Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 66-59 loss to Auburn
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 66-59 loss to Auburn on Saturday at Auburn Arena:
1. Turnovers did the Cats in again. In a game where both teams struggled to make shots, Kentucky’s carelessness with the ball was too much to overcome.
The Wildcats turned the ball over 17 times for the game, 11 times in the second half. After leading points off of turnovers 10-5 at halftime, UK (4-8, 3-2 SEC) was obliterated 13-2 in that category in half two.
Brandon Boston had five turnovers, Davion Mintz three. UK post players also turned it over, as Olivier Sarr, Lance Ware and Jacob Toppin all had two.
In its back-to-back SEC losses to Alabama and Auburn, Kentucky has turned the ball over a combined 36 times.
This team just does not have a large enough margin of error to turn the ball over like it so often has.
2. Bad foul shooting bites UK. In what was a one-possession game inside the final minute, Kentucky did itself no favors with its earlier performance from the foul line.
The Cats went 9-of-16 from the charity stripe, and were 3-of-6 in the second half as the game hung in the balance.
3. A Kentuckian did not get a shot vs. UK: Auburn freshman standout Justin Powell, the former North Oldham High School star, missed his fourth straight game Saturday while in the concussion protocol.
The 6-foot-6, 205-pound product of Prospect, Ky., is averaging 11.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists and shooting 44.2 percent on three-point attempts in 10 games this season.
Assuming his health allows, Powell will get another shot to play against Kentucky when Auburn visits Rupp Arena on Feb. 13.
4. Pearl vs. Cal. In the long-running, often-heated coaching rivalry between John Calipari and Bruce Pearl, Cal now has a 12-8 head-to-head record vs. Pearl.
The series stood at 2-2 when Calipari was at Memphis and Pearl at Tennessee; Calipari went 4-1 vs. Pearl with Cal at UK and Pearl at UT.
Since Pearl was hired by Auburn before the 2014-15 season, Calipari has a 6-5 record vs. the Tigers. However, Pearl and Auburn have won three of the past four and five of the past nine meetings with Cal and UK.
5. UK has reached its moment of no return. Kentucky’s next four games will likely determine whether the Wildcats have any hope to earn an at-large bid to the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
After a road game at Georgia (No. 116 in the NCAA’s NET rankings entering play Saturday) on Wednesday, UK will face LSU (No. 19) Jan. 23, travel to Alabama (No. 22) Jan. 26 and then play host to Texas (No. 10) in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Jan. 30.
With a losing overall record and no high-level wins, Kentucky is in an all-but-certain must-win situation in these next four games if it aspires to a path into the NCAA tourney that does not involve winning the SEC Tournament.
This story was originally published January 16, 2021 at 4:27 PM.
