With another weekend free, I decided to stay in the northeast and knock a couple more NCAA hoops venues off the list. The first of these was the Thomas M. Ryan Center, home of the Rhode Island Rams. The campus is located in Kingston, Rhode Island and I made the trek from Hartford, taking CT-2 and then 138, a quiet drive through some small towns with 25 MPH speed limits. Even then, I arrived over an hour before tip and found the free lot off Plains Road nearly empty. I parked close to the venue, which was a mistake in hindsight.
The unique features here are the three corner towers that resemble lighthouses. The fourth corner is where the structure adjoins the physical education complex. You can see the large white awning above, that is where you enter, but the ticket office is in the tower to the right. When I arrived, they had a sign that said the lowest price was $50, but when I asked about that, I was told it was $20. Still a bit much, but the Rams are part of the Atlantic 10, which considers itself a power conference in basketball.
This is the tower to the left, which also has ticket windows, but they are not used. That is the Bowen Tower; the one across the way is the Coke Tower, while the third is simply the South Tower. I guess they need someone else to pony up for the right to have the tower named after them.
Outside the Bowen Tower I saw what looked to be an ancient plaque, but it is for Lincoln Almond, who was URI's first governor of the state from 1995-2003. Bronze always looks older than it is.
Just a few steps away is Meade Stadium, where the football team plays. It was open as well, and I stepped in to take a quick picture.
Doors to the north lobby are open but you must stay there until one hour before start time. I never understand why they don't just let people in to start buying concessions. The crowd was elderly and I'm sure they would have appreciated being able to sit in the comfortable seats a bit sooner.
The lobby does have a display that mentions donors and other sponsors, as well as the most recent Hall of Fame inductees (below) and a few other classes. This keeps you busy for about two minutes, before you have to wait again. I guess I should have showed up just a few minutes later.
Anyway, the gates opened promptly at 1:00 and in I went. The first thing I did was take a picture of the north lobby (below). You can see other Hall of Fame classes scattered around.
These can be found throughout the venue, with some honourees failing to provide a picture, which is something I haven't seen before.
I then proceeded to walk around the concourse, surprised by the carpeted floor. This is a very comfortable place indeed.
At each end is a Rhody Pub, a small area where you can drink bottled beer for $8 a wobbly pop. You cannot bring it out of these areas, so I didn't find this very appealing. The view from the end zone is quite good, with the sole scoreboard in the corner in the distance.
Just to the left of this scoreboard are the trophies earned by the Rams and their players over the past few years. The team made the tournament in 2017 as the 11-seed in the Midwest, where they upset Creighton before losing to Oregon, and 2018 as the 7-seed, again in the Midwest, beating Oklahoma before falling to Duke.
These are not their only appearances, others are noted in banners in the rafters. In 1998, they made the Elite 8 as an 8-seed, beating top seed Kansas along the way.
Enough about history, let's look at the seating bowl. The seats along the sides are padded and seemed quite nice, but of course, I did not have a ticket there.
Above, you can see that there is not much difference between the two bowls, as the suites are at the top of the building.
By comparing the shot above and below, you can see that there is not much difference between the top rows of the lower bowl and those seats at the front of the upper deck.
The shot below is from the top row behind the net. I doubt anyone ever sits here unless it is sold out.
One thing I really liked about this place was the corner seats that face the court directly. There is a substantial difference between arena that are built specifically for basketball and those that also host hockey, with the former being much preferred for proximity to the court.
There is general admission behind the net that would normally be filled by students, but as it is the holiday season, there weren't many there. Still, over 5,000 were on hand, and they were well entertained.
The Rams are part of the Atlantic 10, along with two other Rams teams, which I detailed in a post after attending their soccer tournament. As is customary in the NCAA, the other schools have banners on display somewhere in the building.
A couple of other things to note: a free, somewhat secure, charging station, which should be adopted by every arena out there.
As well, you can see the football stadium from inside Ryan Center, I can't imagine they would hold a doubleheader here due to parking, but it would be fun to watch two games at once from the same venue.
Overall, I was really impressed with Ryan Center with one exception - the postgame parking lot. It took about 15 minutes to get out as all cars go to Plains Road, which is single lane both directions. There was nobody directing traffic, not that it would have helped because the design of the parking lot is rather odd. I had to get to Hartford, but the traffic on Plains Road looked bad, so I went in the opposite direction and Google Maps took me through the very dark back roads, which was a lot of fun. In the end, I reached Hartford by 6, plenty of time to see the Wolf Pack. If you get to Ryan Center early, try to park near the exit and run to your car after the game if you have to get somewhere.
The Game
After seeing Kentucky, Northern Kentucky, and Eastern Kentucky last weekend, I got a chance to see Western Kentucky this weekend. The first half was fast-paced with several lead changes, but Rhode Island took a 36-30 lead late, only for the Hilltoppers to get a couple of free throws and then have Carson Williams drain a three at the buzzer to make it 36-35 at the break.
The Rams led throughout the second half, but couldn't find that extra gear to put away the Hilltoppers. Down 70-61 with 4:47 left, WKU went on an 8-0 run and I could sense overtime coming. When Rhody's Fatts Russell made a basket to make it 74-71 with just 21 seconds left, it looked good, but after WKU missed two three-pointers, the ball came to Williams, who again drained a buzzer three, stunning the crowd. Of course we would have overtime when I had another game to get to.
Tied at 79 midway through the extra period, the Hilltoppers allowed a layup to Cyril Langevine and then missed a three and turned it over twice over their next three possessions. With under 30 seconds left and still down a pair, they were forced to foul. Jeff Dowtin made his first but missed the second and it looked like a repeat of the last-second three was possible. But Russell came away with the offensive board and was immediately fouled. He sank both and although WKU drained a three to get back within 2, Russell was again fouled and again drained both freebies to make the final 86-82.
A great game that was well officiated, with only 33 fouls in the 45 minutes. The big difference was in offensive rebounding as Rhody grabbed 21 of their misses, leading to a 19-11 advantage in second-chance points.
Notes
This game was featured on SportsCenter's "Bad Bets" segment on Monday night as the total points in the first half was 70.5 while the total points was 150. Those last second treys by Williams left a lot of gamblers pretty upset. But if you are betting the over/under on this game, you probably need to reconsider your life choices.
Best,
Sean
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