Kentucky basketball season begins amid cardboard cutouts, few fans at Rupp Arena
Another Kentucky men’s basketball season tipped off at Rupp Arena on Wednesday night.
This one will look a lot different than seasons past.
UK hosted Morehead State to start the 2020-21 campaign, but the Rupp stands were almost entirely empty because of the ongoing precautions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been responsible for more than 250,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 2,000 deaths in the state of Kentucky this year.
Due to the pandemic, there is a maximum allowed capacity of 3,000 people — counting players, coaches and other essential gameday personnel — for UK home games at Rupp Arena this season. The Wildcats are also scheduled to host Richmond on Sunday before traveling to Indianapolis on Tuesday to face Kansas in their first game away from Rupp.
Kentucky was supposed to host Detroit on Friday as part of this opening week, but that game was postponed due to a positive COVID-19 test within the Detroit program.
UK Coach John Calipari has stressed the importance of wearing masks and social distancing in various appearances over the past few weeks — including a plea on the SEC Network’s broadcast of Big Blue Madness on Friday night— and he has said attendance numbers in Rupp could be limited even further if COVID-19 cases in Kentucky continue to increase.
“The team that gets hurt the most — and forget about financial — by not having fans or only having 15 percent or whatever is Kentucky,” Calipari said Monday. “And the reason is, people coming into this building are always playing in front of 20-something thousand. And it’s a big advantage for us. Our fans and our building play a big part in our success. I don’t know what our record is during my 11 years here, but I think it’s pretty high in this building. Well, if it’s just a building and a court, we don’t have the advantage we usually have, so it’s going to hurt us more than anybody else.”
Cardboard cutouts purchased by fans — about 800 have been sold so far, according to UK — were scattered around the Rupp stands before Wednesday’s opener. Calipari wore his mask onto the court. And the chairs in the UK and Morehead State bench areas were spread out to comply with social distancing recommendations.
UK Athletics announced several other changes this week related to games in Rupp Arena and Memorial Coliseum, where the UK women’s team tipped off the season Wednesday under similar restrictions.
Health screenings will be required for all staff and fans at games this season, including temperature checks upon entering the arena. Face coverings are required for all fans at all times, and social distancing is also required for those attending UK home games. Hand sanitization and washing stations have been set up throughout the arenas, and enhanced cleaning and sanitization procedures have been enacted for before, after and during games.
There will be no concessions or outside food or drink at Rupp Arena or Memorial Coliseum, in accordance with a new mandate from Gov. Andy Beshear on no indoor dining. That mandate is set to end Dec. 13 at midnight. It will not apply to the players and coaches participating in the games.
‘Trying our best’
Of course, things will be different for the players on the court as, well. Instead of hearing 20ish thousand fans cheering them on every game, Kentucky’s players — most of them newcomers — will need to generate their own energy while playing in front of a much smaller, spaced-out crowd.
Davion Mintz, making his UK debut Wednesday after coming in from Creighton as a graduate transfer in the offseason, said the Wildcats would need to keep in mind that — even though Kentucky fans won’t be at Rupp in large numbers — those fans would be watching from home.
“We’re trying our best,” Mintz said this week. “… We like to perform in front of big crowds. Fortunately enough, we’ll be able to have some people there — some sort of support. But we’re definitely going to have to find energy within ourselves. I know it’ll be very different. I say it’ll actually be pretty tough (starting) out. But, like I said, we have to find energy within each other, get each other motivated, and, you know, realize that we are on TV playing, so there’s still our fans around the world watching. And just try to make it work.”
UK officials conferred with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, university officials, and the CDC to prepare the plan for home games this season, according to the athletics department’s announcement of precautions and restrictions earlier this week.
The UK athletic department has also asked fans “with pre-existing health conditions or those who are at a greater risk” to consider not attending UK sporting events for the time being. “Even with these measures in place, UK Athletics can, in no way, guarantee that fans will not be exposed to COVID-19,” said the department’s statement this week.
UK has set up a website that includes detailed information on precautions for men’s basketball games, women’s basketball games, as well as other sporting events. The school announced Monday that the majority of tickets for both teams have been sold as full-season packages, and the school does not expect any “general public” ticket sales this season.
While UK began its basketball season Wednesday, plenty of other teams weren’t so lucky.
Dozens of games have been canceled or postponed due to COVID-19 in recent days, several high-major programs have paused activities due to positive tests, and a few high-profile coaches — such as Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes — have tested positive for COVID-19.
Kentucky has 25 games on the regular-season schedule after Wednesday — plus the hope of making up that contest with Detroit — but getting through this 2020-21 campaign is sure to be an arduous process.
This story was originally published November 25, 2020 at 6:03 PM.
