UK could bring Auburn sellout

UK could bring Auburn sellout

By Brett Dawson •
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100114/SPORTS03/1140383/1002/sports/UK+could+bring+Auburn+sellout


LEXINGTON, Ky. — It's hard to know how many of the tickets for the University of Kentucky basketball game at Auburn have been sold to Wildcat fans.


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But it's easy to see that No.2 UK is once again a red-hot ticket.

Auburn announced on Thursday that only student tickets remain for Saturday's game between the Wildcats (17-0, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) and Tigers (9-8, 0-2).

It marks the first time this season that Auburn has sold out of public tickets for a basketball game.

That doesn't necessarily mean UK will face a hostile crowd in Auburn, Ala.

“I think it's going to be a pretty big Kentucky contingent, whether it's from Atlanta or from Birmingham,” said Mike Brown, president of the UK Alumni Association's Greater Atlanta Alumni Club. “There's definitely an excitement (for the Auburn game).”

Brown and his wife have tickets and plan to make the two-hour drive, and he's talked to “15 or 20” other UK fans who plan to do the same.

“I would venture to say that none of us has ever been to a game at Auburn before,” Brown said. “I never have.”

Through its first 10 home games, Auburn has averaged 4,472 fans — the lowest average in the SEC — at Beard-Eaves-Memorial Coliseum, a 10,500-seat arena in its 42nd and final season as the home of the Tigers.

It won't be the first time this season the Cats have sent turnstiles spinning.

Indiana had its second-largest crowd of the season for a home game against Kentucky, drawing 17,316 at Assembly Hall on Dec.12. The Cats' trip to Florida on Tuesday brought out 12,618 fans, the Gators' biggest home crowd of the season.

The Cats average 24,048 fans per game at Rupp Arena. The last time UK averaged more than 24,000 fans at Rupp for an entire season was 1990-91, when the Cats set a Rupp record of 24,025.

Brett Dawson can be reached at (859) 523-0706.