Rupp Arena sees sparse crowd as Kentucky hosts South Carolina amid ongoing struggles
The Rupp Arena crowd left plenty to be desired on Tuesday night as Kentucky hosted South Carolina.
The Wildcats also got off to a rough start, as they trailed 9-2, and later 18-6.
Kentucky is in the midst of a tough season as it’s coming off a loss to Alabama on Saturday in which the margin, 78-52, was the largest in the series. Fans have become increasingly restless, and coach John Calipari has even been rumored to have received interest from Texas about its vacancy. That came after a disappointing loss at Missouri.
Long-time observers of the Wildcats called the small crowd turnout “sad” and others were surprised.
As Ben Roberts of the Herald-Leader pointed out, Kentucky was a 19.5-point favorite coming into the game. Kentucky has also finished on the wrong end of the spread in 9 consecutive games.
This is sad. I remember the days when getting to go to a Kentucky basketball game was so special. I rarely got to go as a kid because you didn’t just get tickets to UK basketball games. pic.twitter.com/yntK0B5Mk1
— Steven Peake (@StevenPeakeKSR) January 10, 2023
Somebody has to do it. Here’s your Rupp crowd just a couple minutes before tipoff. pic.twitter.com/JdNzqs4Iff
— Hunter Shelton (@HunterShelton_) January 10, 2023
We love to see that loyalty
Please…
Pretty depressing.
Reminds me of Commonwealth under Joker.
The state high school tournament has better crowds than that. Hey, Mitch… are you paying attention or just paying Cal?
wow. surprising. pretty loud statement to the school.
Fans are firing Calipari. He’s earned it