Kyra Elzy teases "exciting" new home location for Kentucky WBB in 2023-24

As Memorial Coliseum undergoes much-needed renovations beginning in March, several University of Kentucky athletic teams will need to find a new home location for the 2023-24 seasons. Those programs include women’s basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, and recently introduced STUNT. Expected upgrades to the building include adding air-conditioning, a jumbotron that hangs from the rafters, modernized seating, and much more.

Historic Memorial Coliseum, originally completed in 1950, has been home to many women’s athletics programs for decades now, but that won’t be the case in the fall. When UK initially announced the renovations, a press release noted that “the teams affected will compete in the 2023-24 school year at sites that are in the process of being determined.”

Up to this point, those sites have yet to be determined, but Kentucky women’s basketball head coach Kyra Elzy is excited about what’s in store for her group. During her pre-Senior Day press conference on Friday, Elzy teased that the Big Blue Nation will be “pleasantly happy” with where the women’s team will host home games next season, but did add that the location is still “top secret”.

“Exciting day on Sunday for so many reasons,” Elzy said. “Senior Day as well as it will be the last time we play in Memorial Coliseum as it stands. We’re super excited about the renovations and the renderings look amazing. Our players are excited. I know the fans are excited. We look forward to having people come see us next year in a different location. Excited about that too, but it’s top secret right now. But I think everybody will be pleasantly happy with our game experience next year.”

The most obvious guess to this tease location from Elzy would be Rupp Arena, which is currently home to the Kentucky men’s basketball team. The women’s team plays annually in Rupp Arena, typically twice a season — once during the non-conference and then again during SEC play. But could they move into the downtown Lexington arena for a full season, sharing it with the men, too? From a logistics and geographical standpoint, it makes sense.

However, a move to Rupp would certainly create some scheduling conflicts that UK would have to work around. During the 2022-23 season, the men’s and women’s basketball teams were scheduled to play at home on the same day on four different occasions during the non-conference. Rupp is also home to more than just basketball games, such as concerts and comedy tours. But the SEC schedule would be much easier to manage, as the men play conference games on Tuesday/Wednesday and Saturday, while the women play on Thursday and Sunday.

Rupp Arena isn’t the only option, though. Transylvania’s Clive M. Beck Center, located just a couple of minutes down the road from Rupp Arena, holds 1,200 people — which is well short of Memorial’s roughly 8,000 capacity seating and even shorter of Rupp Arena’s 20,500. Georgetown College’s Davis-Reid Alumni Gym is slightly bigger with a capacity of 2,500 for basketball games, but that gym sits about 25 minutes away from Memorial Coliseum.

Regardless of where Kentucky women’s basketball ultimately plays next season, the head coach of the program is eager to see the Big Blue Nation fill up the stands.