January 21, 2024 – Hamden, Connecticut
Quinnipiac vs Iona
Men’s Basketball
I really didn’t know what to write about for this top essay. I love the top essay because it’s my space to do whatever I want.
And right now I want an idea. I don’t know what goes here right now. Could be something about being a dad or a take about sports and sports media.
I wanna take a break from that yet I don’t know what to put here. I guess I’ll just ask some questions that have taken space up in my mind for far too long.
Why can’t Atlanta support a hockey team?
Where did Gary go?
Why did Wendy’s get rid of the Frescata sandwiches and leave a void in my heart?
When will Waffle House expand into New England?
Why is silly putty?
Why are sausage patties so superior to links?
Have you ever thought about how weird organized ice hockey is? Let’s build a temporary pond inside and paint it a bunch of colors. Then, for fun, we’ll put knives on our feet and chase a rubber tuna can around for two hours. Sport development is fascinating.
How is Trader Joe’s frozen food so much better than the regular supermarket?
When there are three options for a situation, why don’t we say that it’s triceratoptional?
That was fun. As a respite, here is a moment with Bella.
The Good Eats
On the ride down to Hamden, right off the first exit of 84 as you enter Connecticut from Massachusetts, is Traveler Food and Books. You can’t miss the bright yellow sign.
It’s a very Yankee New England place to eat. It’s warm and cozy inside as books and puzzles fill any and all open space. In fact, the first thing you see when you walk in is a set of six-foot-high bookshelves.
Downstairs there was a bookstore with floor-to-ceiling shelves of all genres.
The menu also felt very New England. It played the hits with hearty homestyle meals that were meant to fill you up on a cold day, and today was a mighty cold one.
However, I went with one of the specials: an apple stuffed grilled cheese. Vermont cheddar, apple, bacon, and honey mustard stuffed between house-made wheatberry bread with fries.
This sandwich was outstanding. You’d never think apples would work in a grilled cheese but the sweetness cut through the fat of the bacon and cheddar in a much-needed way. And those fries, goddamn. They may have been the best fries I ever had.
As an added bonus, with every meal you’re allowed to take three of the books in the restaurant home with you. The ones in the shop downstairs are for sale, but the ones upstairs are free to take.
I took home a novel called Dust as well as The Cookie Book, you can guess what type of cookbook it is. I also grabbed this one purely for the weird factor.
If you’re driving through the Nutmeg State I highly recommend stopping in for a meal.
The Game
M&T Bank Arena sits on Quinnipiac’s York Hill Campus, a short drive from its main Mount Carmel campus in Hamden. And it’s one hell of a hill as it’s nearly a half mile drive up from the main road to get to the parking lot.
You see the two wings of the building. The left is for basketball and the right is for hockey. Many banners hung throughout town celebrating the men’s hockey national title in 2023.
Both arenas sit roughly 3,500 people and are connected by an adjoining lobby with the building’s lone concession stand.
Now, this wasn’t a busy gameday. Yes, there was a small figure skating event in the rink, but the hoops game would only fill about half the building. And yet there were only two registers open at the food stand all game. A real flub in game management.
It was an absolute circus during halftime.
I was with my daughter and just wanted a drink of water. Luckily, one of the fountains was working so I poked a sytrofoam cup from the stand and filled up with water a few times.
I shudder to think how chaotic this must be when hockey is playing a rival like nearby Yale.
However, once inside the actual game arena, it was lovely.
I had been here once before, way back in 2010 when I was in college at URI and we played a road game at QU. Loved it then, loved it now.
The bright yellow support beams along with the big floor-to-ceiling window at one end really gave the room a warm feel and made it feel much larger than it was.
A huge plus is that the bathrooms are inside the actual arena, which saves you the horror of having to blast through people like Travis Kelce in the lobby to take a leak.
Both the men (blue) and women (white) had many banners showing off recent and past success. The women’s Sweet 16 run a few years ago being the highlight.
The far window of the lobby had this amazing few of the hills of SW Connecticut.
And you could press you head against the glass and take a peek inside of the basketball offices, which were right on the concourse.
Late January meant the thick of conference play, and Iona was in town. The Gaels were led by Tobin Anderson, who famously led Fairleigh Dickinson to their shock win over Purdue last March. Before that he coached at D2 St. Thomas Aquinas in New York and made three Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight. His teams are no joke.
But before basketball we had a pregame video on the tron, and those are always the most unique part of the gameday experience.
Then Iona jumped conference-leading Quinnipiac early.
The Gaels were consistently able to maintain a lead in the high single digits through the majority of the first half, but the Bobcats kept it within striking distance.
This finish from big man Paul Otieno even made it a one-point game. He had a monster day with 15 points and 10 boards. He also tied for the fourth-highest scorer in the game. More on that later.
The Bobcats even took the lead and extended it with this layup from Doug Young only to be immediately answered by Wheza Panzo. It was that kind of game. And yes, that is my daughter hollering in the background at not having attention paid to her.
From there the Gaels took control to end the half. They opened up a lead of six points before going into the half up 45-41. Idan Tretout had 13 for Iona in the opening 20. Outside of 21 seconds before the first TV timeout, Iona led throughout.
Halftime meant a good time for Claire to get her steps in. I think crawling counts as “steps” at that age.
And the Gaels turned up the dial after the break. Greg Gordon’s drive and hard finish put Iona up a dozen with 14 minutes to play.
Quinnipiac makes a bucket. Tretout responds immediately. He was dynamic all afternoon.
The teams began trading buckets. Iona up 11. Quinnipiac down 8. Gaels by 10. Bobcats down nine. Time began fading, and the home team couldn’t find a way back.
Iona kept the pedal down and led by 11 with 4:30 to go.
Now let me properly introduce you to Doug Young.
He’s a juco transfer from Houston. Solid bench guy. But that three got some mojo going for the Bobcats and got the gap back down to eight.
Otieno back big with a board and bucket. Down to six.
Of course, Iona wasn’t about to go quietly into the chilly Connecticut afternoon. They had Idan Tretout and his game-high 30 points and a lot of other weapons on the floor.
Down eight with three minutes left Young hit a jumper to cut it to six. Then the fellas set the house on fire.
Look at Young making that massive three to cut the gap to one.
An Iona miss gave the Bobcats a crack at the lead in the final minute as Savion Lewis took it up the floor.
He finished with 10 points, nine assists, and four rebounds, with none bigger than that drive.
Of course Iona had a crack at silencing the 1,631 in attendance and send them home sad.
Oh hey, look who it is in the right place to catch that save. Doug Young.
Quinnipiac 91, Iona 87. Final.
Ticket Price: $18
Time of Game: 1:58:45
Player of the Game: Doug Young (QU) – 24 points, 10 in final 4:30 in 27 minutes off the bench
…
After trying two other times earlier this season to get down here it felt great to finally check Quinnipiac off the list. I’m excited to better explore SW Connecticut, and with five more stops across all three divisions in the area I know I’ll get to dive into it more.
But this one was for me and my daughter. We got to get some driving time together, and she got to make moves in a spacious arena. I wish I had a dollar for every time someone waved at her during halftime.
The best thing about taking a young kid to a game like this is that it’ll help them get comfortable in a crowd, hopefully instill a love for the game, and if they pitch a fit or have a rough day you can just leave. It’s $18. No big deal.
It was just a good afternoon at a good basketball game.
And yes, I did strike up a conversation with the only other dad there with a stroller. I’m obligated to do so.
Thanks for reading. Onto the next one. And here’s one for the road…
Through the Curtain 
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