Kentucky’s new basketball court at Rupp Arena is being replaced after just one game.
The University of Kentucky men’s basketball team will forever have a losing record on the third court to grace the Rupp Arena floor.
After just one game, it’s being replaced.
Rupp Arena announced in a social media post Thursday afternoon that officials were “not satisfied” with the court and the company that built the playing surface — Robbins Inc. — would be delivering a new floor as soon as possible.
The court was installed for Kentucky’s home game against UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2, and UK — just four days removed from a 22-point blowout of No. 8 Miami on the “old” Rupp court — lost a shocker to the visiting Seahawks, who pulled off an 80-73 upset over the heavily favored Wildcats.
The loss had nothing to do with the quick switch, obviously.
John Ficks, Global Sales and Marketing Manager at Robbins Sports Surfaces, spoke to the Herald-Leader on Thursday about the problems with the new Rupp Arena court and said that officials with his company and UK made the joint decision to replace the surface after just one game.
“UK is a wonderful customer and a great partner, and we were not happy with how the floor performed when it was delivered to the job site. And we’re taking it back, and we’re replacing it,” Ficks said. “It’s an unfortunate situation that we wish was not the case, because UK has been a great customer of ours forever. We are going to change this out as fast as possible. Not sure how long that’s going to take right now. It’s all happened very fast.”
Brian Sipe, the general manager of Central Bank Center, which includes Rupp Arena, told the Herald-Leader last month that the new court cost $200,000. As part of its contract with UK, the Lexington Center Corporation, which manages Rupp Arena, is responsible for the playing surface, and Sipe said UK last year requested a new court to debut this season as part of that arrangement.
Ficks told the Herald-Leader that there will be no additional money owed to his company as a result of this week’s decision to swap out the new floor.
“There is no extra cost,” he said. “This is simply a replacement.”
Ficks said that Rupp Arena officials raised a concern with Robbins, and the company sent officials to Lexington within a couple of days to inspect the playing surface.
“And when we looked at it, we agreed with them and made the decision to replace the floor,” he said. “This is just an unfortunate situation. And, frankly, I’ve done this for 30 years, and this is the first time I can think of that we’ve ever done anything like this.”
John Puening, product manager for Robbins, said in the Rupp Arena statement that the company would deliver a new floor to Lexington “as soon as possible,” though there’s no specific timetable for that to happen.
Ficks said Robbins officials were still getting lead times from suppliers and that UK should have a more specific timeline on when to expect the new court sometime in the next couple of days. He also said that the design for the new court, which had been met with positive reviews, would remain exactly the same, unless the university opted to change it.
Ficks added that there was nothing related to the playing surface that came up while it was in use during Kentucky’s game against UNC Wilmington this month that led to the switch.
“It had nothing to do with the finish or slipping or sliding,” he said. “It was really more with how the floor was fitting together. And we just weren’t happy with it.”
That will go down as the only men’s game played on the surface, which was the third in Rupp Arena’s history. The UK women’s team also lost their only game on the court, a 76-57 defeat against Minnesota, on Dec. 6.
Rupp Arena was opened in 1976, and the original court was replaced before the 2001-02 season. That playing surface was the home of the Wildcats until the new one was installed this month.
The “old” court — the one used from 2001 up until that game against UNC Wilmington — will be reinstalled for the time being. That court, which has lasted more than 22 years, was also built by Robbins Inc.
The UK men’s team does not play another home game until Dec. 29, when the Cats host Illinois State in Rupp Arena. The UK women’s team is scheduled to play Furman in Rupp on Sunday.
“These are floors that are built to last a very long time,” Ficks said. “And our goal is for the new floor to last a very long time. And for that reason we’re going to change it out and get a new floor.”
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