Bruce on Kentucky Loss

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

 

[aubiefifty 16,791]

247sports.com

Poor shooting dooms Tigers in home loss to Kentucky

Jason Caldwell

7–8 minutes

Auburn basketball fell to Kentucky at home on Saturday night.

AUBURN, Alabama—On a night when Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves was scoring at every level, the No. 12 Auburn Tigers couldn’t throw it in the ocean against the Wildcats as Bruce Pearl’s squad had its 16-game home winning streak snapped in a 70-59 loss on Saturday night. With the loss Auburn falls to 20-6 overall and 9-4 in SEC play while Kentucky improves to 18-7, 8-5 in league action.

After shooting the lights out against South Carolina, Auburn made just 17-55 from the field and 4-22 from three-point range in the loss. Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara led the way with 14 points each while Denver Jones added 12 points in the loss. Reeves led the way with 22 points as the Wildcats made 44.8 percent from the floor and just 4-13 from three-point range.

Making an already bad night even worse was an injury to Auburn senior forward Jaylin Williams in the second half. With Auburn trying to make a run, Williams attempted a dunk over a Kentucky player but landed awkwardly and left the game favoring his right knee. It was a huge blow for the Tigers with Auburn struggling to find anything on the offensive end. 

It’s hard to have a worse start than Auburn did on Saturday evening against Kentucky. Scoring just 9 points in the first 10 minutes of action, the Tigers turned the ball over five times, leading to 12 Kentucky points. Auburn trailed 19-19 with just over seven minutes left in the half before a Denver Jones three broke a streak of nearly five minutes without a basket for the Tigers.

Auburn was able to fight back and cut the Kentucky lead to just five at 30-25 when Baker-Mazara knocked down a pair of free throws with 2:49 remaining. But Kentucky would run off the next seven points to move in front by 12 before Baker-Mazara made two more free throws with just over a minute left. A runner by Rob Dillingham pushed the Wildcats back in front by 12 before Aden Holloway made two of three at the line to bring Auburn back to within 10 at 39-29. 

The key stat in the first half was points off turnovers. Auburn turned the ball over six times, leading to 15 Kentucky points. The Wildcats turned it over just three times with the Tigers unable to get a single point off a turnover in the first 20 minutes. Finishing just 9-32 from the floor and 3-12 from three-point range, Auburn was fortunate to be trailing by only 10 at intermission.

Looking for some energy in the second half, the Tigers turned to defense and get back in the game against the Wildcats. Allowing just eight points in the first seven and a half minutes, Auburn cut the lead down to five with 12:31 left thanks to the hustle of Johnson and Williams on the defensive end. 

But that would be as close as the Tigers would get the rest of the way as Kentucky’s Reeves made clutch basket after clutch basket and Auburn’s shooting continued to be wayward. Down five with 11 minutes left and with the ball, Williams couldn’t handle a pass inside with an opportunity to cut it to one possession. A Reeves basket pushed the lead back to seven moments later and that was all she wrote on this night.

Auburn has a week off before going on the road to face the Georgia Bulldogs next Saturday in Athens.

Social media reacts to No. 13 Auburn's loss to No. 22 Kentucky

Here's how social media reacted to a brutal shooting night for the Tigers

Just one game after putting up 101 points against the SEC's top scoring defense, Auburn faltered dramatically on offense, being held to 59 points against No. 22 Kentucky in a 70-59 loss.

The Tigers shot 30.9 percent from the field, making just 17 of their 55 shots. Of Auburn's 17 makes, 13 were on layups. Auburn had a combined 47 points in the paint and at the foul line, while scoring just 12 on all other shots. Denver Jones made three 3-pointers while Chad Baker-Mazara was 1-for-1 from behind the arc. The rest of the Tigers were a combined 0-for-14 from 3-point range. Baker-Mazara scored 14, tied for the team lead with Johni Broome, while Jones scored 12. Broome also got 11 rebounds for a double-double.

