The new UK basketball court in Rupp Arena is ready. You can buy pieces of the old one.

After a hiccup on the hardwood last winter, the plans for a new basketball court in Rupp Arena have been realized.

Brian Sipe, the general manager of Central Bank Center, which includes the home arena of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, confirmed that the Wildcats will be playing on a new surface when the 2024-25 campaign tips off in a few weeks.

“The new court is here. It’ll be in for the season,” Sipe said. “So we are set to go there.”

This will be take two for the new Rupp Arena floor.

The court that was used in Rupp through the end of last season — just the second playing surface since the building opened in 1976 — was originally installed before the 2001-02 season and was set to be permanently replaced late last year.

A new court was indeed in place for Kentucky’s game against UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2, but that surface didn’t last long. A few days after the game — a shocking upset loss for the Wildcats — officials from Robbins Sports Surfaces, which manufactured the court, inspected the surface and decided it was not up to the company’s standards.

They took back the court, which had been purchased by the company that manages Rupp Arena for $200,000, with the promise to deliver a new playing surface for the Wildcats as soon as possible, with no extra charge.

UK ultimately finished out the 2023-24 season on its old court, but the Cats will finally have a new one for their first game under new head coach Mark Pope.

In fact, the 2024-25 Kentucky team has already seen it. Sipe said the first basketball played on the surface took place over the summer, when Pope’s Wildcats practiced in Rupp on their new floor. Former UK star Reed Sheppard’s fantasy camp took place on the court in late August, and the surface has been deemed good to go for the start of this season.

Aside from some technical tweaks that won’t be visible to fans, the new court will look the same as the one from that UNC Wilmington game last December, including the design that received widespread praise.

The centerpiece of that design is a contrasting wood stain outline of the state of Kentucky that stretches across most of the playing surface. Last season’s Cats didn’t get the desired result in their only game on the design, but the surface itself received positive reviews.

“I think everybody loved what the floor looked like,” Sipe said. “And the floor that you’ll see this season looks pretty much identical to that one. I think it looked great.”

Since next week’s Big Blue Madness will be played on a special glass floor with LED technology — a feature set up specifically for that Oct. 11 spectacle — the first time UK fans will see the Wildcats play on the new Rupp Arena court will be for the team’s exhibition opener against Kentucky Wesleyan on Oct. 23.

The Cats will begin the 2024-25 season against Wright State in Rupp Arena on Nov. 4.

The old Rupp Arena court?

So what will happen to the “old” Rupp floor — the one used from 2001 through the end of last season? It could end up in your possession. Part of it, at least.

Sipe said Rupp is partnering with a company that will sell pieces of the court to fans. The surface is set to be cut up and sold “in all kinds of different facets — from a paperweight to a piece of furniture,” according to Sipe.

He said an official announcement with more details on how and when fans can buy pieces of the court should come in the next couple of weeks, along with some examples of specific items for sale that will feature the old floor.

That court was home to the 2012 national champions and all four of Calipari’s Final Four teams, as well as the final six seasons of the Tubby Smith era and both years in Billy Gillispie’s tenure as head coach.

The original Rupp floor — home to the Wildcats from 1976-2001 — was also carved up and sold off in chunks to UK fans more than two decades ago, though the center-court piece featuring the Rupp logo is now on display inside the building.

So, what will happen to that one-and-done Rupp Arena court from December?

“That’s a good question,” Sipe said, noting that Robbins Sports Surfaces removed it, but he wasn’t sure where it ended up.

Kevin Price had the answer.

The regional manager for Robbins told the Herald-Leader that the court is currently housed at the company’s plant in Ishpeming, Michigan. “The floor had a little bit more flexibility in it than what we like,” he said of the reason Robbins decided it was not up to standards.

It’ll obviously go down in infamy among Kentucky fans.

The 80-73 loss to UNC Wilmington was one of the low points in Calipari’s final season with the Wildcats, and the UK women’s team also played just one game on the surface — a 76-57 loss to Minnesota four days later.

Kentucky fans are hoping for a fresh start with their new floor, but more basketball could still be played on the one that didn’t work out.

Price said his company has been busy manufacturing courts for NBA teams over the past several months, but once that process slows down, officials at Robbins will take a closer look at the one they took back from Rupp Arena, make the necessary adjustments and hope to find it a new home.

“We haven’t really had time to go back to look at the old UK floor and see what we need to do to make it to where we can sell it at a discounted price to somebody,” he said. “But that’s probably going to be the end goal.”

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