This weekend the Twin Cities’ newest college arena opens in St. Paul: Lee & Penny Anderson Arena, a 253,000 square foot facility on seven acres on the University of St. Thomas main campus, opens officially with two men’s and women’s hockey doubleheaders Oct. 24 and 25 against Providence.
UST this season begins its first year as a full-fledged Division I program, and Anderson Arena is the first crown as the former Division III school stakes its claim as the state’s second DI school. It’s the new home for men’s and women’s basketball and men’s and women’s hockey.
It has two basketball practice courts, one each for MBB and WBB; a hockey practice rink; a spanking new weight room; and sports medicine quarters. It seats 5,300 for basketball and 4,000 for hockey.
The new Tommies’ digs is “an opportunity for the communities to have access to this facility,” declared Phil Esten, St. Thomas vice-president and athletic director. “We can host commencements in this facility. I can see high school competition — hockey, basketball competition — in this facility.
“There’ll certainly be opportunities for those in the communities to experience Lee & Penny Anderson above and beyond just the traditional college [events],” stressed Esten.
However, when challenged by the MSR during a media tour how the new building will attract more Black students to the private four-year university (St. Thomas in the past not known for its diversity), Esten responded, “When I got here [in 2017] our staff was not well diverse at all, and in the first two years we increased diversity in about 20% of our staff.”
Former assistant AD Amy Cooper left St. Thomas in June to become Augsburg’s first Black athletic director. Jamal Griffin (deputy AD) and Michelle Smith Wade (assistant AD of academic support services for athletes) are the current Blacks in top athletic department positions. The football team seemingly has the most Blacks on UST’s 18 D1 programs.
“We’ve increased diversity in a lot of different ways,” stressed Esten. “We’re going to go out and recruit from a student athlete standpoint, and [recruit] student athletes that we feel can be successful athletically for us and academically for us.”
Minneapolis natives Tommy Humphries Jr. and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu both like Anderson Arena: They are among five newcomers on this season’s Tommies men’s basketball team. The additions are expected to bring immediate depth to St. Thomas, who came within a win last season of taking the Summit League title.
“We are going to do something exciting this year,” predicted the 6’7” Johnson-Arigu, who transferred from Miami. “We now can have 24-hour access [to the practice court] whenever we want. Who doesn’t like to have their own private gym?” added the 6’7” Humphries, a Furman transfer.
Both Johnson-Arigu and Humphries are former high school teammates. “I never thought that Isaiah and I would play together in college,” admitted Humphries. “When I found out we were playing together, I got really excited. I get to run it back with my boy again.”
Tommies football
We watched St. Thomas football in person for the first time in the DI era last Saturday as the Tommies improved to 4-3 after a 55-17 victory over Valparaiso.
In his first start of the season, senior QB Amari Powell went 13-for-20, a career-high 265 yards and three TDs, and rushed for a 20-yard score as well. Soph receiver Quentin Cobb-Butler (Woodbury) led all receivers with 81 receiving yards and had one of two TD catches (JaShawn Todd had the other).
“I felt really good,” Powell told the MSR afterwards. “This week of practice has been really good.”
“I got my speed from my mom,” said Cobb-Butler proudly. “My mom was a pretty good soccer player. I’ve been working on getting faster, especially with the ball in my hands.”
More on Amari Powell, Quentin Cobb-Butler, Tommy Humphries Jr., and Isaiah Johnson-Arigu in a future MSR sports edition.
UST went on the road this week and played at Stetson (Fla.) University, 12 noon on Saturday.
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.