I’m very overdue for this blog post, but I went to Providence the day before the Super Bowl to see Providence play DePaul in basketball. Why did I do this? No, it’s not because it’s Joe Mazzulla’s home state. It was because Rhode Island was one of five states where I had never attended a sporting event. It’s a state where I’ve spent very little time. I was in Rhode Island probably in 1995 when my brothers visited Providence on our way to see schools in Massachusetts. Other than that, I’ve been through Rhode Island on my way to and from Boston. I remember driving home from John’s wedding and checking the clock in my car and I think it took me 40 minutes to drive through Rhode Island. In 2025, I crossed off three New England states on the list of states to see a sporting event in (Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire). I probably would have done Rhode Island a while ago, but they haven’t had minor league baseball since 2019. So a Providence basketball game was the best option. The problem was it pretty much had to be a Saturday game and it had to be a game that didn’t interfere with watching football. I think one year they might have played Georgetown on a Saturday after football season, but it was Ed Cooley’s return to Providence and ticket prices were really expensive. But this year, they played DePaul on the day before the Super Bowl so that was pretty much ideal. Also, the game was at 4:00, which meant I could leave home at a reasonable hour, get to Providence in time for the game (or so I thought), and get back home without having to stay overnight in Providence.
There was some snow in the forecast, but it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. But my train was delayed. When I got on the train, it was still sunny. But the weather got worse as it went through Connecticut. By the time I got to Providence, snow had accumulated on the train where the doors would open. Providence had gotten a few inches and after walking about a half mile from the train station to Amica Mutual Pavilion (on some sidewalks that didn’t have the snow cleared), I made it to the game with about 9:00 minutes left in the first half. I would have liked to have been there for the whole game, but it was better than only getting to see the last three innings of a baseball game in South Dakota.
It wasn’t a particularly exciting game. It was two bad teams. DePaul ended up finishing sixth in the Big East at 8-12 and 16-15 overall (which is actually a great season for DePaul during their time in the Big East). Providence finished tied for seventh at 7-13 and 15-17 overall. But this game was all Providence. I don’t remember what the score was when I got there, but they led 43-26 at halftime and they won 90-72. Jason Edwards had 25 points, Jaylin Sellers had 21, and Oswin Erhunmwunse had 10 points and 13 rebounds. Providence was 9/21 for three and DePaul was 5/23.
There were lots of empty seats.
The box score doesn’t list attendance. The Providence website said it was sold out when I was trying to buy a ticket (I got one pretty cheap on the secondary market), but there were plenty of empty seats. That could have been because of a lot of no shows between the weather and the bad teams. Capacity for Amica Mutual Pavilion is 12,410. I would guess there were around 8,000 fans there (that might be generous).
Joe Mullaney was born in Flushing, went to Holy Cross, and coached at Providence. He had 30 points and 52 assists in 37 games for the 1949-1950 Boston Celtics. He also coached the Lakers for two years. Fortunately he didn’t win the championship with them. He lost in the NBA Finals against the Knicks in 1970 and then lost to the Bucks in 1971 (who ended up winning the championship).
The Amica Mutual Pavilion food and beverage program wasn’t very impressive. I had a hot dog (sadly they didn’t have real mustard, only yellow) and a Friar American Golden Ale from Newport Craft Brewing. Apparently some of the money from it goes to Providence athletes. It was nothing special.
I’ll usually go with a local craft beer when I’m at a sporting event out of state. I’ve had Rhode Island beer before, but this was definitely the first time I drank a Rhode Island beer in Rhode Island.
Providence won today in the Big East Tournament. They play St. John’s tomorrow afternoon. I will be at the Big East Tournament tomorrow night. I’m rooting for anybody other than UConn, St. John’s or Villanova to win. I will always root against UConn and Danny Hurley. I would like to root for St. John’s, but I will not root for Rick Pitino when there are other Catholic schools I could root for. Normally I would root for Villanova (I will definitely be rooting for them in the NCAA Tournament), but they’re making the tournament either way. If anybody other than those three teams wins, the Big East will get a fourth team in. If it’s one of those three, it will only be those three. It would be a pretty big upset if somebody other than those teams won, but go Seton Hall (or whoever else).
So that was my sporting event in Rhode Island. I still have West Virginia, Mississippi, Wyoming, and Hawaii to go. Maybe I’ll get to one of them this year.
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