After watching the worst team in college basketball, it was time to head north to see the 23rd-worst team in college basketball, at least according to the KenPom rankings. In this case however, it was the visiting team who were the offending squad, as the Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis Jaguars came in with a conference record of 2-13. The school goes by the abbreviation IUPUI, with the PU part quite accurate, as this team stinks. Their opponents were the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames in a game that matched two Horizon League acronyms.
The Flames play at Credit Union 1 Arena, which was until recently the UIC Pavilion before the naming rights were sold. The stadium is located on the southeast corner of Racine and Congress Parkway, just south of l-290. It opened in 1982 and has a capacity of 9,500. With the Chicago State game finishing at 1:45, I had plenty of time to take the Red Line back downtown and switch to the Blue Line for a short trip west to Racine. But the Chicago Transit Authority had taken a page from my friends at NYC's MTA and was running trains at very long intervals. When I just missed the connection at Jackson, the next Blue Line train wasn't for 20 minutes. I considered other options but even a rideshare or taxi would only save a few minutes, so I walked one station further to calm down and eventually got to Racine at 2:55, still in time for the 3:12 tip. If the start time was set for 3 sharp, I would have been late and possibly missed the chance for the true tripleheader, so thanks to whoever decided the odd start time (possibly in relation to Goose Island's 312 beer, which was a promotion that the White Sox held some years back). Update: it was mentioned in the comments that 312 was Chicago's area code, which explains the beer. Can't figure out why UIC is starting their games at that time without some promotional tie-in.
The ticket window is a block south at Harrison Street, which is also where the main entrance is. A ten-spot will get you in with assigned seats. By the time I had passed through security (only a couple of minutes but could have been much shorter as they had shut most of the lanes), the anthem had begun, so I did not get much chance to tour.
During my brief walkabout, I noticed that there was just a single concession stand, which was quite surprising given that there were about 2,000 fans on hand for the game. I checked during a couple of the media timeouts and it was always lined up at least 30 deep so I waited until halftime, but that made little difference. The line moved so slowly that even after 15 minutes I had yet to reach the front. It turns out there were only two cashiers, but the line split into three. Of course, those in the line without a cashier directly in front of them were screwed. I gave up, saving my money for something after the game. I have never seen such poor service at a concession in all my years of attending sporting events. To make matters worse, I wanted a beer, but the only draft they had was Bud/Bud Light, with the specialty draft (Lagunitas IPA, so specialty is a stretch) tap inoperational.
I did find a seat that I liked, at the back of a section near center court, where the middle seats in the last couple of rows had been removed. This allowed access to middle seats in the third-last row without having to climb over people to get there, and you didn't have to worry about people climbing over you either. But the view was not the best, because the seating bowl is on a very slight angle, so you are quite far away (below).
In addition, the seating bowl is quite far away from the court, so much so that the first four rows are covered by a sheet since the view would be blocked by the courtside seats.
The upper deck would be a better place to sit, but this was closed off. I understand why they do this as fans are complete slobs (assuming they have the patience to wait at the concession stand) and there is no reason to force the staff to clean a whole other level, but it just added to my frustration.
Another thing that annoyed me: the mascot, Sparky, is clearly a Raptor rip-off.
Walking around the venue, I saw another concession stand that was inexplicably closed. The only bit I enjoyed was the cardboard cutouts of some of the players; I particularly liked the uniform in the shot of Jacob Wiley below.
There was one unique promotion as well. During one of the timeouts, the cheer team goes into the balcony and tosses down bags of Flaming Cheetos. Get it? The Flames and Flaming Cheetos? Despite being famished, I did not rush to grab one.
UIC has a bit of history and retired numbers are on blue banners hung in front of a curtain at one end of the arena (above), while across the way are the banners celebrating the school's athletic accomplishments in red. The Flames have three NCAA tournament appearances, losing all of them. They did make the final of the 2018 CIT, losing to Northern Colorado, but that banner is not displayed, thankfully.
Between the two sets of banners is a large party area that seems to have no view of the court whatsoever. You can see the red banners in the distance in the photo above.
Overall, Credit Union 1 Arena quickly became my least favourite on-campus venue; a disappointment considering it was my 100th NCAA basketball venue. I simply didn't enjoy any of it: the wait at security, the seating bowl, the closed upper deck, the concession stand debacle and the lack of good beer. But maybe I would get a good game to make it all worthwhile? Not bloody likely.
The Game
UIC was 8-7 in conference play and a 9-point favourite. As in the earlier game, there was a starter from Canada as UIC's Marcus Ottey hails from Ajax. The Flames took an early lead scoring the first 10 points, but IUPUI chipped away, getting within a point late in the half after a technical foul against Tarkus Ferguson led to four straight free throws for the Jaguars. The Flames scored the next 6 before IUPUI finished the half with a jumper from Marcus Burk to make it 35-30 UIC at the interval.
It was a quick half with just 14 fouls and I hoped for a similar second half, but the officials must have wanted more exposure on ESPN3, calling fouls on a regular basis, including four in a 54-second span. This slowed the game considerably, and irritated my hungry self to no end. Add in a pointless review and an extra media timeout, and the second half took over an hour. As for the game, it was actually entertaining when they got to play. IUPUI came within one on four occasions, and then tied the game at 60, 66, and 67, the last coming with 2:42 left. But they simply were unable to get the lead. Knotted at 67, Ferguson completed a hoop-and-harm play but Gavin Weatherford quickly scored two for the visitors to get them within a point yet again. Ottey followed with a trey and then fouled Jaylen Minnett on IUPUl's next possession. Minnett missed one of two, after which Ferguson committed an offensive foul on the Flames possession. Canadian Godwin Boahen fouled Burk, who made both to again narrow the deficit to a single point with 34 seconds left. On the following possession, Ferguson made up for his earlier gaffe, draining a jumper after the Flames wisely took 26 seconds off the clock. Despite having a timeout remaining, IUPUI ran a play and Burk missed an unlikely three-pointer. The rebound was similarly bricked from in close, forcing the Jaguars to foul with a second remaining. Jordan Blount (from Ireland) sank both to make the final 77-72 for UIC.
It was amazing that IUPUI never had the lead despite being tied thrice and within a point seven other times. Burk led all scorers with 28, while Ottey paced the Flames with 16. The difference was free throws, with UIC knocking down 19-26 (not exactly impressive at 73.1%) while IUPUI was an abysmal 48.1% at 13-27.
Notes
The only college hoops venue I prefer less than this is Webster Bank Arena, where Fairfield plays. At least they have an on-campus gym that they use sometimes, and I will be visiting that next week to see how it compares.
Best,
Sean
312 is Chicago's original area code
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