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As the Brock Badgers men’s basketball team stood in a hallway waiting to go out onto the court at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre Wednesday night, one of the players excitedly said to his teammates, “it’s like an NCAA gym out there.”

They weren’t even on the court yet, but peering out through a glass door into the gym the whole team could feel it. Everyone in the building could feel it.

Brock is claiming to have the best university basketball fans in the country and amid the banging of drums, the screaming fans and the sea of red and white Wednesday, it would be hard to make an argument against that claim.

Three school buses full of Badgers fans made the trip to downtown Toronto as the Badgers men’s and women’s basketball teams took on the highly ranked Ryerson Rams.

Both the Brock men’s and women’s teams came up short in their games – the women losing 74-67 and the men 104-79 – but the road trip was more proof of Brock’s dominance when it comes to fan support.

“It’s unbelievable. Brock is a community and these guys that come out to our games are part of our program,” said Badgers forward Matt Marshall. “We didn’t give them what they wanted to see, but we hope they continue to come out. We appreciate every single one of them.”

As the men’s game wrapped up, the team walked over to the side of the Ryerson gym where Brock’s 150 supporters had amassed and clapped their hands out of gratitude.

Among the fans was Brock Vice-President, Administration Brian Hutchings, who said he was impressed with the turnout.

“It’s fantastic. Half of going to university is the academics and half is the experience and we had 150 students coming out here having a great time tonight,” he said.

Hutchings said the Badgers hype continues to build.

“It’s building and building and building and now we’re getting pressure to expand the gym because we can’t get enough people in there,” he said. “It’s phenomenal.”