SEC college basketball final: Kentucky 70, Auburn 59
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The No. 22-ranked Kentucky Wildcats take to the road Saturday to face the 13th-ranked Auburn Tigers in a key SEC basketball contest. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET at Neville Arena.
The game is being televised by ESPN with a crew of Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Jess Sims. Or you can listen to Tom Leach and Jack Givens on the UK Sports Network.
Either way, follow along with us. I’ll be at the game along with Ben Roberts and Silas Walker. Follow us on X/Twitter at @BenRobertsHL, @sigh_las and @johnclayiv.
Or you can follow a dedicated Twitter/X list by clicking here.
Final: Kentucky 70, Auburn 59
Final box from Kentucky's 70-59 victory at Auburn, the first home loss of the year for the Tigers.https://t.co/rOUKMxebXi
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Huge assist by Sheppard. Huge backcut and slam by Thiero. Kentucky 66-56 with 2:21 left.
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Kentucky 58, Auburn 46 with 7:30.
Every time you think Auburn is about to make a significant run, the Cats make a play.
Kentucky shooting 46.5 for the game.
Auburn shooting 30.6.#BBN #ukbasketball— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Danger zone. Auburn has cut Kentucky's lead to 47-42. Cal wants timeout with 12:31 to try and calm things down. Difficult in this environment. #BBN #ukbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Kentucky 47, Auburn 36 with 14:54 left here at Neville Arena. Cats didn't allow the host Tigers to open second half with a blitz.
Neither side happy with officials. Each bench playing Jack-in-the-Box with every call.
Cal just got a bench warning for being halfway to Montgomery.— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Halftime: Kentucky 39, Auburn 29
First half could not have gone much better for the Cats. Auburn shot 28.1 percent, including 3-of-12 from 3. Cats shot 48 percent. Rob Dillingham led UK with 11 points.
First half box: https://t.co/iTP37vyWOi— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 18, 2024
Bruce Pearl teetering on the edge of a technical following the last two Kentucky possessions. Pearl (and the Auburn fans) wanted a travel on Reeves and a double-dribble on Dillingham.
Instead, 5 Kentucky points on those possessions.
UK 37, Auburn 25 at the end of that.— Ben Roberts (@BenRobertsHL) February 18, 2024
Auburn is like the baseball team that scores 15 runs one game, gets blanked the next.
Tigers shot 61 percent in 40-point win over South Carolina.
They are 7-of-25 for 28 percent so far tonight.
Kentucky 27, Auburn 18 with 3:52 left in 1H.#BBN #ukbasketball— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 17, 2024
Auburn getting open looks, but not knocking them down. Tigers are 1-of-9 from 3 and trail Kentucky 19-11 at 8:59 mark of 1H. #BBN #ukbasketball
— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 17, 2024
Jack Givens said this week if Kentucky could make it to the first TV timeout without calling a timeout, the Cats would be in good shape. They are in good shape.
UK 6, Auburn 2 at 15:38 mark of 1H.#BBN #ukbasketball— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 17, 2024
Jack Givens said this week if Kentucky could make it to the first TV timeout without calling a timeout, the Cats would be in good shape. They are in good shape.
UK 6, Auburn 2 at 15:38 mark of 1H.#BBN #ukbasketball— John Clay (@johnclayiv) February 17, 2024
On Kentucky's pregame radio show, UK head coach John Calipari says that fifth-year forward Tre Mitchell is OUT for tonight's road game at Auburn.
More information below on Mitchell's injury ️https://t.co/Q3KuBusMWX— Cameron Drummond (@cdrummond97) February 17, 2024
Officials for Kentucky-Auburn
Officials for Kentucky-Auburn are Officials for Kentucky-Auburn are Steven Anderson, Joe Lindsay and Vladimir Voyard-Tadal.
Anderson worked Kentucky’s games against Georgia and Vanderbilt. Lindsay worked the Penn, Illinois State, Missouri and Arkansas games. Voyard-Tadal worked the Marshall game, the game at Florida and the game vs. Tennessee.
Two big questions for Kentucky vs. Auburn
Here are two big questions about Saturday’s Kentucky-Auburn matchup.
1. How will Kentucky’s offense fare vs. Auburn’s defense?
Kentucky ranks No. 7 in adjusted offensive efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy. Auburn ranks No. 9 in that same category. Here’s the thing: While UK ranks No. 104 in adjusted defensive efficiency, Auburn ranks fourth, the only team in the nation that ranks in the top 10 on both offense and defense.
The Tigers lead the nation in two-point defense, holding opponents to 42.4% shooting from inside the arc. Bruce Pearl’s team ranks 19th in 3-point defense at 29.2%.
So how will Kentucky’s high-powered offense fare against such a stingy defense? Especially at Auburn. I wrote about Auburn’s domination of foes in Neville Arena. The Tigers are 13-0 overall in “The Jungle.” That includes a 6-0 SEC mark by an average of 22.3 points.
Kentucky does rank third nationally in 3-point shooting at 40.7%. The Cats are fifth in turnover percentage at 13.4%, even after committing 15 in their 75-63 victory over visiting Ole Miss on Tuesday.
If the Cats have any chance of winning Saturday, they have to find a way to score against the Auburn defense.
2. Can Auburn follow their Wednesday performance?
The Tigers shot a blistering 61% on their way to a 101-61 rout of South Carolina on Wednesday. Pearl’s team was darn near perfect against the 11th-ranked Gamecocks. The Tigers’ two bigs combined to go 9-for-12 from 3-point land. Jaylin Williams made five of his seven 3-point attempts. Johni Broome made 4 of 5.
You might expect a team coming off a 40-point win to experience a letdown. And that could happen. On the other hand, Kentucky is in town. And Auburn students have been camping out since Thursday in preparation for the game.
Aubie is currently playing a game of blackjack at a table with Dylan Cardwell pic.twitter.com/7385W8Ynod
— Ainslie Lee (@ainslielee_) February 17, 2024
Pregame reading material
Some links for your pregame prep:
▪ Mark Story breaks down the matchups and makes a Kentucky-Auburn prediction.
▪ Ainslee Lee of AL.com writes about Auburn’s advantage playing in “The Jungle.”
▪ Cameron Drummond of the H-L reports on what Bruce Pearl had to say about playing Kentucky.
▪ Gary Parrish of CBS Sports put Auburn into the top 10 of his Top 25 and 1 after the Tigers destroyed South Carolina.
▪ Dan Wolken of USA Today says that Kentucky is stumbling toward the NCAA Tournament.
▪ Matt Cohen of AL.com on Auburn’s rise to relevancy.
▪ Ben Roberts writes about how this weekend’s NBA All-Star Game is a showcase for former UK basketball stars.
▪ Ben on what the Cats can’t do moving forward.
Where to watch, how to follow Kentucky’s men’s basketball game vs. Auburn
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Kentucky basketball found a different way to win. ‘This is going to be a turning point.’
Kentucky made progress versus Ole Miss, but one win does not a breakthrough make
