HOUSTON — Chants of “Let’s go Orange” boomed through a 1,200-square foot room at the NRG Center on Saturday afternoon. Syracuse mascot Otto the Orange danced on tables. The perimeter of the room was lit orange, with the Syracuse University official seal projected on the front wall.

It was all part of an official pre-game celebration leading up to the Syracuse men’s basketball Final Four showdown with the University of North Carolina at NRG Stadium. About 1,200 Orange fans and SU alumni poured into Hall A of the NRG Center — located across the NRG complex from the stadium — for the celebration.

The event, which also included performances by the SU cheerleading team and pep band, was put together by SU’s Office of Alumni Engagement. Similar events have been held each weekend at all the sites that the Syracuse men’s and women’s basketball teams have played at during their respective NCAA Tournament runs, said Sue Ballard, the vice president of the Office of Alumni Engagement. Those sites included St. Louis, Chicago and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

“We bleed Orange throughout the nation,” Ballard said. “This one, of course, is amped up with extra energy.”

After the men’s team clinched its berth in the Final Four by beating the University of Virginia in the Elite Eight, the Office of Alumni Engagement worked closely with PrimeSport, a sports travel and event management company, to organize the event and secure the venue inside the NRG Center.

“It was such a quick turnaround, but we were able to make some quick moves and quick calls late last weekend to see this all come to fruition,” Ballard said.

At the celebration, fans enjoyed barbecue food, wine, beer and other beverages.

Michael Burke | Asst. News Editor

When the pep band wasn’t performing, music blared through large speakers at the front of the room.

“It’s a great time,” said Chad Meyer, a Class of 2012 SU alumnus. “This is nuts right now.”

A television screen in the front left corner of the room showed the SU-Notre Dame men’s lacrosse game, which was being played at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse — more than 1,600 miles from Houston.

But that distance didn’t stop a large contingent of fans from the Syracuse area from traveling to the Final Four.

“We’ll travel anywhere,” Meyer, who came from the New York City area, said of the Syracuse fan base. “We just want to see a championship.”

As the end of the event neared, fans — who had been required to wear wristbands to gain entry for the celebration — began to file out of the room, into the hall of the NRG Center and toward the stadium for the main event. More chants of “let’s go Orange” rang through the hall, and some fans engaged in banter with North Carolina fans.

“Make sure you keep those wristbands,” one SU event employee told fans as they exited. “Because when we win tonight, you’ll need them for Monday.”

Published on April 2, 2016 at 7:03 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu