ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The largest traditional crowd in five years for a UW-Green Bay men’s basketball game showed up to the Resch Center Thursday night to watch the Phoenix take possession of first place in the Horizon League.
3,513 people in the stands for the 69-59 win over Oakland is a good sign the community is starting to buy into the program after three straight dismal seasons.
“I just saw the program had been turning it around a little with the new coach and they’re giving away jerseys and wanted to check out what the program is doing,” said Loran Leech of Menasha.
“If I lived closer, I would definitely come to more of these,” said Luis Galbaby, 14, of Menasha.
Last year’s 3-29 record put the Phoenix men near the bottom of all Division 1 teams in the country.
New coach Sundance Wicks is on pace to bring this year’s squad from worst to first, which is huge for the university’s athletics department.
“Alabama football for us is men’s basketball, women’s basketball,” said Josh Moon, UW-Green Bay’s athletic director. “That’s our ticket driver, our sponsorships, donations. It is critical we have successful programs.”
Before this game, the average attendance was actually 20 below last year’s average attendance – 1,705 compared to 1,725. The hope obviously is that goes up soon and Thursday’s crowd provides a great start.
“Each game we’re getting better,” said Moon. “I think the buzz is starting even more.”
Even in similar successful years, attendance has never consistently matched the vision for when the Resch Center was built in 2002 or the program’s glory years of the mid 1990s at the Brown County Arena.
“These are busy nights,” said Jeff Majetich of Sherwood. “High school, you’ve got how many high schools in the Valley and here? All their kids are playing there.”
People at this game say ticket prices shouldn’t be an obstacle. The get-in price ranges from $15 to $20 depending on the game.
“I was happy,” said Leech. “We paid $20 for these, I was surprised actually at kind of how cheap that was.”
“It’s not like Lambeau Field where you got to spend $9 for a bottle of water,” said Majetich.
If you want to check out the action, the Phoenix will be back at the Resch Saturday at noon to host Detroit-Mercy.
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