So far, we’ve checked out St. Francis’s Peter Aquilone Court and Long Island U’s Wellness, Recreation and Athletic Center. Tonight, we go a little more upscale: We’re hitting a sleepy little building called Madison Square Garden for a city-hoops doubleheader.
We’ll be checking out two games: Cincinnati versus St. John’s at 7 p.m. (you can see the game on ESPNU) and Dayton versus Official Joe DeLessio alma mater Fordham at 9:30 (on MSG-Plus). We’re excited for both games: In the opener, the Red Storm face Lincoln High pseudo-legend Lance Stephenson, and in the nightcap, two teams will play basketball.
It’s the next stop in our endless tour. The rest of the schedule:
Saturday, February 13
George Washington at Fordham
Monday, February 15
Fairfield at Manhattan
Thursday, February 18
Bryant at Wagner
Wednesday, February 24
Marquette at St. John’s (in Jamaica)
Saturday, February 27
Princeton at Columbia
In our ratings, we’ll be judging MSG purely as a college-hoops venue, rather than the home of the 2008 Royal Rumble.
As always, we watched our video game play itself in order to simulate the two games tonight. If the game is accurate — and it’s 1–1 so far — we’re in for a rather dreadful night. The opener featured Cincinnati jumping out to an 18–0 lead and holding on for a 67–50 victory. Lance Stephenson had ten points and six assists, but the Bearcats’ star was the awesomely named Steve Toyloy, with sixteen points and eight rebounds. No one on St. John’s reached double figures: D.J. Kennedy had nine points. It was a kick to see virtual Anthony Mason Jr. in the virtual Garden, though.
The nightcap was worse: Dayton hammered Fordham 74–48. Fahio Alihodzic led the Rams with seventeen points, but they shot 29 percent, which never helps. To be fair, the virtual Rams still had Dereck Whittenburg as their coach.
We nevertheless remain hopeful: Go Red Storm! Go Rams!