Basketball ***** Postgame Notes: UK vs. Auburn *****

[Jeff Drummond]

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
RUPP ARENA AT CENTRAL BANK CENTER | LEXINGTON, KY
MARCH 1, 2025
ATTENDANCE: 21,286

FINAL SCORE: No. 1 Auburn 94, No. 17/23 Kentucky 78

Team Records and Series Notes

• Kentucky is now 19-10 overall, 8-8 in the Southeastern Conference.
• Auburn is 27-2 overall and moves to 15-1 in the league, clinching at least a share of the regular-season championship.
• Kentucky leads the series 98-24.
  • UK leads 51-3 in games played in Lexington and today’s game snapped a 20-game UK win streak in Rupp Arena against the Tigers. Auburn’s last win here came in 1988.
  • UK leads 9-5 in games when both teams are ranked, regardless of site.
• Mark Pope is 206-118 as head coach, including 19-10 at Kentucky.
• Next for Kentucky: UK has Senior Night on Tuesday as the Wildcats play host to LSU. Game time is 7 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN2.

Team Notes

• Kentucky is now 8-17 all-time against Associated Press No. 1-ranked teams.
• Kentucky won the rebounding, 38-23. The Wildcats are 12-4 this season when outrebounding the opponent. It was the Wildcats best rebounding margin against an AP Poll No. 1 team (+15) since Dec. 18, 2001 vs. Duke (+17)
• UK had a season-high 18 turnovers, shot a season-low 17 3-point attempts and tied its season low for 3-pointers made with four.
• After the game, Coach Pope announced that Jaxson Robinson will have surgery in his wrist area, will miss the remainder of the season, and is expected to make a full recovery in approximately three months.

Player Notes

• Amari Williams collected 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists, his 10th double-double of the season and 34th of his career.
  • Eight of the doubles have come in the last 14 games vs. SEC opponents.
  • He is the only Wildcat since at least the 1983-84 season to have a 13/14/7 game.
  • Williams is the only Division I men’s basketball player since 2004-05 to have at least 13 points, 14 rebounds and seven assists against an opponent ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll
• Koby Brea led the Wildcats with 21 points, two shy of his career high and his third 20-point game of the season.
  • He made 4 of 7 on 3-point attempts, his fourth straight home games making at least three triples.
• Andrew Carr had a season-high 20 points.
  • He continues to play better and better after returning from his back injury. He has averaged 13.8 points over the last four games.
• Lamont Butler notched 15 points, his most since a 17-point outing on Jan. 18.
  • He has missed six of the last 10 games because of a shoulder injury.

In the First Half

• Kentucky’s starters were Lamont Butler, Koby Brea, Otega Oweh, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams, the first time for that lineup this season.
• First substitutions were Travis Perry and Brandon Garrison at 16:06.
• Kentucky’s only lead of the game was 4-3.
• With Auburn leading 7-6, the Tigers went on a 12-0 run concluded with back-to-back banked-in 3-pointers.
  • In a span of 93 seconds, from 15:53 to 14:20, Auburn turned four turnovers into 11 points.
• Kentucky pulled within six points at 27-21, 29-23, 34-28 and 36-30.
• Ahead 39-32, an eight-point Auburn spurt gave the Tigers a 47-32 lead and they went to halftime ahead 49-34.
  • Williams led UK with 12 points and nine rebounds.
  • UK is 3-9 this season when trailing at the break.

In the Second Half

• Kentucky began the second half with the starters.
• Auburn built its largest lead to 22 points at 65-43.
• Kentucky pulled within 71-58 with 10 minutes remaining but a 7-0 Auburn run returned the gap to 20 points.

 

[yoshukai]

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