The Tigers had 11 assists to 11 turnovers in the game. Off the 11 turnovers, Kentucky scored 23 points. Meanwhile, the Wildcats turned the ball over 12 times, but Auburn scored just 10 points off turnovers. The Tigers had more offensive boards than the Wildcats, getting 14 to Kentucky's 10. Kentucky, however, had 20 second-chance points to Auburn's 10. 

The Tigers went on short scoring runs on several occasions, but Kentucky had an answer for each one. The Tigers' real chance for victory came when the Tigers cut the Kentucky lead to five points with 11:53 to go. From then on, Auburn was outscored 21-15 as the Wildcats put the game away. Auburn now shifts its concern to the health status of Jaylin Williams, who suffered a knee injury following a dunk attempt in the second half. Williams was helped to the locker room, unable to put weight on his right leg.

Here's how social media reacted to the Tigers' first home loss of the season.

Wouldn’t be an Auburn basketball game without a frustratingly slow start, right?

— Zack Webster (@ZackWeb95) February 17, 2024

This one has the potential to not be fun

— Harrison Tarr (@ByHarrisonTarr) February 17, 2024

Auburn very fortunate not to be down by 25 at the moment

— Jason Caldwell (@ITATJason) February 17, 2024

4 times Auburn got a makeup call for an obvious miss on the other end. I hate makeup calls just do better.

— Babysitter Bari (@BabysitterBari) February 18, 2024

Worst offensive half of offense at home all season. The looks are there. Gotta hit shots. Gotta hit shots. Gotta hit shots.

Early foul trouble, weird out of sync rotations. Settle in and cut this lead early. I refuse to believe shots won’t fall for 40 minutes in this building. pic.twitter.com/6k3G1w7w93

— Pablo Escobarner (blue check) (@PabloEscoburner) February 18, 2024

29 points marks Auburn's lowest-scoring half at Neville Arena this season.

— Nathan King (@NathanKing247) February 18, 2024

Auburn/Kentucky is one of the worst games I’ve ever watched

Sloppy passes

Fouls called every play

What’s not to love

— The Acuñacorn (@TheAcunacorn) February 18, 2024

Auburn shot 61% from the field vs. the SEC's No. 1 scoring defense three nights ago

Auburn is shooting 27% from the field vs. the SEC's No. 13 scoring defense tonight

the Tigers' haven't shot worse than 38.7% in a home game all season

they trail Kentucky by 11 with 14:54 left

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) February 18, 2024

I don't even care. Just let Jaylin be okay

— joshdub (@joshdub_) February 18, 2024

Sick to my stomach - Jaylin Williams changes games. Prayers up big time.

— Allie Davison (@Allie_Davison) February 18, 2024

Couldn’t hit water if we fell out of a boat.

— Harrison Tarr (@ByHarrisonTarr) February 18, 2024

Remember auburn fans beer is cheaper than therapy

— travis (@toxicbarner) February 18, 2024

[aubiefifty 16,791]

si.com

Takeaways: No. 13 Auburn falls 70-59 to No. 22 Kentucky

Daniel Locke

2–3 minutes

The No. 13 Auburn Tigers fell 70-59 to the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats inside Neville Arena.

Auburn went on multiple runs but was never able to take control of the game and Kentucky picked up a crucial win on the road.

What are the main takeaways from the game?

Auburn had a less-than-stellar first half

Auburn only trailed by 10 at the halfway point, but it looked worse than that.

Kentucky was in control throughout the half and led by as many as 12 points.

Auburn has had slow starts this season but was unable to overcome it this time.

The 3-point shot was not Auburn's friend

Following its best performance of the season from beyond the arc, Auburn struggled from 3-point range in this game.

The Tigers shot 4-21 or 19% from deep range. Auburn's leader from 3-point range was Denver Jones who shot 3-6.

Auburn has not been consistent from 3-point range this season. That is something the Tigers will be looking to solidify before March.

Auburn was dominated in transition, second-chance points

Kentucky was able to set itself apart in two important areas: fast-break and second-chance scoring.

The Wildcats had 13 fast-break points to the Tiger's nine. They also controlled the second-chance point category 20-10 despite being out-rebounded 14-10 on the offensive side.

These are two areas in which Auburn has had success in this season, but Kentucky performed better in both tonight.

