Gone in a flash: You had to act quickly to get a ticket to Big Blue Madness

It didn’t take long for University of Kentucky basketball fans to clear out the entire alottment of free tickets to this year’s Big Blue Madness.

Tickets were made available to the public at 10 p.m. Friday. By 10:28 p.m., they were all gone.

Campers lined up outside Memorial Coliseum for days to get their passes to UK’s annual celebration of the opening of basketball practice. Each camper received control cards that guaranteed them a maximum of two tickets at the Memorial Coliseum box office. Fans were also able to secure tickets online at Ticketmaster.com.

UK said that more than a thousand fans — and 375 tents to be exact — camped out on the Memorial Coliseum/Joe Craft Center grounds this week.

Big Blue Madness, which will feature introductions of both the men’s and women’s basketball teams, practice drills, videos, and more, is Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. in the newly renovated Rupp Arena. It will be televised on the SEC Network.

This will be the 12th time Madness has been held in Rupp Arena.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 9:47 AM with the headline "Gone in a flash: You had to act quickly to get a ticket to Big Blue Madness."