6 Highlights of Foster Pavilion’s Inaugural Season

A new era of Baylor basketball on the Brazos began in 2024 with the Paul and Alejandra Foster Pavilion opening as the state-of-the-art home of the championship-winning men’s and women’s basketball programs. The 7,500-capacity modern fieldhouse has received rave reviews nationally and instantly transformed Baylor into an elite home-court advantage and an opposing team’s nightmare. Here are a few of the marquee moments of Foster’s debut season:

Opening Night on the Brazos 

The Bears christened the new venue with a 98-79 win over Cornell on Jan. 2 in front of a sold-out crowd. The game marked the end of the basketball era at the Ferrell Center, which hosted both MBB and WBB for 35 years.

First-Ever Big 12 Contest 

Just a day after the facility’s grand opening, the Jan. 3 women’s basketball game saw Baylor hosting No. 22 TCU in the first-ever Big 12 matchup at Foster Pavilion. The Bears extended their 14-game winning streak and rolled to a 71-50 rout of the Horned Frogs. 

Top-10 Dub over Kansas

The sold-out Foster crowd offered a rough welcome to No. 7 Kansas, helping lift Baylor to an 82-74 win over the visiting Jayhawks on March 2. First-year 7-footer Yves Missi nearly blew the roof off the newly constructed pavilion, opening the game on a monstrous dunk that sent the home crowd into a fury that carried throughout the contest. 

Fifth Top-25 Win for WBB

The Foster fanatics were back to help lift WBB to the team’s fifth top-25 win of the season, notching a 65-58 win over No. 22 West Virginia on Feb. 10.

BG Game Blowout

The Feb. 18 WBB game marked the emotional return of Brittney Griner, B.S.Ed. ’19, for her jersey retirement ceremony and also marked one of the most complete games of the season for Baylor in a 61-32 win for the Bears over Texas Tech. 

Senior Night, Happy Trails to the Longhorns

The slugfest finale to the Baylor-Texas rivalry also marked the final game in the debut season of Foster Pavilion, with the Bears earning a 93-85 win on March 4 to send the Longhorns on their way out of the Big 12. Rattling off a 21-3 second-half run, Baylor rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit with the Foster home-court advantage — once again — playing a pivotal role for the Bears.