Kentucky out-performed Auburn down low

The Wildcats were able to contain the Tigers in the paint, an area in which they normally score a lot of points.

Kentucky had 36 points in the paint to Auburn's 26. Auburn forward Johni Broom, Auburn's leading scorer, was limited to 14 points.

Kentucky went 9-20 on its lay-ups while Auburn went 13-23. The Tigers will aim to avoid another performance like this one in the paint.

What's Next?

Auburn has a week off before its next game. The Tigers will take on the Georgia Bulldogs on the road next Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. The television broadcast can be found on SEC Network and the Auburn Sports Network broadcast can be streamed anywhere on the Auburn Athletics app.

[aubiefifty 16,791]

247sports.com

5 takeaways from Auburns 7059 loss to Kentucky

Nathan King

9–11 minutes

One game after hanging 101 points, the Tigers' shooting was shockingly poor — and it led to an unceremonious end to an energized day on the Plains.

No. 13 Auburn looked nowhere like its usual self offensively against a subpar Kentucky defense, with its worst shooting percentage in a home game (30.9 percent) in eight years, as the Tigers fell to No. 22 Kentucky on Saturday night, 70-59, snapping a 16-game home winning streak inside Neville Arena.

Here are Auburn Undercover's five takeaways from a game that, with five regular-season games remaining, damages the Tigers' chances at an SEC regular-season title.

SHOCKINGLY POOR SHOOTING

One of the worst shooting performances of the past several seasons was too much for Auburn to overcome. It was Auburn's worst shooting home game since the 2015-16 season, when the Tigers hit just 29.0 percent of their shots in a loss to Vanderbilt.

"I give Kentucky more credit for that," Pearl said when asked if the Tigers simply missed too many open looks. "I would give their defense more credit for that. Yes, we missed open shots. No, we didn’t make many tough shots."

Auburn started just 4-of-18 from the floor and 1-of-9 from beyond the arc. The Tigers had just 2 points in the first six minutes of the game before the seal was broken by a Chad Baker-Mazara triple off a sideline out-of-bounds pass.

At the half, Auburn was shooting just 28 percent from the floor. With a 39-29 deficit at the break, it marked Auburn’s lowest-scoring half in a home game all season.

It took Auburn 25 minutes of game time to make its 10th basket of the evening.

"At the start of the first half, the ball pressure — we really couldn't get into our offense," Denver Jones said postgame. "I felt like, going throughout the game, we were able to execute our plays. We just had to knock down open shots.

And it's not as if the Tigers didn't have open looks. Kentucky doubled-teamed Johni Broome in the paint most of the game, and it led to plenty of open attempts for the rest of the Tigers from beyond the arc, where Auburn shot just 4-of-22.

Kentucky had the SEC's No. 13 scoring defense entering the game. Kentucky players said postgame they had reached their breaking point.

"I've seen this a couple times: when kids get challenged about not playing hard and not playing physical, well, then they go out there and play hard and play physically," Pearl said.

Early turnover issues also compounded the Tigers’ offensive struggles. After Auburn’s fifth turnover of the first half — which led to a 3-pointer on the break for Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves — Bruce Pearl burned a rare first-half timeout, with the Tigers trailing 18-9. Kentucky had already scored 12 points off turnovers.

Giveaways continued to plague an already poor shooting Auburn offense, with five in the first nine minutes of the game. In a sequence that summarized much of how the first half went for the Tigers, Chris Moore got a steal, but when he began pushing the ball on the break, Reed Sheppard stole it right back and Adou Thiero threw down a one-handed dunk overtop Moore, plus the foul. 

That put Kentucky up 27-15, which matched its largest lead of the first half. At that point, Kentucky had 15 points off turnovers to zero for Auburn. 

At the midway point of the second half, Kentucky was averaging a whopping 2.4 points off of each Auburn turnover.

Jones' third 3-pointer of the night made it a 10-point game with 3:24 left, as the Tigers were desperately looking to string together baskets and stops. With some consistent trips to the foul line, Auburn was able to get it down to 7 points with 1:40 remaining, but the Wildcats also hit their foul shots, and Jones had a costly turnover with 1:10 remaining. Baker-Mazara turned it over on the next possession.

