When the University of Oregon’s Matthew Knight Arena opens in 66 days, the new crown jewel of the Eugene campus will boast perhaps the most unique imagery ever applied to a basketball court.

Developed by Nike design guru Tinker Hatfield — after all, Nike boss Phil Knight has long been the university’s chief athletic benefactor — the arena‘s wood flooring features a trippy, inverse perspective that makes it appear as if you’re looking up through a grove of fir trees.

Weighing more than 22 tons and made up of 225 interlocked panels, the basketball court is more jigsaw puzzle than anything, and even contains some Oregon-centric Easter eggs up where it says Kilkenny Floor.”

Graphic 1 (left side) depicts Morrow County and Heppner, Ore., where Pat Kilkenny grew up. Graphic 2, which symbolizes his education at UO, is the 1970’s interlocking UO logo adorned with three shamrocks representative of his very green and very Irish heritage. Graphic 3 symbolizes the beach and sunset of San Diego, where he became a highly successful entrepreneur and still resides today. As a finishing touch, the phrase “Deep in the Woods” is located below the Matt Arena logo. These words embody the intimidation the venue will pose for visiting teams, and add soul to the building.

How much “soul” the flooring adds to Ducks basketball remains to be seen, but the effort to install such a one-of-a-kind surface was undoubtedly massive. The graphics (done by Idaho-based United Service) took more than 2,500 man-hours to complete and required some 2 miles of stenciling material in order to lay the graphics down properly.

Said Hatfield: “If you’re part of the opposing team, you ought to dread coming there.”

Image: University of Oregon



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