History was made at Rupp Arena for the No. 1 Auburn Tigers on Saturday as they cruised to a 94-78 win over No. 17 Kentucky.
It was just the third win in program history at Rupp – first since 1988 – and Auburn clinched a share of the SEC regular-season title, added a 16th Quad I win to its resume and matched the 2021-22 Tigers for the most SEC wins in program history (15) and the most regular-season wins (27).
Here are the biggest takeaways from the game:
Auburn’s three-headed monster
Miles Kelly, Tahaad Pettiford and Chad Baker-Mazara scored 44 of the Tigers' 49 first-half points – 10 more than Kentucky scored in the half as a team – and kept that momentum rolling throughout the last 20 minutes to fuel Auburn’s historic day.
Kelly was in takeover mode from the opening possession, sinking a corner three for Auburn’s first points of the day. He remained the catalyst for the Tigers’ offense, finishing with a season-high 30 points. He connected on nine threes, – more than Kentucky made the entire 40 minutes as a team who entered with 9.9 three per game, 26th nationally.
Baker-Mazara tallied 16 of his 22 points in the first half, while Pettiford continued to shine on the big stage, finishing with 21 points, four assists and a 8-of-9 clip from the free throw line. Pettiford played big minutes in the absence of Denver Jones, who logged eight minutes until suffering an apparent ankle injury.
Meanwhile, Johni Broome struggled to get into a rhythm. He did not record a field goal in the first half and scored just nine points on the day.
Credit Auburn’s defense
Kentucky entered Saturday’s matchup with the third-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 85.6 points per game. The Wildcats were 26th nationally, draining 9.9 3-pointers per game and 27th nationally, shooting at a 37.6 clip from long range this season, all while averaging 91.2 points per game at home.
The Tigers held them to just four made threes on 17 attempts, held them to 78 points and turned them over a whopping 18 times – a season-high for the Wildcats.
Kentucky committed six turnovers on its first six possessions of the second half and did not attempt a single shot in that span. Auburn capitalized on Kentucky’s 18 turnovers by turning them into 21 points on the other end of the floor.
Historic Day for the Tigers
Not only did Auburn do what it hadn’t done in 37 years, picking up its first win in Rupp Arena since 1988, but the Tigers clinched at least a share of the SEC regular season title for the fifth time in program history and third since 2018.
Auburn became the first team to clinch a double bye in the SEC Tournament after its win against Ole Miss Wednesday night. It will await the results of Alabama’s game against Tennessee this evening in hopes of securing the Tigers' outright title.
The Tigers are back in action next Tuesday in College Station as they take on Texas A&M at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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