LEXINGTON, Ky. — Going on the road to Rupp Arena, looking for its first victory there since 1988, Auburn knew it needed to turn it up a notch on the road.
And to start, Auburn did. The Tigers jumped out early with three quick triples from Danjel Purifoy and with a 10-0 run, they went up 18-9.
But that’s where things started to unravel for Auburn as Kentucky went on a 20-3 run. The Tigers would never be able to fully recover from that run, losing 73-66.
With the loss, Auburn is officially eliminated from the regular season SEC title race.
“We’re obviously disappointed,” head coach Bruce Pearl said. “But congratulate Kentucky on being regular season champions of our league. I think that they’re the best team in our league.”
Behind Purifoy and Samir Doughty Auburn started the game shooting 4-of-4 from beyond the arc, but ended the game just 9-of-31 (29%).
In the first matchup, Auburn shot just 23 times from deep.
“I didn’t think if we drove and there was contact I wasn’t confident we’d shoot free throws,” Pearl said. “We’re on the road, playing at Rupp, I figured we needed to spread it and shoot it a little bit.”
Just as it looked like Kentucky was going to go on another big run to end the half, freshman Jaylin Williams hit his first career three and Anfernee McLemore hit a circus shot to end the half with the Tigers down three.
Coming out of the break, J’Von McCormick was big for Auburn in the second half, scoring seven points in the first three minutes after being held scoreless in the first half. The senior ended the night with 13.
“Sitting at half coach told me to be more aggressive and get back to scoring, that’s what I tried to do,” McCormick said.
Throughout the second half Auburn never trailed by more than seven, but was never able to get any closer than two.
“I thought we played pretty well in defeat,” Pearl said. “Didn’t shoot it as well in the second half as we did in the first half. They were really good defensively. We weren’t able to defend without fouling. They make 27 free throws, we make 22 field goals. We have nine threes, they only have two threes but we them too much and that was a big factor in the game.”
It was a foul-heavy game, as both teams ended the game 23 fouls.
Austin Wiley got off to a strong start, but was hindered by foul trouble after picking up his third just a minute into the second half. He endedthe game with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
With its hopes of an SEC title gone, Auburn has just two games remaining against Texas A&M on Wednesday and at Tennessee on the last day of the regular season.
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