LEXINGTON — Kentucky basketball‘s game versus No. 1 Auburn at Rupp Arena didn’t end up being much of a contest, as the Tigers rolled to a 94-78 victory Saturday.
But unless you were in attendance in Lexington, you probably didn’t see the end of it.
With a shade more than 12 minutes left in the second half, the feed from ABC, which was handling the national television broadcast of the game, went out. The studio crew then explained “technical difficulties at Rupp Arena” caused the feed to cut out. ABC later started showing the Kansas/Texas Tech game, which was airing at the same time on ESPN. ABC eventually moved into pregame coverage of the NHL matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins.
Once the feed of UK/Auburn finally resumed, it was not airing on ABC.
Instead, the finish aired on ESPNews.
After the game, a UK spokesperson shared a statement about what caused the ABC blackout.
“The broadcast production team experienced technical difficulties during the second half of the game,” the spokesperson said. “There was a fire affecting the ABC generator equipment powering their production truck. It was quickly extinguished, but it caused the broadcast feed to lose power.
“So that is the explanation for that.”
Kentucky returns to Rupp on Tuesday, hosting LSU at 7 p.m.
Perhaps to the relief of television viewers: Tuesday’s game will air on ESPN2, not ABC.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
