NCAA Basketball


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Memorial Coliseum-KY

201 Avenue of Champions

Lexington, KY 40506

Opened: December 1, 1950

Memorial Coliseum is an 8,500 seat multi-purpose arena in Lexington, Kentucky. The facility, which opened in 1950, is home to three women's teams at the University of Kentucky - basketball, volleyball, and gymnastics. Before Rupp Arena opened in 1976, it also housed the men's basketball team. Memorial Coliseum also housed the university's swimming and diving team prior to the 1989 completion of the Lancaster Aquatics Center.

The facility was built as a memorial to Kentuckians who had died during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Later, the names of all Kentuckians who died in the Vietnam War were added. Originally, it had an official capacity of 12,000, making it the largest arena in the South at the time. However, the Coliseum frequently drew crowds of over 13,000 for many UK basketball games. A major renovation, completed in 1990, reduced the seating capacity to its current total of 8,500 and added an elaborate weight training facility, new offices for the basketball and athletics programs, a players' lounge, and a team meeting room. The seating is now mostly located on the sidelines, and the men's NCAA basketball championship banners still hang on the walls. The building is known for its air of great tradition.

It was the home of the UK men's basketball team and saw two NCAA men's basketball national championship teams (1951, 1958), two NCAA men's basketball runner-up teams (1966, 1975), one NIT Men's Basketball champion (1976), and 16 Southeastern Conference (SEC) Men's Basketball regular season champions.

Overall, in 26 seasons (1950-51 to 1975-76), the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team posted a home record of 307-38 (.890). Memorial hosted a first-round game in the 2009 National Invitation Tournament on March 17, 2009 between the Wildcats and the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, with the Wildcats winning 70-60. The game was held at Memorial instead of Rupp Arena due to a scheduling conflict with the KHSAA boys' high school basketball state tournament scheduled at Rupp that week.

In addition to being home for UK games, it hosted the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament ten times, four times as a regional site (1957, 1958, 1967, 1968) and six more as a sub-regional site (1955, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1967, 1975). The Coliseum was also the home of the Kentucky Boys' Sweet Sixteen State Basketball Tournament from 1951 to 1964. Since then, it has hosted numerous high school basketball tournaments over the years.

Last 10 Games
Date	Opponents	Result

Mar 17, 2009	UNLV @ Kentucky	60 - 70
Mar 8, 1976	Mississippi State @ Kentucky	93 - 94
Mar 6, 1976	Alabama @ Kentucky	85 - 90
Feb 23, 1976	Auburn @ Kentucky	82 - 93
Feb 21, 1976	Florida @ Kentucky	89 - 96
Feb 2, 1976	LSU @ Kentucky	71 - 85
Jan 31, 1976	Ole Miss @ Kentucky	81 - 89
Jan 17, 1976	Vanderbilt @ Kentucky	76 - 77
Jan 12, 1976	Georgia @ Kentucky	76 - 92
Jan 10, 1976	Tennessee @ Kentucky	90 - 88