One of the aspects of the quest for Division I college basketball venues that raises the number from 357 to 388 is that a few schools play out of two different arenas. Usually, one is an on-campus gym, with a larger stadium in the nearest city. UConn is one of the most obvious examples, splitting games between Gampel Pavilion on campus and XL Center in nearby Hartford. But they are not the only Connecticut-based school that does this. Fairfield University plays most of their contests at Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport, a 9,000-seat facility that is better suited to the AHL hockey team that it also houses. But once in a while, a scheduling conflict sends the Stags back home, where they do battle in Alumni Hall, an old barn with room for just 2,479 fans.
When I saw that Fairfield's last home game of the season would be held there on Sunday afternoon, I decided to head up to add it to my list. And I'm glad I did because it turned out to be the last men's college hoops game ever played there. The school is tearing down this venerable venue and replacing it with a shiny new Convocation Center in 2021. So this post will be a memorial rather than offering any useful advice. Update: this was wrong, the team played all their games here in 2020-21 before tearing it down and opening a new venue in 2022.
Fairfield is on the Metro-North line, and only about 80 minutes from Grand Central on the New Haven line. From the station, it is about a 20-minute walk through residential streets to the main entrance of the university.
Alumni Hall is located next to the Campus Center, which has an exterior plaza from where you can see the entire structure. As you can see in the photo below, barn is an accurate description.
Opened in 1959, the curved roof is not unusual in facilities from that era. Wikipedia states that it was one of the earliest pre-stressed concrete structures and that the eleven 160-foot pre-cast arches created a record-breaking span for structures in the United States.
There are two stags on campus. The first is an impressive statue just to the west of the gym (above) while the other is a large inflatable closer to the entrance (below). I guess he is waving bye-bye to Alumni Hall.
Inside, tickets were sold in a very small and congested lobby. There was actually no need to buy one as nobody seemed to be checking tickets at the door, but I need my stub and was happy for fork over $10 for one. Entrances to the gym are on both sides, with about 7 rows of benches along the sideline. In the center on both sides, red plastic seats offer slightly more comfort.
The end zone seats consist of 30 rows of wooden benches. This shot was taken before the game, but by early in the first half, this area was more than half full. In fact, attendance was announced at 2,321, 94% of capacity.
As this venue is used mostly for women's volleyball, those are the banners that you see. There are a few banners for women's hoops too, but nothing for the men. That will change in the new building as they expect to start playing more games and possibly leaving Webster Bank Arena completely. As they should, it is my least favourite college sports venue.
There was a single concession stand down by the visiting bench that had decent offerings, including wraps for just $4. What surprised me was that attendance here was more than UIC the previous week, but there was no waiting for food. When you put your concession stand in a spot that is difficult to access and limit your selection to a few easily served items (no fountain drinks for example), things will move quickly.
With the place nearly full, the benches were very cramped, especially if you had someone in front of you as your knees would almost be touching their back. I do love these old venues, but I also enjoy a bit of space and that was hard to find on this day. Not that you can tell from the picture below, again taken before the game.
No reason to say any more. I didn't even know that this was to be the final men's college basketball game to be played here, so I feel very fortunate to have had a chance to attend. I guess it will now become an inactive venue on my count, and I will have to return in 2021 (or 2022) to see the new digs. I hope I get a better game at that time.
The Game
The Rider Broncs were in town at 10-8 in MAAC play while Fairfield was 7-10. The first few minutes were terrible, with 12 fouls being called before we had hit the under-12 time out. To be fair, both teams were spending most of the time in the paint and the fouls were not ticky-tack, but it slowed the game down terribly. Rider had built a 14-8 lead in that time, with half of those 22 points coming from free throws. The refs let up, however, calling only five fouls over the rest of the half and things moved quickly, though the Broncs held on to the lead, entering the break up 27-23.
The second half saw Fairfield come out strong and they took a 31-30 lead on a dunk by Vincent Eze that got the gym shaking and led to the famous "The Stags Take the Lead!" call from the P.A. announcer. He got to repeat himself a few more times as there were 7 lead changes after that, with Rider grabbing a 42-40 advantage on a trey by Tyrei Randall. That was the beginning of a 18-5 Rider run that saw Fairfield commit five turnovers (including a 10-second violation due to the Broncs full-court press) and miss seven shots, essentially ending the suspense. The Stags got back within 8 with 1:48 to go and decided to start fouling shortly thereafter. The final 90 seconds took about 10 minutes as the fouls continued unabated and both teams called pointless timeouts. The final was 65-51 Rider in a game that was closer than the score would indicate.
This was substantially different than most basketball games I've seen, with only 21 total three-point attempts, and just 5 makes. (To compare, I saw the Knicks and Rockets the following night, when there were 86 shots from beyond the arc). On the other hand, there were 43 fouls and 45 free throws, though for the most parts the officials were calling what had to be called. Rider's Stevie Jordan led all scorers with 19 points, 13 of those coming from the line. Not a lot of fun to watch, but such is life at the lower ends of the mid-majors.
Notes
This was my 100th NCAA Division I basketball venue.
If you are desperate to see this place before it gets demolished, you have two chances to see the Lady Stags on Thursday night and Saturday afternoon.
Best,
Sean
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