Ky McKeon
Road Trip
I’ve put off writing this recap for nearly a week but feel compelled to memorialize one of my few road trips of the 2022-23 college basketball season.
The wife and I hit the road from Chicago on Sunday, January 15th and drove 320 miles to my folks’ house in St. Louis to stay the night. The next morning, we traveled 238 miles to stay with friends in Overland Park, KS (suburb outside Kansas City). On Tuesday we set off for the Little Apple, the glorious town of Manhattan, KS, where the K-State Wildcats call home. Following a wild OT affair with KU, we embarked the next morning to our alma mater, the University of Missouri, for a showdown with Arkansas. Then on Thursday it was off to Champaign, IL to see the Illini take on the Indiana Hoosiers. That night we braved the cobwebs forming around our eyes and drove back to our home in Chicago.
All in all, it was a 1,364-mile roundtrip, or about 21 hours and 18 minutes of driving as the Honda flies. And it was 100% well worth it.
Kansas State
I was invited to attend K-State / KU (and Mizzou / Arkansas) by WagerTalk’s Adam Trigger (@TopFlightSI) and Kelly Stewart (@KellyInVegas), the latter of whom generously found my wife and I two tickets in the Octagon of Doom. Sadly, Adam’s flight was cancelled from Syracuse, but he found us later in Columbia.
The Octagon did not disappoint. It was loud and full of purple-clad lunatics chanting “F**k KU” among other things. As a Mizzou alum, I was on board with the mutual hatred of the Jayhawks, a team that’s been superior to both programs for about forever. But, in these rivalry games, anything can happen.
K-State got off to a fast start, punching Kansas in the mouth with a 33-19 opening. Though the Jayhawks eventually came back and took the lead in overtime, the Wildcats established early that they would not roll over easily for “big brother.”
K-State won the game in overtime thanks to some poor free throw shooting by KU and a ballsy play call by head coach Jerome Tang that ended with an alley-oop to superstar Keyontae Johnson. Desi Sills was massive off the pine, pouring in 24 points and making up for Markquis Nowell’s oddly quiet evening.
When the clock hit 0:00, the K-State student section stormed the court and rehashed the “F*** KU” chants. It was a sight to behold, though not everyone was pleased. Coach Tang grabbed a mic and climbed the scorer’s table and gave a speech to the K-State faithful. I didn’t quite catch everything but suffice to say he wasn’t thrilled at the vulgar language used by his fans. Eh, whatever, I thought it was funny. Rivalries are awesome, it’s clean old-fashioned fun.
Overall, Bramlage Coliseum is one of the best venues I’ve attended, and this was one of the best games I have seen live. The student section setup that starts in the middle of the floor and wraps around one corner of the octagon is perfect. The various traditional chants are unique, and the atmosphere is truly electric. It’s also hot as balls in there. Close quarters equals a major temperature rise, even at the very top of the arena.
I’m still not a fan of Willie the Wildcat, who remains just a normal guy with a Wildcat head on his human body. It’s never made sense to me, and it never will.
Manhattan as a town? While I LOVED me some Taco Lucha, let’s just say I wasn’t regretting my choice of attending Mizzou. The nightlife seemed lacking to say the least (note: one Tuesday night sample size).
Mizzou
The weather put a literal and figurative damper on our time in Columbia. It was rainy, windy, and cold so we didn’t get out much and see the campus or visit any of our old haunts. But it was still nice being back at Mizzou, a tremendously underrated university and campus.
Mizzou Arena is a “solid” venue. It’s not super unique, but it still has its charm – especially with a fully engaged crowd. The students showed up for Arkansas, which was a great sight to see given the recent history of our basketball program. Not sense I was in college over a decade ago has there been as much interest in going to see the Tigers play.
Also, Mizzou students had a nice little “F*** KU” chant themselves, to the tune of Mr. Brightside. I liked it!
Arkansas came in with a mission and jumped out to an early lead, much like Mizzou did at Bud Walton earlier this year. But the Tigers showed heart and too a 5-point lead early in the second half. Much-hyped transfer Isiaih Mosley was back on the floor, much to the crowd’s delight. Though he didn’t score a ton, he made an impact and lifted the spirits of the crowd.
The Hogs had the Tigers on the ropes late in the game, leading by 10 points with just five minutes to play. Some fortunate calls, free throw shooting, and big-time shot-making allowed the Tigers to claw back into it, and a fantastic play call by Dennis Gates (yes, parallels to the game before) sealed it at the end.
This game had 66 free throws and a foul was called every 43 seconds. While it wasn’t quite the 77-free throw affair we saw on Tuesday, it was an incredibly long and at times tedious affair. Despite not going to overtime, it lasted just three minutes shorter than K-State / KU.
Mizzou escaped with the win, I high fived Adam, Kelly, and the hillbilly in front of us in jubilation.
The atmosphere and the arena itself pale in comparison to the Octagon of Doom. I’m objective. Granted, had this game been against KU, I might have felt differently.
Illinois
By this point, I was running on fumes. We had driven at least a couple hundred miles each day, and the game was a later tip. The shitty weather didn’t help – it was colder than a witch’s tit in a tin bra, and windy to boot.
State Farm Center is very cool. It’s a dome-like spaceship of a venue, with a neat, pleated ceiling. The concourses and the maze that is each seating section is absolute trash, but otherwise it’s a great place to see a game.
Unfortunately, this particular game was a snoozer. Indiana dominated from start to finish, and Illinois looked as they did earlier this season when they lost by 22 to Mizzou. Brad Underwood got his courtesy technical in, and despite some late runs this game was never really competitive.
The media area didn’t help the matter. We were crammed in like sardines at a table in the corner. Additionally, there are far too many club suites in State Farm Center, it takes away a bit from the atmosphere and certainly limits overall capacity.
The Orange Krush, Illinois’ student section was out in full force, and their setup is great. Students sit in the lower bowl of the arena around one sideline and baseline of the court – kind of like K-State but way closer. Nothing could stop the Hoosiers that night, though. Not even clever chanting.
This was by far the worst game, however… it’s right there with the Octagon for best venue of the three.