LEXINGTON, Ky. — Auburn failed to find the same success in Lexington that it had in Auburn. In Auburn Arena, the Tigers dominated the boards on both ends of the court and shot a record high amount of free throws, but it couldn’t sustain that level of play as it traveled north to Rupp Arena in a losing effort, 73-66 to the Wildcats.
"We're obviously disappointed," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "Want to congratulate Kentucky on being regular season champions of our league. I thought we played pretty well in defeat.”
Auburn out-rebounded Kentucky by 14 boards and had an 11-rebound advantage on the offensive end.
Saturday in Rupp Arena, Kentucky evened the rebounds up at 38 apiece, which balanced the game in the paint.
Auburn still maintained an offensive rebound advantage but it shrank to only five as Auburn failed to create second-chance points.
Kentucky limited its own transition points by staying back and crashing the boards to make sure Auburn couldn’t create the easy second-chance points it had at home.
Forty-four free throws is how many times Auburn shot from the line in Auburn Arena. In Rupp Arena, Auburn shot exactly half that total with only 22 and only made 13 of them.
Kentucky closed lanes and forced Auburn to shoot outside which greatly limited free-throw chances for the Tigers. In return, Kentucky shot almost strictly inside the arch allowing them to get to the line for 11 more free throws than Auburn.
The Tigers shot 11 more 3-pointers Saturday than when these two teams played on Feb. 1, thus allowing Kentucky to avoid early foul trouble. Without the inside game, Auburn regressed in scoring from the first matchup.
“We weren’t able to defend without fouling,” Pearl said. “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.”
With the loss, Auburn splits the season series with Kentucky as it fails to win in Rupp Arena once again. The Tigers' last win there was in 1988.
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