Howard
- Dec 15, 2022
- 6 min read
Howard Bison (3-5) vs. Towson Tigers (3-4)
Saturday, December 10 @ 2:00 PM
Washington, DC
Burr Gymnasium
THE SCHOOL
Howard University is a private, historically Black research university in Washington, DC. Founded in 1867, the school was named after Civil War General Oliver Howard. HU has an enrollment of just over 12,000 students, making it the largest private HBCU.
Known as "the Mecca" of African-American higher education, Howard has a long list of famous alumni. Vice President Kamala Harris, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, actor Chadwick Boseman, and writers Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, and Ta-Nehisi Coates are all HU graduates.
The Bison are members of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in NCAA Division I. The MEAC is made up of eight HBCUs stretching from Delaware to South Carolina. The conference has had its struggles lately, losing six members over the past dozen years. Howard has publicly flirted with other DI conferences, but has not yet pulled the trigger.
On a personal note, in the video game College Hoops 2K8, I chose Howard as my team for some reason. Over four virtual seasons when I was like thirteen years old, I took the Bison's men's team to 2 MEAC championships and an NCAA Tournament win, which is better than the real team has ever done.
Towson University is a public university in Towson, Maryland. The Tigers compete in the Colonial Athletic Association, the conference Howard has been flirting with. I watched the Tigers play in their home gym last season.
THE TOWN
Howard is about 3 miles northwest of my apartment. However, the nearest train station is on a different line, there's very little visitor parking on HU's campus, and there's not a direct bus route. So I walked.
On the walk to Howard University, I passed one of -- I think -- Washington, DC's greatest landmarks: a place colloquially known as Dave Thomas Circle.
I am standing in the middle of the intersection of New York Avenue, Florida Avenue, and First Street NE. Here -- smack-dab in the middle of this major thoroughfare -- is an abandoned Wendy's.
Until last year, it was a functioning Wendy's. In order to change roads, you have to go around the Wendy's. You can't turn left, because there's a Wendy's in the way. It wasn't even that easy to get to Wendy's; you still had to cross like three lanes of traffic just to get to the drive-thru.
Why was there a Wendy's here in the first place? Washington, DC is a city with a grid system, yet there are diagonal streets (usually named after states) that cut through the grid. The point where New York Avenue and Florida Avenue meet creates a little triangular piece of land that is neither road nor side of road. At some point, someone said "this would be a great spot for a Wendy's" and this nonsense was born.
The Wendy's closed down in 2021 through eminent domain and it is supposed to be demolished soon. Overall, this is a good thing. The redevelopment plan will tear down this now-empty building, decrease traffic congestion, and add some much-needed green space in a concrete-heavy area.
But, as a non-DC native who rarely drives in this area, I'm kind of going to miss it. It's a monument to ridiculousness. There's no way it should have ever existed, but this Wendy's was open for thirty-something years. It gave the city something to collectively laugh about, and it will soon be nothing more than a weird, weird memory. After it's gone, I hope there will be a plaque, gravestone, or something else to commemorate the abomination that is Dave Thomas Circle.
~
In my Catholic University writeup, I mentioned that its campus felt separate from the rest of Washington. CUA is big, green, and mostly flat, and there are places where you might forget you're in a city.
Howard does not feel that way. It feels like an intrinsic part of the city. The blocks surrounding campus all have corner stores, apartments, hair salons, etc. The streets traversing HU's campus are used by outside pedestrians, bike riders, and drivers. Highway 29 bisects school grounds. I think this is also great; students don't just go to school in DC, they go to school in DC. It also is a pretty campus. A bunch of buildings have spires, which always looks fancy.
Burr Gymnasium is just the kind of place I like. It is old. The Burr has been open since 1963 and it looks like it. It does not have many frills. There is a new video board on one side and the sideline has an ad screen. Other than that, much of it looks the same as it did fifty-nine years ago. I am certain that my seat was part of the original establishment. But there's not a bad seat available and it's a place where you can just sit back and watch a game. Overall, it's a lot of fun.
THE GAME
It took about an hour to walk there. Despite the weather being a bit chilly, it's a pleasant little walk. One ticket cost $10 in the little room they used for a ticket office. Like the Catholic game earlier this season, I could not find a concession stand; fortunately I ate before leaving.
Over the last couple years, more places have started playing Lift Every Voice and Sing (also known as the Black National Anthem) following the Star-Spangled Banner. It's not common, but it happens enough to not be surprised by it. From what I can tell, Howard has been doing this for years, beginning the practice well before George Floyd's murder. I am of two minds on this:
1) Doing both songs means you have to stand for longer, which I am not a fan of.
2) It kinda feels like virtue signaling in a lot of scenarios (though I don't question Howard's intent).
However:
3) In my opinion, Lift Every Voice and Sing is an unquestionably better song. It's easier to sing along to (since it's a hymn) and the melody is simpler and catchier while still being musically interesting. And lyrically... don't hate me...
I'm not sure Francis Scott Key wrote that great a poem. Part of this is because its written in English from two hundred years ago and reading the lyrics now doesn't make sense in the same way it did then. But also... come on: "O say can you see" -- what is that supposed to mean? The whole song is about a flag but it isn't obvious that it's about a flag until the last couple lines. And the infrequently-sung third verse includes this wild line: "Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution." What?!
I don't mean to be un-American or un-patriotic or letting the terrorists win. I could not be happier living in the land of college basketball and Wendy's. I'm just saying -- if someone played Lift Every Voice and Sing but forgot to play the National Anthem, I wouldn't report them.
~
This game was a tussle from the beginning.
Howard's #4, Aziah Hudson, gave the Bison an early lead with a first possession three. Towson came right back, though, and after a quick first five minutes the game was tied 11-11. Five minutes later, it was still close, with Towson leading 18-17 after the first quarter.
However, Howard endured a four-and-a-half minute scoring drought in the second, which Towson's India Johnston (#2) took advantage of by hitting two three-point shots during the stretch. But Howard's #2, Iyanna Warren quickly took care of that. She made a layup through contact and converted the ensuing free throw. On the next trip down, she hit a three. Hudson made a three shortly after, and the Bison tied the game after a frenzy of points. By halftime, the Tigers led 30-28.
You know what this game had a lot of? Turnovers. 36 of them, in fact. Towson had 16 and Howard had 20 for a total of about one turnover per minute, which is a lot. I didn't count them, but it felt like about half of those were traveling calls. Not forced errors, just shuffling feet that all three officials were hardliners on. This had the effect of slowing down a really good game.
Anyway, the third quarter played out much like the first with both teams trading baskets for ten minutes. Iyanna Warren kept making athletic plays. It looked like Howard would lead going into the fourth after Aziah Hudson made another three-point shot, but Towson's #15, Kylie Kornegay-Lucas, made a three of her own shortly before the buzzer. Knotted at 49, the game came down to an all-important fourth quarter.
With 5:17 remaining, the Tigers led by 2, 58-56. This would be a bad time for Howard to go on another cold spell, but that is exactly what happened. Over the next four minutes, Towson scored 9 points while Howard scored 0 and turned the ball over three times. With only a minute-and-a-half left, the Bison didn't have time for a comeback.
Final: Towson 68, Howard 58
Iyanna Warren ended the day with a game-high 18 points while Aziah Hudson added 11. Towson's Kylie Kornegay-Lucas had an impressive line with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals.
Thanks for reading.
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