Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s 94-78 loss to No. 1 Auburn
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Game day: No. 1 Auburn 94, No. 17 Kentucky 78
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Auburn in Rupp Arena.
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Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s 94-78 loss to No. 1 Auburn:
1. Auburn makes a statement. Entering the game, Kentucky was 4-0 vs. teams rated in the NET rankings top five. UK was 1-0 vs. No. 2 Duke, 2-0 vs. No. 4 Tennessee and 1-0 against No. 5 Florida.
No. 1 Auburn was a whole different matter.
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers dominated UK with their defense.
Auburn forced 18 Kentucky turnovers, and the Tigers’ 21-9 advantage in points off of turnovers essentially was the story of the game.
Blessed with abundant defensive length on the wings, Auburn limited UK to 4-of-17 3-point shooting.
Koby Brea, who scored 21 points and made 4 of 7 treys, was the only Wildcat to connect from behind the arc, and he hit three of his treys in the second half when the contest’s outcome was never in doubt.
Meanwhile, Kentucky had no defensive answer for Auburn on the perimeter.
Wing Miles Kelly had a season-high 30 points. Kelly hit 10 of 17 shots and 9 of 14 3-pointers.
A transfer from Georgia Tech, the 6-foot-6, 190-pound Kelly should have chosen a school in Kentucky. His career high also came in the commonwealth when he scored 36 points against Louisville in the KFC Yum Center, on Feb. 10 of last season.
Auburn’s other wing, Chad Mazara-Baker added 22 points and sixth man Tahaad Pettiford, an impressive 6-1, 170-pound freshman, chipped in 21.
Bruce Pearl’s Tigers are putting together one of the most impressive seasons in 21st century men’s college hoops.
Capping a day of domination inside Rupp Arena, Auburn fans took over the venue late and filled the air with a “Let’s go Auburn” chant.
2. UK’s Williams wins battle of bigs. If there was any bright spot for Kentucky, Wildcats center Amari Williams got the better of his matchup with Auburn’s Johni Broome — the presumptive SEC Player of the Year favorite and a strong national player of the year candidate.
The 7-foot, 262-pound Williams flirted with his second triple-double of the season, finishing with 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists.
Former Morehead State star Broome made only 3 of 9 shots, missed both of his 3-point tries and went 3-of-7 from the foul line. The 6-11, 240-pound super-senior finished with nine points, six boards and an assist.
That Auburn won so decisively at Rupp Arena with its best player nowhere near his best is a testament to how strong a team AU has.
3. Bruce Pearl finally wins again in Lexington. The first time he brought a team into Lexington in 2005-06, Pearl led Tennessee to a 75-67 victory over Kentucky behind 31 points from ex-Mason County High School star Chris Lofton.
Since then, Pearl had gone oh-for-Rupp — until Saturday.
With the Tigers’ victory over UK, Pearl snapped an 11-game losing skid vs. UK in Rupp Arena.
Overall, Pearl raised his record to 11-18 against Kentucky. He went 4-9 as Tennessee coach (2005 through 2011) and is 7-9 as Auburn head man (since 2014-15).
4. Tigers achieve a rare distinction. With the victory, Auburn became only the third program to have both beaten Kentucky while ranked No. 1 themselves and to have defeated the Wildcats when a UK team was ranked No. 1.
Auburn joins Indiana and UCLA in earning that distinction.
▪ Indiana has twice defeated Kentucky when the Wildcats were ranked No. 1. Bob Knight’s No. 21 Hoosiers upset No. 1 Kentucky 96-84 in Indianapolis on Dec. 4, 1993.
Tom Crean was coaching Indiana when IU shocked top-ranked UK 73-72 on Dec. 10, 2011, in Bloomington on Christian Watford’s famous buzzer-beater.
Conversely, Indiana was ranked No. 1 when the Hoosiers scored a 77-68 overtime victory over No. 14 Kentucky at Freedom Hall in Louisville on Dec. 15, 1975.
▪ UCLA, too, has two wins over UK when the Cats were ranked No. 1 and beat the Wildcats once with the Bruins rated No. 1.
John Wooden and UCLA were ranked No. 1 when the Bruins defeated No. 2 Kentucky 92-85 in the 1975 NCAA Tournament championship game.
Kentucky was ranked No. 1 when the Wildcats were upset by unranked UCLA 87-77 on Dec. 3, 2015, at Pauley Pavilion.
The following season, Kentucky was again atop the AP Top 25 when the No. 11 Bruins did it again, taking down the No. 1 Wildcats 97-92 at Rupp Arena.
▪ On Jan. 9, 1988, Auburn shocked Rupp Arena fans by beating No. 1 UK 53-52 on a 3-point shot with 10 seconds left in the game by John Caylor.
The No. 1 Tigers succeeded Saturday in adding a victory as the nation’s No. 1 team over Kentucky.
5. Cats stacking the double-digit loss seasons. With Auburn’s victory, Kentucky fell to 19-10, 8-8 SEC.
With its 10th loss UK has suffered its third straight season with at least 10 defeats and its fourth such year in the past five seasons.
UK’s records over the past five seasons:
▪ 2020-21: 9-16.
▪ 2021-22: 26-8.
▪ 2022-23: 22-12.
▪ 2023-24: 23-10.
▪ 2024-25: 19-10.
The last time Kentucky had 10 losses or more in at least three straight seasons was from 2005-06 through 2008-09, when UK had four consecutive years of double-digit defeats — 22-13 (2005-06), 22-12 (2006-07), 18-13 (2007-08) and 22-14 (2008-09).
This story was originally published March 1, 2025 at 3:43 PM.
