Santa Clara has one of its biggest West Coast Conference match-ups of the year on Saturday night against Gonzaga, and head coach Kerry Keating is doing his best to assure that his team has as much of a home-court advantage as possible. That is why he’s offering to reimburse students for hotel rooms that cost up to $100.
The problem is Santa Clara is still closed for winter break, and on-campus dorms don’t reopen until Sunday. If students have no place to stay on Saturday night, they may not be able to attend the game.
“We need all their energy,” Keating said according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “And if any of them read this and any of them want to stay here and can’t have a room on campus … I want them to personally call the office and I will reimburse them up to $100 for a hotel room.”
Assuming the students don’t get wasted and mess up the hotel rooms, it sounds like a great idea from Keating. As of Thursday night, a Santa Clara spokesperson told The Dagger that six students had already called the basketball office and accepted the offer. Santa Clara went winless in league play last season, so they need any advantage against Gonzaga that they can get. Kudos to Keating for letting the student body know how important it is to the team.
