The men's basketball team suffered its worst home loss under Head Coach Tony Barbee as the Tigers fell to Kentucky 75-53 in front of a sell-out crowd Saturday night, Jan. 19, dropping the Tigers to 2-2 in the SEC and 8-9 on the season.
After leading by only five points at halftime, a lights-out second half from the Wildcats and sophomore Kyle Wiltjer gave Kentucky its third SEC win, improving it to 12-5 on the year. Wiltjer's 17 points led the Wildcats, with 15 of them coming in the second half among the team's 18-27 from the field.
"We had our lack of confidence," Barbee said. "We were scared in the moment."
The Wildcats began to pull away with impressive play from the nation's number two overall recruit Nerlens Noel. After sitting out much of the first half in foul trouble, the 6-10 freshman finished the game with 10 points, but his defensive play allowed Kentucky to break away. He recorded 7 blocks and 9 rebounds in 25 minutes on playing time. Auburn center Rob Chubb added that Noel reminded him of ex-Kentucky player and NBA starter Anthony Davis by being such a big inside presence.
Auburn faltered due to poor shooting throughout the game, finishing with only 34.8 percent from the field and 0-15 from behind the arc. Chubb led the Tigers with 14 points and helped to bring the them back from a late eight-point deficit in the first half, but was unable to hold on in the second.
"We came out and played scared," said Auburn guard Frankie Sullivan. "You can't win like that at all."
Both teams got off to a sloppy start Saturday night, scoring a combined 12 points in the first 10 minutes with 6-35 shooting from the field.
"We had a real lack of aggression and lack of poise from the get-go," Chubb said.
Auburn shot 32.4 percent from the field in the first half, including a dismal 0-11 from 3-point range.
"We couldn't make a shot either," said Kentucky's head coach, John Calipari. "Then we executed and made plays and Nerlens played well," and that was the difference between the two teams. Kentucky was able to bounce back from its poor first-half play and Auburn never came back.
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