Normally, the Scottrade Center in St. Louis is occupied by the Blues hockey team. This weekend, the arena was taken over a different blue– the Kentucky shade. 

Fans in blue– or Tennessee orange, Alabama crimson or other SEC shades– milled about the Scottrade Center during the SEC tournament weekend. The Southeastern Conference had a “FanFare” area set up, allowing fans to pregame (in every sense of the word) before watching their favorite team inside the arena. 

The SEC provided fans with entertainment, like games to play and live music, food trucks and even some team memorabilia– though most fans came more than prepared.

Rupp Arena regulars may recognize this Kentucky native, who has sported a painted face at UK basketball games for several years now. 

This man marched into the Scottrade Center before both Friday’s and Saturday’s games, with sign held high. His sign paired well with the Blues’ home arena– Blues fans, like Wildcats fans, like to say they “bleed blue.”

This fan opted out of full-face paint but showed her Wildcat pride with a face tattoo while watching UK defeat the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday.

This fan donned UK-blue boas and grabbed a flag for each hand for a photo op. AT&T had a photo booth set up, complete with props for each SEC team.

These fans didn’t need a photo booth– they took their own selfie before heading into the arena to watch the UK versus Georgia game on Friday afternoon.

Other fans counted down the minutes until the competition on the court with some friendly competition, provided by SEC FanFare.

Shortly before UK and Alabama faced off on the court, a UK fan and an Alabama fan matched up in corn hole.

No UK fan likes to lose in basketball, even if it’s just a friendly shooting game outside the Scottrade Center.

Fans who didn’t have tickets to watch the action in person had the chance to watch UK dominate Alabama outside, surrounded by heaters to fight against the chill.

When the buzzer sounded, UK fans celebrated the win, already looking forward to what might come tomorrow: another SEC title.