Top-ranked Auburn is next for UK basketball. What does Bruce Pearl think of the Wildcats?
So far this season in men’s college basketball, it’s been Auburn and then everybody else.
It’s been that kind of campaign to date for head coach Bruce Pearl and the No. 1-ranked Tigers, who will roll into Rupp Arena on Saturday for a highly anticipated afternoon SEC matchup against No. 17 Kentucky.
The statistics behind this Auburn season are staggering.
The Tigers are 26-2 overall and 14-1 in SEC games. Their only losses have come at current No. 2 Duke in the ACC/SEC Challenge in early December in Durham and at home against Florida, the current No. 3 team in the nation, on Feb. 8.
It’s worth noting that Kentucky has defeated both Duke and Florida already this season.
Auburn — which has been No. 1 in the AP poll for seven consecutive weeks — owns a remarkable 15-2 record in Quad 1 games this season, which represents five more wins in those contests than any other school: Alabama has 10 Quad 1 wins, and Kentucky is one of four schools with nine Quad 1 wins.
The KenPom metrics, entering Friday’s games, have Auburn ranked as the best offense in the nation and as the 12th-best defense.
Auburn is deep, with six players averaging double-digit scoring per game and three players averaging at least five rebounds per contest. There’s also plenty of star power at the top. Fifth-year forward Johni Broome, who began his college career at Morehead State, is a legit national player of the year contender with per-game averages of 18.8 points, 11.0 rebounds (which leads the SEC) and 3.4 assists. Broome also leads the SEC with 2.5 blocks per game, further bolstering his case to be named the conference player of the year.
Feisty senior Chad Baker-Mazara (12.7 points) and impact freshman Tahaad Pettiford (10.7 points) at the guard spot are other players to know, as well as defensive standout Dylan Cardwell, a fifth-year center. Cardwell will become the all-time wins leader in Auburn basketball history with the Tigers’ next triumph.
Earlier this month, Auburn was projected to be the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament when the Selection Committee went through a dry run of that seeding exercise.
There’s also the small matter of a looming SEC regular season championship for Auburn. The Tigers will enter this weekend with a two-game lead in the conference standings over Alabama with three games to go. And on Wednesday night, Auburn was last seen bulldozing Ole Miss by 30 points.
In short, Auburn — which is also the top team in the NCAA NET rankings — is enjoying a dream season.
What kind of challenges could Mark Pope’s Kentucky — a basketball team that still has significant injury questions — pose to the Tigers on Saturday?
“He’s a brilliant offensive coach. And he’s got a dangerous team because of the way they shoot the basketball,” Pearl said of the Kentucky coach and his team Wednesday night. “They run the most advanced five-out system in our game today.”
During his Friday press conference specifically previewing the Kentucky game, Pearl elaborated further on the challenges that come with playing the Cats.
Pearl described UK junior guard Otega Oweh — who scored a career-best 28 points against Oklahoma, including Kentucky’s final 18 points of the game and the game-winner with six seconds to go — as potentially “the best athlete in the league.”
“An impossible cover,” Pearl said of Oweh. “... He’s a monster. Oweh is a very tough cover. He can get downhill. He can make tough 2s. He gets to the foul line... Guarding without fouling is difficult. He can make the 3-point shot... He’s got that next-level athleticism.”
“A dynamic center,” is how Pearl described UK fifth-year big man Amari Williams.
Pearl also said the battle between UK fifth-year guard Lamont Butler and Auburn senior guard Denver Jones “will be a great matchup” between the SEC’s two best defensive guards. Butler returned for Kentucky against Oklahoma after missing three straight games due to a left shoulder injury, which was initially suffered on Jan. 14.
“They are night and day better defensively with (Butler),” Pearl said of Kentucky. “... Whoever Butler is guarding is going to be challenged to score and playmake.”
Pearl — who owns a career 10-18 mark against UK, with a 6-9 record against Kentucky while at Auburn — also pointed out plenty of Kentucky’s team offensive statistics. The Wildcats have averaged 91.2 points and 19.4 assists per game inside Rupp Arena this season.
Pearl’s teams have lost their last two games against Kentucky, although those obviously came when John Calipari manned the bench for the Wildcats. Last season, Kentucky claimed a surprise 70-59 win at Auburn. Two seasons ago, UK crushed Auburn to the tune of an 86-54 decision at Rupp Arena.
Auburn’s last victory over Kentucky was an 80-71 triumph on Jan. 22, 2022, a game at Auburn that pitted the No. 12-ranked Wildcats against the No. 2-ranked Tigers.
Some rankings-related history will be on the line Saturday in Lexington, too.
No Kentucky coach has ever won his first regular-season game against the nation’s No. 1 team. Pope could change that Saturday, and Pearl is acutely aware of the danger that Kentucky presents, especially at home.
Pope’s team has risen to the occasion plenty of times already this season. Kentucky has seven wins over teams ranked in the top 15 of the AP poll at the time of the game. That’s already a school record for top-15 wins in a regular season.
In Lexington, UK owns a 14-2 record, losing only to Alabama on Jan. 18 and ex-coach Calipari and Arkansas on Feb. 1. Auburn hasn’t won at Rupp Arena since January 1988, a 53-52 result for the Tigers over a No. 1-ranked UK team.
“It’s a huge building. They have a very, very knowledgeable fan base. They know the game,” Pearl said Wednesday. “They have an expectation to beat you. They’re always very, very talented. ... But I think the reason we have not won there is because historically Kentucky has been the best team in the league, and historically we haven’t been one of the best teams in the league, over a long period of time.”
“But we’re trying to put a dent in that right now.”
Saturday’s top-20 SEC matchup in Rupp Arena will also be getting some special treatment on the TV side of things.
Kentucky-Auburn will be broadcast on ABC, and the network’s presentation of the game will include “special access and a unique look into each program,” per ESPN. This will include both Pearl and Pope wearing microphones during the game and providing access to TV cameras in their respective locker rooms for pregame and halftime content.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 11:23 AM.
