No. 17 Kentucky men’s basketball was decimated inside Rupp Arena by No. 1 Auburn, suffering by far its worst home loss of the season by a score of 94-78 on Saturday afternoon.
Kentucky went into the halftime break with its second largest deficit at the break all season and its largest at home.
The Wildcats entered the contest on the back of a valiant come-from-behind effort in Oklahoma that saw former Sooner Otega Oweh score a career-high 28 points.
Looking to keep the momentum going with star Jaxson Robinson once again ruled out, Kentucky brought out a starting lineup of Oweh, Lamont Butler, Koby Brea, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams.
From the get-go, things seemed like they may be close with quick insertions from Travis Perry and Brandon Garrison. This early confidence would prove to be dubious, however, as a quick 12-0 Tiger scoring run set the tone for what the remainder of the contest would bring.
UK fans were then quick to see Collin Chandler, Ansley Almonor and Trent Noah, but none were able to impact the game in the way Head Coach Mark Pope hoped as the Auburn lead remained steady.
The Cats would see a burst of scoring a little over midway through the half with a thunderous dunk by Brea forcing Bruce Pearl to call a timeout with Kentucky trailing by just six.
Like a swing state in the 2024 election, however, what was thought could be close once again tipped heavily in one direction. In this case, that was Auburn once again making its lead double digits (15) as foul trouble began to become a real issue as Oweh and Butler picked up each of their third fouls in just the first half of action.
The Tigers entered the break leading by the aforementioned 15 after both teams failed to score on their final possessions.
Needing a big start to the second half to get back into it, Kentucky got just the opposite as five turnovers in 1 1/2 minutes saw Auburn’s lead grow as foul trouble continued to rear its ugly head.
Before long, a 20-point gap became a reality as Auburn went up by as many as 22 with 14 minutes left to play.
To Kentucky’s credit, it would push to get back within 13 off the back of strong play and deadly shooting from Brea, but just as fast as it pulled close, it fell back again, trailing by 20 with just under eight minutes to play.
Looking to avoid a first 20-point home loss since the 2021 9-16 Covid-19 squad did so against Alabama, Kentucky continued fighting offensively, staying around the 15-16-point margin range.
Ultimately, the final margin would be 16, which was still enough to make it UK’s worst loss in Rupp Arena since the 20-point Crimson Tide loss.
Kentucky will end its home campaign for the 2024-25 season on Tuesday, March 4, taking the court for “Senior Day” against the LSU Tigers. The contest against LSU will be Kentucky’s penultimate game of the regular season. It will tip off at 7 p.m. ET and air live on ESPN2.
