Rupp Arena
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Rupp Arena is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, USA. It is the centerpiece of Lexington Center, a convention and shopping facility owned by an arm of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Lexington's consolidated city-county government. The arena was the host of the 1985 NCAA Final Four, won in an upset by Villanova.
History
The arena's primary tenant is the men's basketball program of the University of Kentucky; it also formerly hosted the Kentucky Thoroughblades (currently the Cleveland Barons) and the Lexington Men O' War minor-league hockey teams, and continues to host Lexington Horsemen arena football (capacity 7,550), numerous concerts (theater capacity 2,300; concert hall 10,000; arena capacity 23,500), conventions, and other events. It is named after UK coaching legend Adolph Rupp, and opened in 1976, a little more than a year before Rupp's death in late 1977. Since the 1985 Final Four, Rupp Arena has hosted a number of NCAA Tournament regional games, most recently in 2002 when Indiana upset top-ranked Duke and went on to lose in the national championship game to Maryland.The arena has also hosted WWE wrestling events. It was the site of a live edition of Monday Night RAW in July 1999. WWE Backlash 2006 which was held at the Rupp Arena became the first-ever WWE pay-per-view to emanate from Lexington.
Seating Arrangement
The arena has an official capacity for basketball of 23,000, but has packed in over 24,000 for many UK basketball games. This is possible because less than half of the seating (10,000) consists of chair-back seats, all of them in the lower seating bowl. The lower bowl also incorporates a student standing-room area called the "eRUPPtion Zone" behind one goal. One of the zone's most popular tenants is Kentucky native, UK alum, and Hollywood vixen Ashley Judd. The upper bowl is completely made up of bleachers. Unlike many arenas built in the following years, it has no luxury suites, and has never been renovated to add them (although it has received some minor renovations in other areas); the demand for UK basketball tickets is so overwhelming that adding suites would inevitably reduce the capacity and possibly lead to a fan backlash. It has a deserved reputation as one of the most intimidating venues for opposing teams in college basketball.Trivia
- The ceremonial first basket in the new facility was sunk by Adolph's young grandson Chip (Adolph III), who ironically went on to play college basketball at Southeastern Conference (SEC) rival Vanderbilt.
- The Rupp Arena attendance record was set on February 4, 2003, when 24,459 people watched the UK men play Florida. The final score was a 70-55 victory for the Wildcats.
- The UK men are the only basketball program in the SEC that plays home games in an off-campus facility. All of the other programs play on-campus, including the UK women, who play in the men's former home of Memorial Coliseum. However, when the women's program expects an unusually large crowd, it will shift an occasional game to Rupp; they notably upset then top-ranked Tennessee there on January 26, 2006. (Some highly ranked women's programs, such as Tennessee and UConn, are large enough draws that schools whose women's teams normally play in smaller venues will shift games to the larger men's venues to accommodate the larger crowds.)
- Rupp staged three Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournaments between 1982 and 1993; it was also the host of the Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament in 1992 and 1993.
- It hosted WWE Backlash in 2006.
NCAA Tournament Games
- 2007 First and Second Rounds
- 2002 South Regional Final (Indiana 81, Kent State 69)
- 1998 First and Second Rounds
- 1996 Southeast Regional Final (Mississippi State 73, Cincinnati 63)
- 1994 First and Second Rounds
- 1992 Southeast Regional Final (Michigan 75, Ohio State 71 OT)
- 1989 Southeast Regional Final (Michigan 102, Virginia 65)
- 1985 Final Four
- *Georgetown 77, St. John's 59 (semifinal)
- *Villanova 52, Memphis State 45 (semifinal)
- *Villanova 66, Georgetown 64 (final)
- 1984 Mideast Regional (Kentucky 54, Illinois 51)
- 1980 Mideast Regional (Purdue 68, Duke 60)
- 1977 Mideast Regional (Charlotte 75, Michigan 68)
External links
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