Auburn clobbers Cats on the boards. ‘Wiley just had a field day on Nick.’
As if a hostile road atmosphere and charged-up opponent wanting to make a statement wasn’t enough to overcome, Saturday’s game at Auburn suggested again that this Kentucky team isn’t entirely happy unless it doubles down on adversity.
This time UK had to deal with leading scorer and double-double man Nick Richards not making a field goal in the first half.
Point guard Ashton Hagans, who has been dubbed the “heartbeat” of this Kentucky team, continued his recent splurge of turnovers. He gave away the ball four times inside the first 10 minutes.
The situation was not as dire as at Arkansas two weeks earlier when referees ejected John Calipari and Hagans picked up a fourth foul with 15 minutes left. But it was challenging enough.
This time the Houdini of the hardwood could not escape defeat. Much to the delight of a raucous sellout crowd, Auburn defeated Kentucky 75-66.
UK guard Immanuel Quickley, who equaled a career high of 23 points, cited Auburn’s senior big man, Austin Wiley, when asked about Richards being limited to seven points and seven rebounds.
“He’s a really physical presence,” Quickley said of Wiley, who had the double-double this night with 12 points and 10 rebounds. “He’s really good. He’s been around college basketball a while now.”
UK Coach John Calipari cited Auburn’s 42-28 rebounding advantage as an indicator of how the Wiley-Richards matchup went.
“The difference was the offensive rebounding,” Calipari said. “And that came down to toughness. And, you know, Wiley just had a field day on Nick. And not many people have done that to Nick. But he did.”
Auburn’s 17 offensive rebounds were the most against UK since Tennessee got 18 in the 2018 Southeastern Conference Tournament.
It wasn’t just Richards who came up short on the boards. J’Von McCormick, a 6-foot guard, grabbed five. That was as many as Nate Sestina (one), Tyrese Maxey (four) and Hagans (none) had in a combined 76-plus minutes.
“There were probably six, seven offensive rebounds — you ready? — we didn’t leave our feet,” Calipari said. “And we didn’t jump. I’m, like, what’s going on? We didn’t play (well), but give them credit.”
But, Auburn (19-2 overall and 6-2 in the Southeastern Conference) outscored UK 16-6 in the final 3:57 to win.
Kentucky fell to 16-5 overall and 6-2 in the SEC. Richards finished with seven points (his first game under double digits since Ohio State on Dec. 21). And Hagans had more turnovers (six) than points (five) before fouling out. He played a season-low 21 minutes and had his lowest point total since scoring three in the loss to Evansville.
Hagans’ six turnovers gave him 15 in the last three games (18 in the last four).
When asked to characterize the challenge presented by unproductive performances by Richards and Hagans, Calipari responded with what sounded like a challenge or a threat depending, perhaps, on the listener’s perspective.
“It is what it is,” Calipari said. “They’ve got to come. I’ve done it. I played five guys when I was at UMass.”
Despite basically playing without Richards and Hagans in the opening 20 minutes, Kentucky led 35-34 at halftime. A three-pointer by Maxey with two seconds left set the halftime score and capped his 12-point half.
But, Calipari lamented how Kentucky finished the first half. UK led 28-22 with barely three minutes left. Auburn took a 34-32 lead on Danjel Purifoy’s three-pointer in the final seconds.
Maxey’s counter did not console Calipari.
“The end of the first half really hurt us,” the UK coach said. “Really hurt us. Like, we’ve got the game in hand. And we just come down against the press (and commit careless turnovers). What in the world? We don’t play that way. We don’t have that in our repertoire. Throwing, throwing, throwing, throwing (the ball away).”
Hagans’ two fouls and four turnovers put Maxey at the point. Ditto for the minutes down the stretch of the second half.
“It’s hard,” Calipari said, “because Tyrese is not ready to run a team yet. Possessions matter. They really do. When you’re in that mindset (and) you’re just playing and exchanging baskets, you have a lead and all of a sudden …”
Auburn’s poor shooting presented Kentucky a chance to build a lead. The Tigers made only four of their first 18 shots, and went without a field goal for more than six and one-half minutes in the first half.
There were seven lead chances in the first 4:02 of the second half. In all, the second half had 13 lead changes. The final score marked the largest lead for either team.
“We all had a bad day, me included,” Calipari said. “We all had a bad day. Not one guy in our room I would say played well.”
Next game
Mississippi State at No. 13 Kentucky
9 p.m. Tuesday (ESPN)
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 10:21 PM.
