Kentucky men’s and women’s basketball hosted its annual Big Blue Madness event inside Rupp Arena on Saturday night, illuminated by yet another sold-out crowd.

From player introductions and skills competitions to guest appearances and beyond, we broke down everything that happened at the 2025 edition of one of the richest traditions in the state of Kentucky.

Walkouts:

Every year, the members of both the men’s and women’s teams begin the night with each player having the opportunity to walk out on stage to a song of their choice before the skills competitions, challenges, and other activities.

Women’s team:

Head coach Kenny Brooks — “Work It” by Missy Elliott
#0 – Jordan Obi – “Hot” by Young Thug (feat. Gunna)
#4 – Lexi Blue – “Somebody Loves Me” by Drake & PartyNextDoor
#5 – Tonie Morgan – “Mo Chicken” by Bossman Dlow
#7 – Teonni Key – “Plutoski” by Future
#8 – Asia Boone – “About the Money” by T.I. (feat. Young Thug)
#11 – Gabby Brooks – “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy Tell ’Em
#12 – Dominika Paurova – “Fireball” by Pitbull
#13 – Clara Strack – “Applause” by Lady Gaga
#15 – Elsa Vadfors – “Dancing Queen” by ABBA
#20 – Kaelyn Carroll – “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas
#32 – Amelia Hassett – “Boom Boom Pow” by Black Eyed Peas
#33 – Josie Gilvin – “Do What I Want” by Lil Uzi Vert

Men’s team:

Head coach Mark Pope — “Sirius” by The Alan Parsons Project
Kentucky legend John Wall — “Ice Cream Paint Job” by Dorrough and “Do the John Wall” by Troop 41
#00 – Otega Oweh – The roar of cheers from the fans was deafening and the music was undecipherable.
#1 – Denzel Aberdeen – “Just Wanna Rock” by Lil Uzi Vert
#2 – Jasper Johnson – “Doot Doot (6 7)” by Skrilla and “Tap Tap” by Lil Uzi Vert
#3 – Kam Williams – “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus and “Get Jiggy” by Zeddy Will
#4 – Andrija Jelavić – “Jimmy Cooks” by Drake & 21 Savage
#5 – Collin Chandler – “Icon” by Jaden
#9 – Trent Noah – “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” performed live by Jordan Smith, winner of “The Voice” and a Harlan, Kentucky, native
#10 – Brandon Garrison – “Get Money” by Lil Baby
#11 – Walker Horn – “Return of the Mack” by Mark Morrison
#15 – Jaland Lowe – “All of the Lights” by Kanye West
#20 – Zach Tow – “White Horse” by Chris Stapleton
#21 – Jayden Quaintance – “Rise and Shine” by J. Cole
#22 – Braydon Hawthorne – “Right Foot Creep” by NBA YoungBoy
#23 – Mouhamed Dioubate – “Dior” by Pop Smoke
#24 – Malachi Moreno – “New Level” by A$AP Ferg (feat. Future)
#33 – Reece Potter – “Karma” by Taylor Swift

The Women’s team completed multiple drills to warm up following their introduction. Following this, the actual competition began, starting with the skills contest, followed by Tic-Tac-Toe, a team shooting drill and lastly the 3-point contest.

3-point contest:

Each player shot five balls from five racks, with one money ball worth two points on each rack. There were also two chances to hit a deep 3-pointer from about 28 feet, each worth three points. Asia Boone put the Big Blue Nation on notice with her first-round performance, making 10 consecutive shots and finishing with a first-round total of 24. Amelia Hassett was the standout in the final round, missing her first attempt before draining 13 straight shots from the standard racks.

Women’s team:

Winner- Hassett

Runner-up – Boone

1st Round

Hassett: 18 points

Boone: 24 Points

Caroll: 17 Points

Strack: 14 points

Finals

Hassett: 25 Points

Boone: 15 Points

Skills challenge relay:

The skills relay had players run the length of the court and back, completing a series of obstacles and challenges along the way. The event featured a dribble course, a chest pass into a target, a free throw, a corner 3-pointer with Clara Strack contesting, a bounce pass into a target and a layup to finish. Each team had three members competing to complete the course in the fastest time.

Women’s team:

Winner – Team White

Team White – 2:01 – Obi, Gilvin and Boone

Team Blue – 2:09 – Morgan, Blue and Key

Tic-Tac-Toe:

Two fans were taken from the crowd to represent each team in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. There were X’s and O’s placed on the court and the fans could only put them on the board after the player hit a shot from on top of the X or O.

Women’s team:

Winner – Key

Morgan vs Key

Team shooting drill:

In the team shooting drill, five players line up around the three-point arc, rotating with every make. Teams gained a point for each instance of back-to-back makes.

Women’s team:

Winner – Team White

Team White – 6 – Hassett, Morgan, Carroll, Key and Blue

Team Blue – 4 – Strack, G. Brooks, Gilvin, Boone and Obi

Women’s basketball concluded its segment and was followed by a brief intermission featuring both the Kentucky dance team and cheerleading team.

Following the break, the men’s team took over with their own set of events, starting with a 5v5 scrimmage, followed by a dunk contest, and concluding with the three-point contest, similar to the women’s.

5v5 scrimmage:

The scrimmage lasted five minutes and gave this year’s Wildcats a chance to showcase their skill sets in a 5-on-5 setting. Featuring dunks and several 3-point field goals, Team White edged Team Blue 14-12, with Jasper Johnson sinking a layup in the closing seconds.

Men’s team:

Team White – 14   Team Blue – 12

Team Blue – Oweh, Noah, Chandler, Aberdeen, Dioubate, Tow, Horn and Garrison

Team White – Johnson, Jelavić, Lowe, Moreno, Williams, Hawthorne and Potter

Dunk contest:

Four fans were brought from the stands to join Brandon Garrison at the scorer’s table, rating each dunk on a scale of 1 to 10. Each participating player had two one-minute attempts, and the winner was determined by the highest combined score.

Men’s team:

Winner – Chandler

First Round

Hawthorne:  41

Dioubate:  44

Chandler: 50

Second Round

Hawthorne: 28

Dioubate: 49

Chandler: 50

Winner

Chandler: 100

3-point contest:

The men’s three-point contest was slightly different in terms of additional points, as the rack at the top of the key held all money balls, somewhat different than the women’s, which had just one moneyball in each rack.

Men’s team:

Winner – Noah

Runner-up- Jelavić

First Round

Johnson: 14

Williams: 11

Noah: 25

Lowe: 14

Jelavić: 25

Finals

Jelavić: 21

Noah: 30

Kentucky men’s basketball closed out the night by welcoming numerous different alumni onto the court, which was followed up by a drained, curtain-closing half-court shot from Williams. 

Both Kentucky men’s and women’s hoops will share the floor once more on Friday, Oct. 17, inside Historic Memorial Coliseum for the Blue-White game. The event is set to start at 7 p.m. ET and will be available to stream on SEC Network+.