Kentucky’s ‘icicle’ uniforms are back, but not on the basketball court.
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- Lexington Sporting Club unveiled 'icicles kit' inspired by 1994-95 Kentucky basketball.
- LSC will wear the blue-and-white kit during a July 26 home match against Louisville.
- The revived design nods to Rick Pitino-era recruiting tactics and fan nostalgia.
Lexington Sporting Club rarely misses an opportunity to tap into its Kentucky roots in an effort to energize its fan base.
The soccer club’s USL Championship men’s team sports bourbon-themed uniforms when it plays on the road this season. Its home uniform invokes design elements from horse racing. The women’s Super League squad wears a logo in the shape of Kentucky on the back of its jerseys.
This week, LSC unveiled a kit inspired by one of the more memorable — some might say ugly — uniform combinations ever worn by the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team.
Lexington Sporting Club’s new “icicles kit” is available for purchase on the club’s website.
LSC plans to wear the blue-and-white kit for its home match against Louisville City on July 26 at the Lexington SC Stadium. The match will be part of the USL Jagermeister Cup, as well as the Commonwealth Cup rivalry series between the two teams.
When the Kentucky Wildcats unveiled the uniforms to significant controversy in 1994-95, the design was said to have been inspired by cat scratches.
Not everyone understood that visual.
“People laugh at me because of the stripes,” guard Anthony Epps said at the time. “They say it looks like icicles. ... (But) Coach Pitino likes it, so we have no choice.”
Uniforms were a recruiting ploy
Rick Pitino, midway through his eight-year run as Kentucky’s head coach, liked to pull out all the stops when it came to uniform design. It was just one more lever to pull to attract recruits to the Bluegrass.
“They stick out definitely on television,” Pitino said after unveiling the uniforms in 1994. “It’s a young, hip thing. No question about it. That’s the audience we’re trying to attract.”
Over time, Kentucky fans came to look upon the “icicle” uniforms more fondly, mainly because of the success the Wildcats enjoyed while wearing them.
The 1994-95 Kentucky team finished 28-5 and won the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament championships before falling in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
The core of that team — Tony Delk, Walter McCarty, Antoine Walker, Mark Pope, Jeff Sheppard, Anthony Epps, Jared Prickett, Allen Edwards and Cameron Mills — returned the following season to lead Kentucky to its first national championship in 18 years.
Pope, who made a triumphant return to Kentucky last season as the school’s head coach, was indifferent about the uniforms in 1994, saying, “I’ll wear whatever they want us to.”
At least one current UK basketball player has shown his support for Lexington Sporting Club’s take on the Kentucky hoops uniform. On Tuesday night, LSC posted a photo of Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh wearing the icicles kit on its social media channels.
The ugliest uniforms ever?
Though the uniforms — worn for that one season only — found a following locally, they never really caught on nationally.
Steve Nidetz, the television writer for the Chicago Tribune in 1994, gave a thumbs down after catching the Cats’ new uniforms in the Wooden Classic that season. “The NCAA should put Kentucky on probation for wearing the ugliest basketball uniforms — ever,” he wrote.
In 2020, The Athletic included Kentucky’s icicle shorts among its list of worst college basketball uniforms of all time, calling the the blue road versions “especially frightening.”
Lexington Sporting Club update
Midway through its inaugural season at the USL Championship level, Lexington Sporting Club is 4-6-6 (wins, losses, draws) in league play. The club stands ninth in the 12-team Western Conference. The top eight teams in each conference advance to the postseason.
LSC visits the Sacramento Republic this Saturday (11 p.m. EDT, ESPN+) before returning home to face Louisville City FC in its icicle kit the following Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+) in USL Jagermeister Cup action. The Jagermeister Cup is a competition that includes all Championship and USL League One teams.
Earlier this season, Louisville City beat Lexington, 2-0, in Louisville in a USL Championship match. The July 26 match between Louisville and Lexington will determine which club takes home the first edition of the Commonwealth Cup.
Herald-Leader Staff Writer Cameron Drummond contributed to this article.
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 12:24 PM.