For the 15th time in the last 16 year, Kentucky led the nation in average home attendance, the NCAA announced. UK averaged 23,603 for its home games.
Kentucky has led the nation in attendance 23 times in the 35-year history of Rupp Arena.
Louisville took advantage of 21 home games to lead the nation in total home attendance with 458,463 fans. Next was Syracuse (423,924 in 19 games), Kentucky (354,046 in 15), Tennessee (341,130 in 18), Memphis (318,601 in 19) and Ohio State (302,498 in 20).
For all-game attendance – including home, road and neutral site games – Kentucky led with 755,748 fans watching the Wildcats over 38 games.
In terms of conferences, the Big Ten led the nation for the 35th consecutive year in attendance. Its 11 teams totaled 2,475,440 fans and averaged 12,826 per game.
Rounding out the top five conferences in attendance were Big East (11,323), Southeastern (11,187), Big 12 (10,716) and Atlantic Coast (10,266).
The top 10 in attendance were Kentucky, Syracuse, Louisville, North Carolina, Tennessee, Brigham Young, Wisconsin, Memphis, Kansas and Illinois.
Jerry Tipton of the Lexington Herald- Leader has covered Kentucky basketball since the 1981-82 season. That time includes five coaches, five Final Fours, four athletic directors, two interim athletic directors and many memories. Before coming to Lexington, Tipton worked eight years for the Huntington (W.Va.) Herald-Dispatch. He covered Marshall’s basketball team for two seasons before coming to the Herald-Leader.
