Siena College is one of those schools where the men play off-campus while the women maintain a presence in an older venue on campus. As such, I was looking for a weekend when both teams would be home and found the second weekend of 2022 was just such a time. To make things even more interesting, Albany's new professional lacrosse team had a game too. So I took Amtrak up from New York and after walking across the Dunn Memorial Bridge to my hotel to drop off my stuff, grabbed a rideshare to Loudonville, where the Siena campus is located.
The Lady Saints had an afternoon game at UHY Center and I was dropped off at the gate, walking across the picturesque quad and reaching the arena about 15 minutes before tip. Not a big crowd for this one as you can see.
UHY Center was known as the Alumni Recreation Center before UHY Advisors acquired the naming rights early last year. It opened in 1974 and hosted both teams until the men moved to the Times Union Center (now MVP Arena) in 1990.
After showing my vaccination credentials, I went to the box office, where I asked for a single. Then I saw that the senior citizen tickets were for those 55 and up. So I requested one of those, my first senior purchase! Sadly, I was not asked to confirm my age. In the end, the price is the same as a general admission ticket, but you get a chairback. I did not want to sit in that area, so ended up in GA anyway, but still it was a milestone moment. And look at this ticket, with not one, but two logos! Again, why can't pro teams do this?
I then entered the gym and was surprised that there is no concourse at all; you are immediately inside the gym, at least from the main entrance.
The far side has three sections with chairbacks.
The near side is just benches, as are a couple of sections behind one basket.
The other end has no seats at all.
The photos hanging on wall reflect both the men's and women's teams as well as women's volleyball, which is played here too.
There is also a small poster that mentions the original name of the facility.
The college was named after Bernardino of Siena, a 15th-century Italian priest and Franciscan missionary. The Saints mascot is thus a Saint Bernard, named Bernie, who is part of their primary logo (which was also visible on the ticket). There is also an actual Saint Bernard dog named Baloo that sometimes acts as a mascot, though he was not present on this day.
Bernie, on the other hand, was at the game but spent all his time at the far end and did very little. I only got a picture as I was leaving. There was no band or cheerleaders either, and attendance was a paltry 217 (10% of the 2,148 capacity). Not a typical college hoops atmosphere.
The women have had some success, including a trip to the tournament in 2001, where they lost to Colorado in the first round.
The men's banners are also on display, though the more impressive ones are at the MVP Arena, as I would find out the next day. The 1950 championship banner is for the National Catholic Invitational Tournament, which took place from 1949-1952.
After the game, I exited through the far doors and was happy to see the Siena Sports Hall of Fame as well as two trophy cases. This is the sort of thing that you will miss if you only see a men's game downtown. Not that it is particularly impressive, but I do appreciate how every sport is properly honoured when a championship is claimed.
Overall, UHY Center is as basic as they come in terms of a college basketball gym. Siena is a small school but they have done relatively well in sports and there are some signs of that success to be seen. But I think only extremely dedicated college hoops chasers will make a visit to Loudonville for this one.
The Game
The Quinnipiac Bobcats (6-6, 1-2) were the visitors and I had seen them throttle Hartford two months back and as Siena was 0-9 (0-1 in MAACtion) coming in and ranked 337th out of 356 women's teams (Quinnipiac was #120), I did not expect much of a contest.
And that is exactly what I got. Down 4-3 early, the Bobcats went on a 10-0 run and never looked back. They led 22-10 after the first quarter and 38-20 at the half.
The Saints played well in the third quarter but were still outscored 23-16 and the final quarter was just ugly, with each team scoring just 2 points over the final 4:34 as the Bobcats cruised to a 17-point win.
Quinnipiac shot better than 50% from inside the arc and were 91.7% from the line, compared to 37.5% and 60% for Siena. The teams combined to go 8-38 from three-point land. It wasn't pretty, but it counts as a venue and I was happy for that.
Notes
This was the third women's-only gym I have visited out of the 19 that are in use in the NCAA. On my list of 388 hoops homes to see, this was number 102, though I am excluding the three times I saw the women play in a venue also used by the men (Oakland, Iowa State, Washington), since I plan to revisit them for a men's game.
Best,
Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment