On May 12, thousands of fans lined up outside Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, decked out in New York Liberty merch.

It didn’t matter that Matthew Knight Arena is 2,918 miles away from the Liberty’s home, the Barclays Center in New York. Two teams on opposite coasts became one fan base — at least for the weekend.

New York’s WNBA franchise traveled to Eugene for a preseason matchup against the Toyota Antelopes of the Japan Women’s Basketball League. The site of the 84-61 Liberty win was intended as a homecoming for former University of Oregon women’s basketball stars, Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally.

In the 2024 preseason, three-time MVP A’ja Wilson returned to her alma mater, South Carolina. It was the beginning of a new trend where WNBA stars got the chance to play professional basketball in the arena where they played collegiate basketball. In the past month alone, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark returned to Iowa, the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith returned to LSU and Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young faced off against Arike Ogunbowale at Notre Dame. 

A handful of fans started watching women’s basketball at the collegiate level and followed their favorite players to the pros. None of the universities that WNBA teams have played at this year are within a two-hour drive of a professional team, making the exhibition games that much more of an opportunity to draw fans into the next level.

“I feel like everyone’s been talking about this day for a really long time,” Ionescu said. “It just is going to continue to help grow the game of basketball and do so in different areas and especially here in Eugene, where there isn’t a professional basketball team.”

Although Portland is receiving a WNBA team in 2026, the closest that Eugene’s diehard women’s basketball fanbase can see a professional game currently is all the way in Seattle.

Sabally added that it’s a fun experience for the players to return, especially given that some schools are much further away from a WNBA team than others.

“It’s just cool to go back to the old stomping grounds and also have the fans that supported you your whole career, being able to see you in the pros,” Sabally said. “Because some might not be able to travel to the cities where other players play, so to be able to see them and the next step, I think, is really good for the fans.”

While it’s a fairly new opportunity for WNBA franchises to go back to school, Team USA women’s basketball has a history of playing against collegiate teams. When Ionescu was a senior in 2019, her Oregon team became the first college to defeat the senior national team since 1999 in a 93-86 victory.

“It was insane. I think everyone kind of still talks about it today,” Ionescu said. “We got a sellout crowd, and we’re just college kids excited to play against the national team and ended up winning. It was intense. I just remember that moment of how fun it was to play here.”

Ionescu is an Olympic gold medalist for Team USA, five years later. Now, a new generation of Oregon women’s basketball players watched from the crowd, with aspirations of being in the position to play where Ionescu is currently at the professional level.

“It just makes it feel more real. It’s so close to you. You can just come to the game,” current Oregon women’s basketball guard Elisa Mevius said about teams playing on college campuses. “The whole Oregon women’s basketball team is going to the game [against the Antelopes]. I just think it’s going to be more people watching the WNBA more and more.”

Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello added that for a team like New York, which has a lot of new additions, another benefit of going to a player’s former college town is the team bonding aspect. Liberty players, such as newly acquired guard Natasha Cloud, detailed how Ionescu and Sabally were as hosts. The pair showed their team spots in Eugene, such as Dutch Bros and Rennie’s Landing.

Brondello advised other teams who consider playing exhibition games at college campuses to “take the opportunity when presented.” She thinks it’s going to occur more frequently moving forward and hopes that her team “made some new fans.”

“We have to embrace it with two hands and the opportunity to continue to grow the game, this great game that I’ve been a part of for so long,” Brondello said. “But it’s a real movement. And so it’s great to come to non-WNBA teams.”