John Calipari praises Kentucky fans' impact on NCAA Tournament game

Kentucky fans are known for going to the ends of the earth to watch their Wildcats take the hardwood.

A game in London? Home game. A game in New York City? Home game. A game in your favorite team’s building? There’s going to be a ‘Go Big Blue’ chant if the Wildcats are on top. Blue gets in — there’s no way around that, and that rings especially true in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky fans were finally rewarded with their team’s first March Madness win since 2019 when UK defeated Providence in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday. It felt like there was more blue in the building than are in Rupp Arena sometimes.

“Our fans travel. We’ve got great fans. Now, they’re engaged and, you know, they live and die with wins and losses. You have some of them that are out there a little bit, but we’ve got the greatest fans,” head coach John Calipari said. “They travel. They’re excited. I’ve got a stack of letters this year like this when we struggled to hang in, and some of them were unbelievable. I hand-wrote notes to every one of them because that’s our fans.

“This group will go crazy, and there’s this group coming over and sending you letters. ‘Stay the course. You’re doing this the right way. You have these kids. Stay the course. You keep your faith.’ So, our fans, travel. Like, I would have been surprised if we didn’t have this kind of crowd.”

After advancing in the tournament, Kentucky prepares for a tough Kansas State team with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

Kansas State is 1-9 all-time against UK, but that one victory was the latest matchup between the two teams. K-State took the cake 61-58 in the 2018 Sweet 16. Kansas State would go on to lose to Loyola Chicago in the Elite Eight, but the loss still stings for Kentucky fans who thought they had an easy trip to the Final Four that season.

Calipari’s squad hasn’t been to the Final Four since losing to Wisconsin in 2015, and fans are getting restless for another deep run. Can they do it? Or will a different Wildcat team occupy a spot in the East region semifinals?

Tip-off between the Wildcats and the Wildcats is set for 2:40 p.m. ET live on CBS. Kentucky entered Sunday as a three-point favorite over K-State. The winner will face either Marquette or Michigan State in the Sweet 16.