No. 1 Auburn (26-2, 14-1) looks to clinch a share of the SEC regular-season title on Saturday as the Tigers take on the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats (19-9, 8-7) inside Rupp Arena, seeking their first win in Lexington since 1988.
Rupp Arena hasn’t treated the Tigers well in recent history, as the last time they emerged victorious at Kentucky was 37 years ago when unranked Auburn defeated the No. 1 Wildcats 53-52. Before then, Auburn has only won at Rupp one other time (1983).
“They’ve always been great and we’ve usually been not great,” said Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl. “That’s why it’s 2-31. I’ve brought some really good Auburn and Tennessee teams up to Rupp and not won. Their fans know the game.”
Dating back to 1921, Kentucky leads the all-time series 98-23 and has claimed six of the last 10 meetings between the two programs, including the 77-71 overtime thriller in the 2019 NCAA Midwest Regional Final that propelled Auburn to its first ever Final Four.
“You put 19,000 people every single night, you have a nationally ranked team they’re gonna get a good whistle at home,” Pearl said. “They’ve earned it. Which means you have to go in there and play great.”
Pearl’s squad is rolling into this one, as the Tigers are riding a five-game winning streak and fresh off a 30-point blowout win over Ole Miss earlier this week. After two underwhelming home performances and poor shooting nights versus Arkansas and Georgia, Auburn seems to have found its stride again. The Tigers shot an impressive 59.6% from the floor and 52.4% from deep with five guys scoring in double-figures against the Rebels.
Similarly, star forward Johni Broome is producing numbers that he posted before his injury in early January. The national player of the year frontrunner has recorded double-doubles in three of Auburn’s last four games, including an Auburn career-high 31 points and 14 rebounds in last Saturday’s win over Georgia. Broome ranks T-5th in Division I with 17 double-doubles this season.
“Well, the fact that he's played with greater effort and energy and more productivity on both ends of the floor – he's shooting a better percentage, and he's finishing, and he's got just more pep in his step – means that he is getting healthier,” Pearl said. “I think, you know, Johni is one of our guys that, even though he's our best player and he's our player of the year, his upside is our upside. When he plays like this, we get to a different level.”
Auburn is undefeated on the road in the SEC thus far and has consistently proven to play better away from Neville Arena. In their seven conference road victories this season, the Tigers are shooting 45.5% from the floor and 39.9% from behind the arc.
“I would probably just say we just have a lot of veteran players,” said point guard Denver Jones on the team’s road success. “A lot of people that have played in a lot of hostile environments. We’ve just got a lot of guys that like to shush the crowd, that take upon that challenge to be good at away games. That’s how I feel like it, just our veteran players.”
Kentucky also boasts a plethora of veteran leadership, as its starting lineup consists of four seniors and a junior. After a mass exodus of players following the departure of John Calipari, new head coach Mark Pope assembled an entirely new roster during the offseason.
Pope, formerly the head man at BYU, brought in nine transfers in a 2024 portal class that ranked No. 5 nationally according to 247Sports.
Oklahoma transfer guard Otega Oweh headlines Kentucky’s brand new roster, leading the Wildcats in scoring with 16.1 PPG. Oweh hit the game-winning shot with six seconds remaining in Norman on Wednesday night, lifting the Wildcats over his former team 83-82 and gaining momentum heading into Saturday’s matchup.
“I mean, he's a monster,” Pearl said. “Oweh is a very tough cover. He can get downhill. He can make tough twos. He gets to the foul line the fifth- or sixth-most of any guard in our league. Not fouling him is difficult. He can make a 3-point shot. He'll make incredible defensive plays, blocking shots. He's got that next-level athleticism that is a reason why Kentucky has beaten the two teams that have beaten us.”
Pope and company have experienced many ups and downs during his inaugural season. Sitting at 19-9 overall and 8-7 in SEC play, Kentucky owns wins over No. 6 Duke, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 6 Florida, No. 11 Texas A&M and a regular season sweep over Tennessee. However, the Wildcats also possess losses to Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Texas.
Unlike Auburn, Kentucky tends to bear more success at home, averaging 91.2 PPG at Rupp while scoring 78.1 PPG on the road. The Wildcats are shooting 51.7% from the field in Lexington, almost eight percent better than their 43.9% road clip.
Another trend to watch for is injuries, which have undoubtedly plagued Kentucky in recent weeks. Kentucky’s game against Oklahoma was the healthiest the Wildcats had been in months, as Lamont Butler (shoulder) and Jaxson Robinson (wrist) returned after missing multiple games. Butler seemed to feel fine in his first game back, but Robinson not so much, as he appeared to re-injure his wrist after seeing 12 minutes in the first half. Pope described Robinson’s update as “not so great” in Friday’s press conference.
“They're night and day better defensively with [Butler],” Pearl said. “Night and day. Plus, they then can allow their 2 guards that are having to play point play off the ball. So, he might not be their best player, but he could be their most valuable player.”
Center Amari Williams (ankle) and forward Andrew Carr (back spasms) have been experiencing minor injures, as well. Carr’s status ahead of Saturday is promising while Williams’ is still up in the air.
Currently holding a two-game lead over the rest of the league with three games remaining, a win on Saturday would secure Auburn its fifth SEC regular-season championship in program history and its third since 2017-18.
“We talk about winning a championship, but then again, we just say this is the most important game,” Jones said. “It’s the next game. After we got done playing Ole Miss, yesterday in practice, Dylan [Cardwell] came up and was like, ‘Look, this is one of the most important games of the year right here. We win this, we’re good. Just lock in for this next game.’ And I feel like that’s the mindset that we carry over for one game at a time.”
A victory would also make Dylan Cardwell the winningest player in Auburn basketball history. Cardwell is currently tied with former Tiger Jaylin Williams at 114 wins.
In hopes to attain another historical win this season and their third ever in Lexington, the Tigers and Wildcats will tipoff Saturday inside Rupp Arena at 12 p.m. CST on ABC.
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Gunner is a freshman majoring in journalism. He started with The Plainsman in the fall 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @norene_gunner10
