Arena Adventures: Ferrell Center

Arena Adventures: Entry #10

Arena: Ferrell Center
City: Waco, TX
Date: January 4, 2011
Teams: Baylor vs. Morgan State

Being the college basketball fan that I am, and the huge Connecticut fan that I am, I try to find a game or 2 each year where I can watch my Huskies play that I haven't been before. As previously documented, I started the Big East season by going to Pittsburgh to watch UConn play Pitt. However, I also wanted to add a non-conference contest to my schedule and it just so happened that my work schedule coincided with UConn's non-conference game in Austin against the University of Texas Longhorns on January 8. As I have never been to Texas before, I decided to head down a few days early and enjoy the warm weather and try to catch a couple additional college basketball games while in the state since there are so many Division I teams in Texas. The first team I decided to watch was Baylor as I really wanted to see both top recruit Perry Jones III and senior guard, LaceDarius Dunn, play in person. The only Baylor home game during my visit was a contest against the Morgan State Bears. Coming from the MEAC, it would seem like this game should have blowout written all over it, however, Morgan St. was coming off an NCAA appearance last season and was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the MEAC again and represent the conference in the NCAA tournament. Obviously the Baylor fans also thought this wasn't going to be much of a game as the Ferrell Center was probably close to 2/3 empty making for a less than energetic atmosphere for the home Bears.


For the first 25 minutes of the game, Morgan St. was impressive, holding a lead of as many as 6 points over Baylor as Baylor appeared to be sleepwalking through much of the first half of the game. The most impressive of Morgan State's players was DeWayne Jackson, who was scoring almost at will against the long defense of Quincy Acy, Anthony Jones, and Perry Jones. Jackson had 19 first half points, but also picked up 2 fouls with about 8 minutes to go in the half and Morgan St. leading. Once Jackson went to the bench, Baylor was able to better contain the Morgan St. offense and eventually Baylor was able to turn the deficit it was facing for much of the first half into a 42-40 lead.


In the 2nd half, Baylor was able to jump on Morgan St. early and often, mostly lead by Dunn, who was absolutely on fire from three point range in the 2nd half. It seemed like every time down the court, Dunn was open for 3 and would hit. By the time the final horn sounded, Dunn had dropped 43 points on Morgan St., including a school-record 10 3 point baskets in Baylor's 89-72 victory. Not only did Dunn hit 10 3's, but he hit those 3's on only 18 attempts, and Dunn's attempts were the only 3 point field goals attempted by Baylor all evening. Along with Dunn's shooting prowess in the second half, Jones III looked significantly better on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court, showing why he is tabbed by most prognosticators as the #1 overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft if he decides to go pro. In my opinion, he still looks too raw to be a significant contributor right away and he could end up being an Anthony Randolph-type player if he leaves Baylor after only 1 season.


All in all, it was an interesting experience in Waco. I wish that Big XII conference play started earlier in the season so that I could have caught a conference game where the Ferrell Center crowd might have been a little more enthusiastic, but Baylor has a very nice arena with great sight lines from everywhere in my opinion. Whether you're sitting in the 3rd row or the 30th row anywhere in the arena, you would have a great view of the action. I'm sure when Texas or Kansas comes to town, the place is sold out and loud, but to be a top tier sports school, the fans need to come out and support their teams against all opponents. It was a little disappointing to see so many empty seats both in the season ticket section and the general public sections, but I give credit to the Baylor fans that were in attendance. They saw a show by Dunn and were very engaging and enthusiastic when their team needed them when Morgan St. was playing their hearts out.