Kentucky basketball is no match for the nation's No. 1 team. Auburn rolls to win in Rupp.

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Mar 1, 2025

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LEXINGTON, Ky. — At the beginning, things were going OK for Kentucky in its battle with No. 1 Auburn on Saturday.

But that didn’t last long.

The top-ranked Tigers unleashed a 12-0 run in less than a minute out of the first TV timeout of the game, and the Wildcats were never able to get back within a possession of Bruce Pearl’s team over the remainder of the afternoon.

Auburn ultimately defeated No. 17 Kentucky 94-78 in Rupp Arena to clinch at least a share of the SEC regular-season title and send the Cats back to .500 in the league with just two games left to play. It was the most-lopsided loss of the SEC schedule for Mark Pope’s team.

A layup from Otega Oweh briefly gave UK a 4-3 lead — and Oweh’s free throws out of the first TV timeout cut Auburn’s advantage to 7-6 — but the Tigers then scored 12 consecutive points over a span of 58 seconds.

The last six in that flurry came courtesy of Miles Kelly, who banked in a pair of 3-pointers less than 20 seconds apart to put the Tigers on top 19-6. UK cut that Auburn lead to six points on three separate occasions, but that was as close as the Cats would get in the first half.

The Tigers ultimately led 49-34 at halftime. The Cats never got it back within single digits after that.

Kentucky was just 1 for 9 from 3-point range in the first half and finished the game at 4 for 17 from deep. Koby Brea was responsible for all of UK’s made 3-pointers.

The Cats also had a season-high 18 turnovers. They committed 10 of those in the first half and committed six more in the first three minutes of the second half, a nightmare start out of the break that included turnovers on five consecutive possessions. Kentucky’s previous season high for turnovers was 17.

Brea scored 21 points for the Wildcats, and he was joined in double figures by Andrew Carr (20 points), Lamont Butler (15 points) and Amari Williams (13 points). Williams also had 14 rebounds and seven assists. Butler had zero assists and five turnovers as he continues to battle a left shoulder injury.

The Cats played without their second and third options at point guard, with Kerr Kriisa and Jaxson Robinson both sidelined due to injury.

Oweh, who led UK to an 83-82 victory over Oklahoma earlier in the week — scoring the team’s final 18 points in that game and finishing with a career-high 28 — was called for three fouls in the first half Saturday, severely limiting his playing time and overall impact. He was called for his fourth foul before the first TV timeout of the second half and ended up with four points.

Kelly finished with 30 points and went 9 for 14 from 3-point range.

National player of the year candidate Johni Broome was held to just one point and missed all five of his shots from the field in the first half. He ended up with nine points and six rebounds.

Auburn (27-2, 15-1 SEC), which has been ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25 poll for seven consecutive weeks, won in Rupp Arena for the first time since 1988. The Cats had won 20 straight games in this series in the building and came into Saturday with a 51-2 record over Auburn in Lexington. They were 31-2 against the Tigers in Rupp Arena before this loss.

This was Kentucky’s 25th game against the No. 1-ranked team in the country. The Cats are now 8-17 in those matchups. It was just the sixth such game in Rupp Arena, with UK dropping to 3-3 in home games against the nation’s top-ranked team.

The Cats fell to 19-10 on the season and are now 8-8 in SEC play.

Kentucky’s next game will be the Wildcats’ final home matchup of the season, a meeting with the LSU Tigers at 7 p.m. EST Tuesday in Rupp Arena. The game will be shown on ESPN2.

LSU, in its third season under former Murray State head coach Matt McMahon, went into Saturday’s game at No. 24 Mississippi State with a 14-14 record and a 3-12 mark in the SEC, placing them 15th in the league standings.

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