Anthony Newell remembers running onto the Worthen Arena court for warm-ups as a freshman and being greeted by a sellout crowd of 11,500 fans against Indiana University on Dec. 30, 2005.
Now a senior co-captain of the Ball State University men's basketball team, Newell did not play in that game - an 80-56 Ball State loss to the then-No. 17 Hoosiers.
The sellout was the eighth all-time at Worthen Arena, and the venue hasn't had almost a crowd of that stature since. Newell said he wants that to change tonight in Ball State's game against another in-state nationally-ranked rival, No. 14 Purdue University.
"You don't understand how much that helps to be able to look in the crowd and not see a seat open," said Newell, who is the team-leader this season in points and rebounds. "It just gets you more energized, I mean, you can't get tired when you see all of those people out there."
Adam Tschuor, director of ticket sales, said it will take a dramatic increase in walk-up crowds to fulfill Newell's demand. Tschuor said late Monday afternoon that about 7,000 seats -¡- including 1,200 student seats - have been sold for the Purdue game, leaving about 4,500 seats open for the taking until tonight's 7 p.m. tipoff.
"At this point we would need a large walk-up crowd for a basketball game in order to sellout," Tschuor stated in an e-mail interview. "We are anticipating a good size walk up however and we are most likely expecting anywhere from 8 to 9,000 in attendance."
If the attendance number goes as Tschuor expects, the figure could still be a top-20 figure in Worthen Arena history. 8,452 fans -¡- 20th all-time in Worthen Arena history -¡- were on hand to see the Cardinals defeat Miami University 74-58 on Feb. 23, 2002.
According to the Purdue-Ball State game contract obtained through the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, Ball State will pay the Boilermakers $20,000 to come to Worthen Arena tonight. Purdue paid Ball State the same amount last season in a 70-57 Boilermakers win. The contract also states Purdue will pay $60,000 for the Cardinals to play at Purdue in the 2009-10 season,
Coach Billy Taylor said after playing in front of an average of 3,459 fans in three home games so far this season, everybody in the program is ecstatic to perform for a crowd of more than two times that size.
"As a player, as a coach, as anyone involved with the program, you want to play before great crowds, capacity crowds," Taylor said. "Hopefully, our guys really step their game up in front of a big crowd like that."
Purdue, on the other hand, has been playing in front of larger crowds all season. In the Boilermakers' six home games this season, they average crowds of 13,633 spectators. Newell said he hopes the newcomers to the team do not feel any added pressure in front of the crowd.
"I don't want the guys to be just out there and eyes wide open," Newell said. "I want them to come out there with confidence and just play with a lot of energy."
Taylor said with the possibility of some national superstars running the court for Purdue, his team should not get worried about matching one player or another.
"The key thing is that we stay under control, that we understand what the game plan is and go out and execute a team game plan," he said, "and don't get too concerned with individual-type battles within the game."
Whatever the attendance figure ends up being, Newell said he is excited to see Worthen Arena rocking tonight for the first time in three seasons.
"I'm definitely looking forward to it," Newell said. "I can't wait to come out for warm-ups and just see a whole lot of people."
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