At Auburn, Kentucky basketball will be trying to do something that hasn’t been done
When No. 22-ranked Kentucky visits Auburn for its Saturday SEC clash with the 13th-ranked Tigers, UK will be trying to accomplish something that hasn’t been accomplished by any team this season: Beat Auburn at Auburn.
Bruce Pearl’s team is not just 13-0 in Neville Arena, the Tigers are flat-out dominating opponents in the cozy 9,000-seat facility they call “The Jungle.” For example, Auburn has won its six SEC home games by an average of 22.3 points.
The Tigers’ 101-61 demolition of visiting and 11th-ranked South Carolina on Wednesday was nearly par for the course. At home, Auburn defeated Texas A&M 66-55, LSU 93-78, Ole Miss 82-59, Vanderbilt 81-54 and Alabama 99-81 before trouncing the Gamecocks by 40.
Consider that Auburn is a mere 3-3 in conference road games. The Tigers have won at Arkansas 83-51, Vanderbilt 80-65 and Ole Miss 91-77. They’ve lost at Alabama 79-75, Mississippi State 64-58 and Florida 81-65.
The statistics show how much better Auburn has played at home than on the road in league play:
Auburn field goal percentage
- Home - 48.4
- Away - 44.9
Auburn 3-point percentage
- Home - 38.5
- Away - 30.1
Auburn free throw percentage
- Home - 82.3
- Away - 72.6
Auburn points per possession
- Home - 1.211
- Away - 1.086
Opponent field goal percentage
- Home - 34.4
- Away - 39.5
Opponent 3-point percentage
- Home - 29.9
- Away - 31.6
Opponent free throw percentage
- Home - 77.1
- Away - 69.6
Opponent points per possession
- Home - 0.907
- Away - 0.999
Look at Auburn’s Jaylin Williams, the 6-foot-8 senior forward averaging 13.4 points per game. In SEC road games, Williams has made 27 of his 57 shots for 47.4 percent. He’s a mere 4-of-17 from three-point range. In SEC home games, Williams has made 38 of 52 shots for a sizzling 73.1 percent. He’s 13-of-19 from three-point range. That’s an eye-popping 68.4 percent.
After going 3-of-10 from the floor in Auburn’s loss at Florida last Saturday, Williams made 8 of his 11 shots versus visiting South Carolina on Wednesday. He was 5-of-7 from three-point land against the Gamecocks. His 6-10 teammate Johni Broome was 4-of-5 from three, meaning the front court duo was 9-of-12 from beyond the arc. As a team, Auburn shot 61 percent from the floor.
Meanwhile, Kentucky is 3-2 in SEC road games. The Cats own wins at Florida 87-85, Arkansas 63-57 and Vanderbilt 109-77. They lost at Texas A&M 97-92 in overtime and at South Carolina 79-62.
As UK’s coach, John Calipari is 5-5 in games at Auburn. He is 1-5 in his last six trips, however. The lone win was 82-80 over the Tigers on Jan. 19, 2019. Since then, Kentucky has lost at Auburn 75-66 on Feb. 1, 2020; 66-59 on Jan. 16, 2021 and 80-71 on Jan. 22, 2022.
Heading into Saturday’s games, here are the SEC home and road records for conference teams.
SEC home records
- Auburn 6-0
- Alabama 5-0
- Florida 5-1
- South Carolina 5-1
- Ole Miss 4-1
- Miss State 4-1
- Tennessee 4-1
- Kentucky 4-2
- Texas A&M 4-2
- LSU 3-2
- Georgia 2-3
- Arkansas 2-4
- Vanderbilt 2-4
- Missouri 0-6
- Total 50-28
SEC road records
- Alabama 4-2
- South Carolina 4-2
- Tennessee 4-2
- Kentucky 3-2
- Auburn 3-3
- Florida 2-3
- Texas A&M 2-3
- Georgia 2-4
- Arkansas 1-4
- LSU 1-5
- Ole Miss 1-5
- Miss State 1-5
- Missouri 0-5
- Vanderbilt 0-5
- Total 28-50
Saturday
No. 22 Kentucky at No. 13 Auburn
When: 6 p.m. EST
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Kentucky 17-7 (7-4), Auburn 19-5 (8-3)
Series: Kentucky leads 97-23
Last meeting: Kentucky won 86-54 on Feb. 25, 2023, in Lexington
This story was originally published February 16, 2024 at 10:26 AM.
