WACO, Texas — Baylor‘s basketball teams are playing in a new home along the banks of the Brazos River after 35 years under the golden dome of the Ferrell Center.
The 18th-ranked Bears christened the brand-new Foster Pavilion with a 98-79 win over Cornell. The sixth-ranked women’s team debuts Wednesday night against in-state rival and 23rd-ranked TCU in a matchup of undefeated Big 12 teams.
While there are parts of the $212 million facility not yet completed away from the court, the 7,000-seat arena with standing-room space for about 500 more spectators was ready for games. It came 20 months after ground was broken in May 2022.
Athletic director Mack Rhoades said there were a lot of conversations about whether to move in for games without everything done.
“There were two primary drivers for us when we thought about that decision. One was our student-athletes, giving our student-athletes, particularly our seniors, an opportunity to play in a venue like this,” Rhoades said. “And then I think for our basketball programs, we knew both of them were going to be really, really good teams this year, but giving them the best home-court advantage that they could have during the Big 12 season.”
Among those in attendance Tuesday night was billionaire entrepreneur Bill…
