Basketbowl

Kentucky Wildcats	Michigan State Spartans

(4-0)	(3-3)
79	74
Head coach: Tubby Smith	Head coach: Tom Izzo

	1st half	2nd half	Total
Kentucky Wildcats	49	30	79
Michigan State Spartans	43	31	74

Date

December 13, 2003

Venue

Ford Field, Detroit

Attendance

78,129

Network

CBS

Announcers

Verne Lundquist and Billy Packer

The Basketbowl was a college basketball game between Michigan State University and the University of Kentucky held on December 13, 2003, at Ford Field, a domed American football stadium in Detroit, Michigan. Kentucky won the game 79–74, never trailing throughout the contest.^[1]

The announced crowd of 78,129 set a record for verified^[2] attendance at a basketball game in history.^[1] While the record was broken at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, which drew 108,713 to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas,^[3] the Basketbowl still holds the record for attendance at a college basketball game.

Teams

Both schools entered into the contest with significant on-court accomplishments. Combined, both schools had won nine national championships (seven for Kentucky, two for Michigan State) and made 18 Final Four appearances (13 for Kentucky, five for Michigan State). Michigan State and Kentucky had met 20 times previously with Kentucky holding an 11–9 advantage. Michigan State had defeated Kentucky 71–67 the previous year at Rupp Arena.

Court

The basketball court for the game was moved from Michigan State's Breslin Center and reassembled on the 50 yard line of Ford Field, giving the promotional title "Basketbowl: Hoops on the 50!"^{[citation needed]} This is the same court that Michigan State won the 2000 NCAA Championship on in Indianapolis. In addition, the entire court was raised off the field by a custom stage deck installed by SGA Production Staging, Inc. to improve sight lines for those sitting in the upper bowl of the stadium.^{[citation needed]}

Basketball attendance record

The previous record of 75,000 was held by the Harlem Globetrotters during their exhibition game at Berlin, Germany's Olympic Stadium.^[4] The 2010 NBA All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium drew a crowd of 108,713, which shattered the all-time attendance record for the sport set by Michigan State and Kentucky in 2003.^[5]

"BasketBowl II"

It was announced on April 15, 2008 that Ford Field would host "BasketBowl II" between the Spartans and North Carolina as part of the ACC–Big Ten Challenge on December 3 of that year. North Carolina won the game easily 98–63.^[6] The game was televised on ESPN.^[7] The two teams met again in Ford Field four months later, this time for the 2009 NCAA Tournament Championship.^[8] North Carolina easily defeated the Spartans in the championship as well.^[9]

References

^ ^a ^b "Kentucky never trails in 'BasketBowl'". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 2003-12-13. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
^ The 1968 European Cup Winners' Cup final between AEK Athens and Slavia Prague, held at the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, is believed to have had 80,000 in attendance, but that total was not verified at the time. "Partizan sets crowd record at Belgrade Arena!". Euroleague.net. 2009-03-05. Archived from the original on 10 March 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-31.
^ "East wins in front of biggest crowd to watch hoops game". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 2010-02-14. Retrieved 2010-02-15.
^ Weber, Bruce (2015-05-22). "Marques Haynes, 89, Dies; Dribbled as a Globetrotter and Dazzled Worldwide". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
^ "Basketball record 108,713 watch All-Star Game". ESPN.com. February 15, 2010.
^ "North Carolina vs. Michigan State - Game Recap - December 3, 2008 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-06-30.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ "Michigan State vs. North Carolina - Game Recap - April 6, 2009 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved 2017-08-22.
^ "North Carolina Wins NCAA Championship". Retrieved 2017-08-22.

v t e Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	State College Gymnasium (1903–1914) Buell Armory Gymnasium (1910–1924) Alumni Gymnasium (1924–1950) Memorial Coliseum (1950–1976) Rupp Arena (1976–present) Joe Craft Center (practice)
Rivalries	Centre (historical) Florida Indiana Louisville North Carolina Tennessee Transylvania (historical)
Culture & lore	History under Adolph Rupp Fabulous Five Point-shaving scandal Fiddlin' Five Rupp's Runts The Season Without Celebration "The Shot" Unforgettables Untouchables Comeback Cats John Wall Dance Tweakables Pursuit of Perfection 2011 Indiana game Basketbowl Champions Classic CBS Sports Classic The Rivalry: Red v. Blue The Wildcat Scratch Blue "On, On, U of K" "Kentucky Fight" Big Blue Nation Blue blood status
People	Head coaches Honorees NBA draftees Players Statistical leaders
Seasons	1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Helms and Premo-Porretta national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championships in bolded italics

v t e Michigan State Spartans men's basketball
Venues	Armory (1899–1918) IM Circle (1918–1930) Demonstration Hall (1930–1940) Jenison Fieldhouse (1940–1989) Breslin Student Events Center (1989–present)
Rivalries	Michigan
Culture & lore	Basketbowl Champions Classic "The Flintstones" Izzone Michigan State University student riots
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics