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Saturday’s edition of the most heated rivalry in the Southeastern Conference went beyond the battling players, the sometimes sinister grin of UK head coach Billy Gillispie and the sunshine-bright jacket worn by Bruce Pearl.
The emotions that fuel the rivalry ignites courtside but doesn’t settle there. It filters up the aisles, spreading like an epidemic throughout any arena that houses the game.
Especially at Rupp Arena, where fans would rather give up luxuries of a Saturday afternoon to watch a UK 77-58 win over Tennessee.
After seeing the support of the fans inside Rupp Arena, a question must be asked: Does Big Blue Nation fuel off UK’s players or do UK’s players feed off the cries of the fans?
With the programs great history, players should come in expecting nearly every home game to sell out and for fans to refer to No. 23 as just “Jodie,†like they’re good childhood friends. The expectations began before even wearing blue and white.
On Saturday, UK signees Jon Hood and Daniel Orton got their first taste of the Tennessee-UK rivalry—together from the stands. The two, much like their future teammates playing on the court, should have an expectation of the fans being the sixth man, and the fans have an expectation of a dominate UK team. But where is the cause and effect?
Usually the signs are obvious for a team that feeds off the crowd. They’ll point to the stands, raising the roof while encouraging a sense of home court advantage. But Saturday, against Tennessee, the fans didn‘t need an extra boost, they were already intrigued in the game from the start.
Right after the tip, fans were all over the Tennessee players as the crowd erupted during the Vols’ failure to score on their initial possession. Although UK’s highly overrated student section went quiet at times, the fans across the arena provided a strong lift for the Cats’ moral.
Saturday there was an equilibrium between emotions on the court and those poured out from the stands as BEAT TENNESSEE was the constant beat of the drums for both player and fans. It was evident at the game’s high point with UK ahead 57-38 with 11:07 left to play. Instead of the preseason Southeastern Conference favorite with the lead, it was the Cats who found their way to the top as Rupp Arena rocked, and the fans lifted their voices to celebrate UK running away with the game.
In a game that UK needed to win in order to take back it’s place as the power team in the Conference, UK’s fans showed up to encourage the Cats’ efforts. In doing so, the fans showed that inside Rupp there is a mutual agreement that if they do their part, the players will do theirs. More importantly they expressed there is no love for visiting teams trying to battle their Cats, only hatred. Especially for those from the U and the T.
J.D. Williams is a journalism senior. E-mail jdwilliams@kykernel.com
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UK fan superiority goes all the way back to Alumni Gymn days. My mother told me about it from the 40′s, and I was a part of it in Memorial Gymn in the 60′s. It’s a beautiful thing. Good to hear it’s still there and louder. Go Cats.