Student fans warm up Comcast despite snowy conditions

Most seats in Comcast Center’s upper deck remained empty during yesterday’s Terrapin men’s basketball game, a result of the weekend’s record-breaking snowstorm.

But to guard Eric Hayes, a veteran of 67 games at the 8-year-old arena, there hasn’t been a crowd as boisterous as yesterday’s group, which witnessed the Terps’ 92-71 win against North Carolina.

The Athletics Department allowed students without tickets to the sold-out game to attend, anticipating a large number of no-shows from season ticket holders unable to get to the campus because of the snowy conditions.

Between 2,000 and 3,000 ticketless students showed up, according to Senior Associate Athletics Director Brian Ullmann. All students who made the icy trek to Comcast Center were allowed in.

The students’ vocal support gave the game a more energetic feel, Hayes said.

“A lot more chanting, a lot more noise,” he said. “When we went on a little run there [in the second half] it was pretty loud — as loud as I’ve ever heard it in here. You can definitely tell the difference when there’s more students.”

In 2003, when a winter storm forced the Terps’ home game against Wake Forest to be pushed back one day, the Athletics Department enacted a similar plan.

An e-mail to students yesterday morning said students without tickets would be allowed in on a space-available basis beginning at 1:45 p.m. At 1:30 p.m., when it was obvious many seats outside the student section wouldn’t be filled, ushers began to admit students waiting in line outside the arena.

“There’s no empirical statistical data available to make these choices,” Athletics Director Debbie Yow said before yesterday’s game. “We just want as many students as possible because we want the best game atmosphere possible.”

At 1 p.m., the line of ticketless students was roughly 100 people long. Senior Ozan Baskara said he wasn’t aware of the offer until he received the e-mail.

“I mean, I knew it was a huge game,” Baskara said. “I just saw a bunch of people walking toward the stadium and at the same time I was checking my e-mail to see if school was canceled tomorrow. So I just came over.”

Fueled by the Terps’ hot shooting start, there were several near-defeaning moments going into timeouts and after Terps’ three-pointers. In a critical second-half stretch with just less than 13 minutes remaining and the Tar Heels within four points, the Terps scored seven points in 1:30.

The run sent an already amped-up crowd into a state of delirium, the type of support coach Gary Williams said afterward he appreciated.

“If they had to take a dog sled, they were coming to the game,” Williams said. “That’s a great feeling.”

akraut@umdbk.com