Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Students Flock to SIU Arena to Pick Up Creighton Tickets
02/27/2003 | 12:00:00 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2003
By Abby Gonzales
SIU Media Services
CARBONDALE, Ill. -The men's basketball game between Southern Illinois and Creighton officially sold out Feb. 7. However, students packed the SIU Arena Thursday morning to pick up their 2,000 tickets to Saturday's showdown for first place. Some camped out overnight, and the line continued to grow throughout the early morning hours.
The winner of the SIU vs. Creighton game clinches first place in the Missouri Valley Conference.
According to SIU ticket manager Brad Pietz, the window opened at 9:40 a.m., and all of the tickets were gone in 45 minutes. Pietz said there were several hundred students in line when tickets ran out.
"As we passed out tickets, we kept asking students what time they arrived," Pietz said. "It looks like if you got there before nine o'clock, you got a ticket."
 Genae Welch attended Wednesday night's Evansville game and immediately got in line after the game, along with several others, and camped outside the arena overnight.  |
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"I've been to all the games this year, and there was no way I was going to miss this one!" said the 19-year-old. "It's a good birthday present."
Welch attended Wednesday night's Evansville game and immediately got in line after the game, along with about 50 others, and camped outside the arena overnight.
"I've been waiting for about 13 hours," said Welch. "It's good to get the tickets in my hand, and now it's time to go home and celebrate!"
Not all die-hard fans were at the beginning of the line. A group of freshmen came to the arena at 1 a.m. this morning.
"We decided about midnight we'd come and wait in line for tickets," said Mike Eliason, a freshman from Zion, Ill.
They came prepared to pass the time, bringing a television, DVD player, grill, and a coffee maker. The athletic department provided free coffee, donuts and bagels.
The line wrapped counterclockwise around the arena. Students who showed up at 6 a.m. were seated on the floor behind section MM. Those who arrived at 8 a.m. stretched from section PP to RR. Students who came an hour before the ticket window opened were stationed by sections CC and DD.
 A student proudly shows her ticket to a reporter from NewsChannel 12 |
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"Sometimes there's a wait outside the arena before the game," said Ryan Valltroy, sophomore, Evansville, Ind. "I had to wait 20 minutes for a ticket to the Wichita State game."
The sell-out is the 13th in the 39-year history of SIU Arena and just the second since 1990. Last year's game against Indiana was also a sell-out.
