Observations: Auburn 94, Kentucky 78
Wins don't come any more historic than this one. Teams might not, either.
In case you missed it: We’re running a sale from now until Auburn basketball’s season ends, whenever it ends. New subscribers can get a full year for $40. Go.
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
LEXINGTON, Ky. — If you’re an Auburn basketball fan, no one would blame you if you believed that Rupp Arena was haunted.
Auburn had only won twice in the history of this building, where dozens of famous jerseys hang from the rafters. Kentucky has won so much that it doesn’t even put up banners for conference championships. That’s only reserved for Final Four trips, and there are 17 of those high above the upper deck of a 20,500-seat arena.
Despite all that, Auburn has made it to a Final Four more recently than Kentucky. It’s also now won five SEC titles — either in the regular season or the conference tournament — in the last eight seasons. Kentucky only has two of those.
On Saturday afternoon, Auburn walked into Rupp Arena and ended a 37-year losing streak there. Kentucky, which had beaten Auburn 21 straight times in its hallowed venue, only led for 19 seconds. The Wildcats spent the majority of the final 25 minutes of the game losing by double-digits.
“This is obviously historic,” Bruce Pearl said after Auburn’s 94-78 victory at Kentucky. “Two wins and 31 losses in 33 tries. And for this one to be for a championship? It's what we do it for: To make history.”
There’s vanquishing ghosts, and then there’s making the other team play like it’s seeing some of their own.
Kentucky, one of the best offenses in the country, had more turnovers (18) than 3-point attempts (17). Even great Auburn teams often come to Lexington and play one of their worst games of the season.
But there’s never been a season quite like this one, and there’s never been an Auburn team quite like this one.
With one week left to go in the regular season, Auburn has already clinched an outright title in what has been measured as the single-toughest league in the history of college basketball.
“It just says that we're some dogs, honestly,” said Miles Kelly, who scored 30 points and nearly tied an Auburn single-game 3-pointer record to clinch what he said was his first-ever title as a player. “We come in every night and every game ready to rock out and play.”
And the Tigers got to that point Saturday with their National Player of the Year frontrunner having his lowest-scoring full performance of the season — along with their starting point guard and top defender missing the final 28:33 with a bone bruise.
“I think it says a lot about the culture,” Pearl said. “It says a lot about the chemistry.”
When you play Auburn, you don’t have to just stop Johni Broome. You have to stop Kelly, who has the confidence to shoot from anywhere. You have to stop Chad Baker-Mazara, who can take over a game at any moment. You have to stop Jones when he’s healthy, and then you have to stop a fearless freshman in Tahaad Pettiford.
That trio of guards combined for 72 points. Kentucky only had 78 as a team.
You might be able to limit some of the pieces — like Auburn’s low-scoring frontcourt on Saturday — or catch a break or two with injuries and foul trouble.
But you’re likely not stopping all the weapons.
If you could, Auburn wouldn’t have the most wins (27) of any Division I team in the country, and it wouldn’t be a dominant 15-1 heading into the final week of the most brutal conference schedule ever played.
“It's just Coach putting that battery in our back,” Pettiford said. “He tells us, 'If you've got it, shoot it.' He's giving us the confidence and having our back in the tough times.
“Knowing that we've got other players that can come in and do whatever we need to do to win at any time, just having that type of depth and having that type of confidence from your coaches, that helps us a lot.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s historic, championship-clinching win at Kentucky, along with the Nerd Stats and the Quote of the Day.
(Note: The Rotation Charts will not be in this edition, as the official scorer got several substitutions completely wrong in the second half. They’ll be back for the next game.)
(Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)