Missouri State guard Spencer Laurie knows quite a bit about college basketball arenas. He probably qualifies as an expert.

JQH Arena, Missouri State's new home, is the fourth home venue Laurie's had since he began his college career.

"This is probably the best one," Laurie said Wednesday, following the Bears' first practice in their new den.

His teammates readily agreed.

"The first day I was on campus, it was just a big dirt hole," redshirt freshman forward Kyle Weems said. "Now it's finally done and it's great.

"We're eager to play in there Saturday."

The Bears face Arkansas at 7:15 p.m. Saturday in the inaugural game in the 11,000-seat arena. As of Wednesday afternoon, a few hundred tickets remained.

Perhaps no MSU player is enjoying the move more than Laurie, who began his career at Missouri and played in Hearnes Center before the Tigers moved to Mizzou Arena.

Upon his return to Springfield and MSU, he played in Hammons Student Center --site of many big games for him as a high school star at Kickapoo.

But walking from the doorway from Hammons into the tunnel going into JQH, Laurie said, is surreal.

"It's like going through a portal and into a whole different world," he said.

"Mizzou Arena is pretty nice, too. But everything that went into this arena, it's just an awesome place and we're excited to have a chance to play here."

Bears coach Cuonzo Martin said it was not exactly a routine practice, for obvious reasons. Along with his players soaking in the new atmosphere, workers were busy throughout the building applying finishing touches.

The sounds of drills and hammers were interspersed with squeaky sneakers and whistles.

"It was good just to get on the floor and for our guys to get some shots up at the rims," Martin said, adding that it was hard to tell if the team's focus was good or so-so.

"Normally after we've had a day off we're a little sluggish at the start of practice anyway, so there might have been a little bit of that, too," Martin said.

"But it's a beautiful arena. I look forward to seeing how it looks Saturday night when fans are in the seats."

Weems said the rims "were a little stiff" as new goals sometimes are, but that the shooting background was fine.

Laurie, perhaps used to different home settings, called the new rims and shooting background no big deal.

"The rims were 10 feet and the nets were the same," he said, laughing. "The ball fits, so we're off and running."

For freshman guard Cardell McFarland, the thing that stood out the most was the massive combination scoreboard and videoboard hanging above center court.

"You can't look anywhere up toward the top without seeing the scoreboard," McFarland said.