On your left, look for the big cream-colored ROUND building with a wide staircase and the bold sign over the entrance that reads “THE McKENZIE ARENA.”
This is McKenzie Arena, but around here it’s better known as “The Roundhouse”… because, well, it’s a roundhouse. It opened in 1982, designed by Campbell and Associates, with David J. Moore on site helping steer the whole thing from blueprint to basketball squeaks. Back then it was simply the UTC Arena, built to replace the older Maclellan Gymnasium as the main home court.
And it came out swinging. In its very first season, the defending national champions from North Carolina rolled in… with a roster that included Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, and Sam Perkins. Picture the place: fresh paint, new seats, and the sudden realization that you’re watching future legends warm up right in front of you. Not a bad way to christen a new arena.
In 2000, the building got its current name to honor Toby and Brenda McKenzie-big-time supporters from nearby Cleveland, Tennessee. Since then, it’s hosted Southern Conference tournament action multiple times, plus the kind of grab-bag events that make arenas secretly fun: concerts with a massive stage setup, ice shows, rodeos, circuses, monster truck rallies on a floor big enough to take the punishment, and plenty of wrestling-WCW, WWF, and today’s WWE still dropping by.
It even hosted Terrell Owens’ own Hall of Fame induction celebration here in 2018… because of course it did. Subtlety is overrated.
When you’re set, Maclellan Gymnasium is a 3-minute walk heading south.
