By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – With the new Paul & Alejandra Foster Pavilion filled to its capacity of 7,500 by tipoff of Tuesday night's game between 18^th-ranked Baylor and Cornell, Baylor VP and Director of Athletics Mack Rhoades had at least a momentary sigh of relief "that we finally crossed this milestone."
 
More than four years in the making, but only 20 months of construction, the $212 million facility sits on the south bank of the Brazos River and west side of I-35. And with a ribbon-cutting ceremony about two hours before the game started, Baylor's new basketball arena opened its doors to the public for the first time.
 
"I thought the atmosphere was everything and more, that we wanted and certainly hoped for and maybe even anticipated," Rhoades said. "The one thing that I hope is when fans left tonight, they felt energy and they felt the energy for the entire game. And I think that happened."
 
Of course, it didn't hurt that the Bears (11-2) shot better than 55% overall and 14-of-31 from 3-point range in pulling away for a 98-79 victory over Cornell (10-3).
 
"We waited a long time to have a home-court advantage like this, and this is everything you dream of," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "I can't thank President (Linda) Livingstone, Mack Rhoads and all the donors, the Baylor family, enough for making it possible."
 
This was definitely the place to be Tuesday night.
 
Along with naming-rights donors Paul and Alejandra Foster, the Who's Who crowd included high-profile donors Jim and Julie Turner, Jay and Jenny Allison and Paula Hurd; Fixer-Uppers Chip and Joanna Gaines; Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates; and Baylor basketball alums Ish Wainright, Mamadou Diene, Fred Ellis, Isaiah Austin, Matt Sayman and King McClure, who was actually calling the game on ESPN+.
 
Drew called it a "homecoming, in that fashion."
 
"We've been talking about it for, seems like four years," Rhoades said. "This started pre-COVID. And then, we were put on pause for 12 to 18 months. To be able to complete it . . .  our donors have been unbelievably generous.
 
"We've tugged at them in so many directions when you think about the changing landscape of college athletics. I haven't looked and really researched, but I'm not aware of any other institution out there that is in the middle of $300-plus-million in facility projects when you think about the Foster Pavilion and Fudge Football Development Center. I'm so grateful for our Baylor Family. They've been tremendous."
 
From the ribbon-cutting ceremony, to an inspiring video pregame message from Jared Butler off the 2021 national championship team, to an invocation by Sayman, and finally to the basketball game itself, this was a special night.
 
Even for the visiting team from Cornell.
 
"It gets loud, sort of what kids dream of when they want to play big-time basketball," Cornell coach Brian Earl said. "It's a good environment, and they should be proud of what they did here. . . . They're fun to watch if you're not taking a beating."
 
Baylor freshman 7-footer Yves Missi scored the first bucket at the Foster Pavilion on an offensive rebound and putback 30 seconds in. Missi had a career-high 16 points on a perfect 8-for-8 shooting night, while fellow freshman Ja'Kobe Walter had a game-high 23 points and season-high nine rebounds.
 
"It feels like the fans are right on top of you on the floor," said Toledo transfer RayJ Dennis, who had 18 points and six assists. "Honestly, we're just blessed to be the team that comes in here. The guys that came before us paved the way to give us the blessing to play."
 
After 35 ½ years at the 10,284-seat Ferrell Center, the Bears had the first of back-to-back night games at the Foster Pavilion. The sixth-ranked Baylor women (12-0) will host No. 23 TCU (14-0) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in a matchup pitting two of the seven remaining unbeaten teams in NCAA Division I.
 
Rhoades said Tuesday night was "really special for me, primarily because of all that worked so hard on this," naming Associate ADs Henry Howard and Drew Pittman, Associate AD Gina Gonzales of the Bear Foundation, the communications and fan engagement staffs and "thousands of Austin Commercial workers."
 
"It was all-hands-on-deck," Rhoades said. "And I just wanted it to come off really well because all of those people deserve that because of the time and effort and energy."
 
Although his phone was lighting up with messages from friends telling him to "really enjoy it," Rhoades said that's not just in his nature.
 
"It's hard for me to do that and always has been," he said. "I'm just glad we got through this evening. And look, it wasn't a perfect evening. There are a lot of tweaks and things that we'll learn from this first night. So, look forward to making those tweaks and adjustments moving forward. The best thing about tonight is we played and it went well."
 
And now, less than 24 hours later, Baylor will get to do this all over again with the women's 7 p.m. game Wednesday versus TCU.
 
"I've been a part of this community now for over 20 years," Drew said. "And it's as big for people that don't even follow basketball to have an arena like this for concerts, for restaurants, for hotels. It makes downtown . . . it really adds to the community. It's really cool and neat and something the community deserves."