MINNEAPOLIS _ The game's the game, even when it's played in an end zone.
That was the general sentiment among fans and players this weekend at the first basketball games to be played at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Connor Bair, a senior forward at the University of St. Thomas, is the answer to the future trivia question of who scored the first basket there. The Prior Lake native had the early layup in the Tommies' game with the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. He also had the first dunk, near the end of the game.
"Once you start playing on the court with the lights shining on it, you don't see anything else," he said.
His teammate Michael Hannon, a senior guard from St. Paul, added, "You just focus on the rim."
St. Thomas won the first-ever game played on a three-foot platform at the Vikings' newish home, which opened in August 2016. The results mattered to the Tommies and the other teams who played Friday and Saturday nights, including the Golden Gophers, but the games counted even more as the NCAA-required warmup for the big dance _ the three NCAA Final Four games that will be played in the darkened building April 6-8.
For the four games this weekend, the basketball court was nearly in the eastern end zone, perpendicular to the football field. The announced crowd of 12,357 was a fraction of the 70,000 expected for the Final Four games. The smaller crowd posed no problem for the building, which played host to the Super Bowl in February.
For the tournament games, the court will be placed at midfield and oriented the same as the Vikings' field. The lights will be brighter, the $5 million blackout curtains will be in place, and the crowd will be louder and six times bigger.
To St. Thomas coach Johnny Tauer, the distractions of the once-in-a-lifetime game ended at tipoff. "It's 94 feet by 50 feet, and that's your focus," he said.
