Rupp Arena was host to dozens of former Kentucky legends on Saturday
Rupp Arena was the most fun its been all season long on Saturday afternoon.
All of the stars came to Lexington to see Kentucky smack Alabama 90-81 despite missing both TyTy Washington and Sahvir Wheeler. Whether it was Immanuel Quickley being honored as the “Y”, the roughly 50 former Wildcats popping up on the video board, or Rhyne Howard receiving an ovation for her 2,000 career points, Rupp Arena was a buzz all afternoon long. We also saw the likes of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Dominique Hawkins, Jack “Goose” Givens, Dan Issel, Erik Daniels, Ramel “Smooth” Bradley, Deron Feldhaus, Jarrod Polson, Daniel Orton, and many, many more come back home to where it all started.
As for the atmosphere, UK’s comeback effort in the late first half and into the early second half sure did inject some energy into a building that had been lacking memorable moments the last two seasons. The Big Blue Nation showed up early and packed all 20,000 seats to the brim for the last Saturday home game of the year. When Kellan Grady drilled the 3-pointer that put Kentucky in front for good right before the half, it was the loudest some had ever heard the arena before.
Quickley was the day’s biggest star, though. Acting as the “Y” during a timeout late-game, he received a massive standing ovation as he hyped up the crowd and had a mini griddy-off with TyTy Washington. IQ, who is currently in his second season with the New York Knicks, was sporting a slick Knicks jacket with a Muhammad Ali t-shirt underneath.
Quickley, who is good friends with Rhyne Howard stemming from their time together at Kentucky, made sure to praise the “GOAT” after she was honored during a timeout. Howard recently recorded her 2,000th career college point, becoming just the sixth ever Wildcat, male or female, to hit that benchmark in program history.
Even the halftime entertainment was top-notch. Self-described as “America’s Oldest Daredevil Acrobat”, the Amazing Sladek had Rupp Arena amazed and worried all at the same time. If you aren’t familiar with what went down, just picture a 63-year-old man stacking multiple chairs on top of each other while climbing them until he reaches the top. And yes, it is as frightening to watch as it sounds. The Amazing Sladek had an extended stay in Lexington too, performing during halftime of the Kentucky Women’s Basketball win on Thursday.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any video of his performance from yesterday, but to give you an idea of what it’s like…
[UPDATE]
Sike! Looks like we DO have a video of the Amazing Sladek’s performance at Rupp Arena. Big shoutout to Scott Goodpaster, who was kind enough to let us use his footage. Check it out in all its glory.
Check out some of Dr. Michael Huang’s pictures from the game.
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