Despite a looming storm, UK basketball fans turned out for win over Ole Miss
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- UK basketball fans attended a home game despite the threat of severe winter weather.
- The Wildcats defeated Ole Miss at Rupp Arena in a Saturday morning game.
- The game was scheduled for a 12 p.m. start, but it was moved up one hour to 11 a.m.
When Nicholas Scoville of Berea saw the forecast for Central Kentucky this weekend — with upwards of a foot of snow projected to fall as part of one of the biggest winter weather events in years in the region — one thought dominated in his head.
“The biggest thing that went through my mind is that the Cats have won four in a row and I want to see the fifth,” Scoville said Saturday morning from the second level of the Rupp Arena concourse.
Scoville’s wishes came true early Saturday afternoon as Kentucky secured its fifth straight SEC win with a workmanlike 72-63 effort over Ole Miss.
And despite the looming severe winter storm, plenty of UK basketball backers joined Scoville in supporting the Wildcats.
Kentucky reported a healthy crowd of 19,831 fans for Saturday’s game. And while not every seat in Rupp Arena was occupied for the occasion, it was a crowd — both in terms of size and vocal energy — that was on par with most Kentucky games this season.
“It’s amazing. No matter what it is, I feel like BBN is always going to show up,” UK senior guard Otega Oweh said of the fan turnout. “I’m just thankful that we could suit up and play in front of them. It was easy to not show up to this game, but they did and they were super engaged.”
Compared to most inside Rupp on Saturday, Jon and Paula Wiseman had a lengthy trek to make for the game. They live about 140 miles away in southern Ohio, just across the Ohio River from Ashland. Still, there wasn’t much doubt they would be in attendance when the Wildcats hosted the Rebels.
“My sister got me the tickets for Christmas, so I’m not going to miss it,” Paula said.
That appeared to be a sentiment shared by plenty.
Saturday’s contest between the Cats and Rebels started one hour earlier — the game was moved from a noon start to an 11 a.m. tip time — due to the winter storm expected to descend Saturday afternoon on Kentucky.
Aside from that change to the start time, not much else was different at Rupp as the Cats claimed their fifth consecutive win.
With public safety in mind, there was no postgame radio show with UK coach Mark Pope on the Rupp Arena court after the game. Pope typically spends time after games speaking to UK broadcaster Tom Leach, and fans are allowed to stay in the building to watch that unfold while also grabbing autographs from and photos with the UK coach.
Another change on Saturday was Ole Miss not participating in postgame media activities. The team planned to leave Lexington before the worst of the storm arrived.
