Kentucky men’s basketball (17-10, 8-6 SEC) fell in the final second to Auburn (15-11, 6-8 SEC), suffering a 75-74 loss with a failed buzzer-beater.

This marks Kentucky’s third straight conference loss, dropping their road matchup against No. 14 Florida last Saturday, and more recently, gave Georgia its first win inside Rupp Arena since 2009.

​Auburn entered the matchup on a five-game losing streak of its own, looking to keep its March Madness hopes alive as conference play starts to wrap up.

​Kentucky rolled out its usual starting five consisting of Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler, Andrija Jelavic and Malachi Moreno.

Moreno won the opening tip for the Cats, and eventually put the Cats on the board first – but would just as quickly go down with an apparent ankle injury, eventually limping over to the bench as Brandon Garrison would take over in his spot. 

Moreno would eventually check back in, and end the game with seven points and seven rebounds.

Two free throws and a dunk for the Tigers would get Neville Arena on its feet, before Denzel Aberdeen and Garrison would put up a score each. 

Collin Chandler joined in on the offense adding a deep three to start his night. 

Chandler is coming off back-to-back career high games, putting up 18 points against both the Gators and Bulldogs, and more importantly, putting up six three pointers against the BUlldogs and five against the Gators. 

Three turnovers in the first four minutes allowed the Tigers to keep it close with the Cats, with the two teams tied at 11 heading into the first timeout. 

Coming out of the break, Aberdeen drained a three and Oweh followed with a score of his own as the Cats took a 16-13 lead, nailing five of seven straight shots. 

Auburn was struggling on the shooting side, going only 35.5% from the field and 0-5 from the three through the first seven minutes. However, five made free throws granted Auburn enough points to keep it close.

A deep three from Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall sent The Jungle into a frenzy as the Tigers retook the lead, but Oweh would quickly tie it back up at 18 on the next drive. 

The Tigers would drain another three, and force a steal that inevitably became a dunk, forcing Mark Pope to take his first timeout at the 11:11 mark, the Wildcats down 23-18.

The Tigers’ offense stayed hot, and while Kentucky’s offense was matching their pace, fouls continued haunting the Cats, tallying six total through the first 10 minutes compared to Auburn’s one. 

Auburn pushed the lead to six with two more free throws before Kentucky would finally find a basket at the eight-minute mark, the score in favor of the Tigers 28-24 heading into a timeout.

The Tigers entered a scoring drought, missing six straight shots. Kentucky cut the lead down to one, courtesy of a Moreno layup and three made free throws from Chandler. 

An Oweh layup tied the score at 31 with five minutes left in the first. He would head to the line on the next drive, giving Kentucky a 32-31 lead as Auburn’s scoring drought pushed it to over five and a half minutes, missing nine straight shots.

It was a back-and-forth affair from there, the two teams exchanging baskets with the Tigers ahead by only a point at the two-minute mark. 

Kentucky took control in the final two and a half minutes, Oweh slamming down two dunks and hitting a free throw, and Jelavic hitting a layup to fuel the Cats’ 7-0 scoring run to round out the half.

UK took a 39-35 lead as the buzzer sounded, as Auburn was only able to score on two of its last 14 shots in the half, ending with a near three-minute scoring drought.

The Cats shot 50% from the field, 25% from the three and 83.3% from the charity stripe through the first 20 minutes, with Oweh leading the way at a game high of 12 points. 

Chandler opened the second half with a slam dunk, and Jelavic would quickly follow with a three to silence The Jungle, the Cats pushing its lead to seven less than two minutes into the second half. 

Oweh would slam his third dunk of the night, adding to the Cats’ 7-0 scoring run, forcing AUburn into its first timeout as UK took a 46-37 lead at the 17:48 mark. 

Kentucky entered a scoring drought of its own as Auburn began chipping away at the deficit, cutting it down to five heading into a timeout.

Tahaad Pettiford would nail a three for the Tigers, putting them down just 46-44 with a 7-0 scoring run, as Kentucky’s scoring drought pushed to over four minutes. 

Kentucky would finally see the scoreboard again with two free throws from Oweh, but continued struggling from the field, missing seven straight shots and only hitting one of nine straight at the 13-minute mark.

Auburn cut the lead to one with 12:31 on the clock, as Kentucky’s scoring drought pushed to over five minutes, before Garrison would find the basket for UK, pushing the lead back out to three.

Aberdeen drained a deep shot from beyond the arc, Kentucky taking a 53-47 lead with just 10 minutes remaining in the game.

However, Auburn would quickly answer with two scores to put the game back within two, and tie it up at 53 with 8:46 left on the clock, forcing Pope into another timeout. 

A free throw put the Tigers back on top 54-53, and unfortunately for the Cats, it would mark Oweh’s fourth foul of the night, forcing Kentucky to send its top scorer to the bench with eight minutes left in the game. 

Auburn’s 10-0 scoring run put the Tigers up 57-53, before Mo Dioubate would nail two free throws to put the game back within two.

Oweh would score on back-to-back drives to tie the game back up at 59 with just over five minutes to go. 

Neville Arena was sent to its feet as Auburn responded, and took a 64-60 advantage with four minutes left, and would immediately score again coming out of the timeout.

Aberdeen silenced the crowd with a deep three as UK cut the lead back down to a score, but fouls continued to haunt the Cats, putting the Tigers back on top 68-63 with 2:54 remaining with two free throws.

Oweh drained a three-pointer of his own to cut the deficit down to two, and tied it at the two-minute mark with a layup. 

Kentucky would retake the lead with under a minute to go, with a Garrison steal and slam dunk from Oweh. 

Kentucky had the opportunity to close out the night taking a 74-71 lead with just 18 seconds left, but fouls would once again kill them.

With just one second to go, Auburn retook the lead 75-74, and despite the efforts of the Cardiac Cats, would be unable to nail the buzzer beater to take home a win.

Oweh entered the game coming off a career-high 28 points against Georgia just three days ago. He broke that record totaling 29 points. Kentucky would drop both of these games despite his efforts.

Kentucky will look to bounce back next week, heading back on the road Tuesday, Feb. 24, to face the South Carolina Gamecocks (12-15, 3-11 SEC). 

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will air live on SEC Network.