
Sat, Nov 3	B.League	Funabashi Arena, Funabashi, Japan	Sun Rockers Shibuya 83 at Chiba Jets 85 (OT)	4,831
Mon, Nov 5	JRA Horse Racing	Funabashi Race Track, Funabashi, Japan	Results	~2,000
Thu, Nov 8	NYRA Horse Racing	Aqueduct, Queens, NY	Results	~1,500
Sat, Nov 10	NCAA Soccer, Ivy League	Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium, New York, NY	Cornell Big Red 2 at Columbia Lions 1 (OT)	633
Mon, Nov 12	NHL	Madison Square Garden, New York, NY	Vancouver Canucks 1 at New York Rangers 2	17,100
Sat, Nov 17	NCAA Water Polo, MAWPC Tournament	Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center, Bronx, NY	Bucknell Bison 12 at Fordham Rams 11	~300
Sun, Nov 18	NFL	MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ	Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35 at New York Giants 38	75,863
Wed, Nov 21	NCAA Basketball, Barclays Center Classic	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	St. Louis Billikens 73 vs Pittsburgh Panthers 75	355
Fri, Nov 23	NCAA Basketball, NIT Season Tip-Off	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Louisville Cardinals 75 vs Marquette Golden Eagles 78 (OT)
Fri, Nov 23	NCAA Basketball, NIT Season Tip-Off	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Tennessee Volunteers 81 vs Kansas Jayhawks 87 (OT)	5,491
Mon, Nov 26	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Washington Capitals 4 at New York Islanders 1	9,072
Sat, Dec 1	NCAA Basketball	Christl Arena, West Point, NY	Fairfield Stags 60 at Army Black Knights 63	723
Sat, Dec 1	NCAA Hockey, AHA	Tate Rink, West Point, NY	Canisius Golden Griffins 4 at Army Black Knights 2	2,053
Tue, Dec 4	NHL	KeyBank Center, Buffalo, NY	Toronto Maple Leafs 4 at Buffalo Sabres 3 (OT)	19,070
Sat, Dec 8	AHL	Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, IA	Grand Rapids Griffins 2 at Iowa Wild 5	7,025
Sun, Dec 9	NCAA Women's Basketball	Hilton Coliseum, Ames, IA	North Dakota Fighting Hawks 35 at Iowa State Cyclones 87	9,701
Wed, Dec 12	NHL	Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY	Vegas Golden Knights 3 at New York Islanders 2	9,182
Thu, Dec 13	NCAA Basketball	Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO	UW Milwaukee Panthers 69 at UMKC Kangaroos 66	987
Sat, Dec 15	NCAA Basketball	Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, KS	Villanova Wildcats 71 at Kansas Jayhawks 74	16,300
Sat, Dec 15	NCAA Basketball	Bramlage Coliseum, Manhattan, KS	Georgia State Panthers 59 at Kansas State Wildcats 71	9,563
Sat, Dec 22	NCAA Basketball	Madison Square Garden, New York, NY	Villanova Wildcats 81 vs Connecticut Huskies 58	16,027
Sun, Dec 23	NFL	MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ	Green Bay Packers 44 at New York Jets 38 (OT)	77,982
Tue, Dec 25	NBA	Madison Square Garden, New York, NY	Milwaukee Bucks 109 at New York Knicks 95	19,812
Sat, Dec 29	NHL	Prudential Center, Newark, NJ	Carolina Hurricanes 0 at New Jersey Devils 2	16,514