Auburn didn't make a shot in the final 3:30 of the game.

"Honestly, we knew Kentucky was going to come out and play hard," Jones said. "Numbers-wise, we knew that, coming in here, they play better on the road. We expected them to play hard. But, at the end of the day, we just had to execute our plays and knock down open shots."

TIGERS’ FOUL TROUBLE

Not much was going right for the Tigers, in any regard. Auburn’s lineup was restricted early, as both K.D. Johnson and Tre Donaldson picked up two fouls, with Johnson being tagged with his third in the minutes before halftime. To top it off, Chad Baker-Mazara, who led Auburn in first-half scoring with 7 points, took an elbow to the face and had to be checked out in the locker room for several minutes.

Donaldson picked up his third foul 64 seconds into the second half, and it was later upgraded to a flagrant. His fourth foul came 27 seconds later.

So it was Aden Holloway running point for most of the second half before Pearl went with Jones at point in the final stretch. Donaldson and Holloway combined to shoot 1-for-8 with zero assists.

"Yeah, the rotation was all disrupted," Pearl said. "It's partly disrupted because Denver and K.D. had been playing well, and Denver had been playing a little bit of point guard. We got into some foul trouble. We weren't playing great at the position. There was some disruption there."

Pearl later added: "We need to get better guard play. It’s clear. It’s clear we need to get better guard play. We’ll see if those guys can get it all figured out."

DEFENSE DOES ALL IT CAN

Against what’s capable of being one of the most electrifying offenses in the country, Auburn’s defense kept the nation's No. 3 scoring offense 20 points below its season average.

"We held them to 70, they average 90," Pearl said. "We played hard, and obviously made some plays defensively."

Auburn finally began getting some points off turnovers during a sequence several minutes into the second half, as the Tigers forced three giveaways in 61 seconds: Jaylin Williams stopped a breakaway score, K.D. Johnson grabbed a steal and scored on the break, and Baker-Mazara drew a charge. That led to a quick 6-0 burst that brought Kentucky’s lead down to 5 points.

But Antonio Reeves seemed to always have an answer for the Wildcats, with his game-high 22 points helping the Wildcats build as large as a 16-point lead with six minutes to play.

SCARY INJURY FOR WILLIAMS

In a game where Kentucky was without starting power forward Tre Mitchell — for a team that already struggled on the interior often this season — Auburn appeared to have a clear advantage in the froncourt.

The Tigers' usually dyanmic duo of Johni Broome and Jaylin Williams weren't able to take advantage, though. Including Williams' 1-for-5 mark in the game, they started a combined 5-of-15 from the floor.

Perhaps the biggest storyline of the game for Auburn's season, though, is the status of what was confirmed by Auburn during the game to be a knee injury. After missing a dunk with 10:40 left, Williams remained on the floor for a few minutes, holding his right knee. He had to be helped off the court into the locker room, and couldn’t put any weight on that leg.

Pearl said postgame that Williams will undergo an MRI postgame.

"We think he's got to have something; we think it's something," Pearl said. "It's not just a bang; he had pivot. We'll do an MRI tomorrow and then we'll take a look at it."

Broome finished with a double-double at 14 points and 10 rebounds but shot 5-of-13 from the floor. Williams had 3 points and no rebounds.

"Their ball pressure disrupted us," Pearl said. "Our point guards didn't have an assist and just one basket. Their ball pressure from their guards really wouldn't allow us to get the ball into places on the floor that we kind of needed to be able to execute our offense or get the ball inside to Jaylin Willaims, or get the ball inside to Johni more."

PEARL DETESTS 'DEMORALIZING' LABEL

This obviously wasn't the conclusion Auburn was looking for after an exciting week.

On top of a rare home loss to what's become a pseudo rival, Auburn may be without one of its best players for an extended period of time. And the Tigers' SEC title chances could be on the rocks.

But Pearl is far from "demoralized," and he reaffirmed his confidence in the Tigers — which were announced as a 4-seed by the NCAA selection committee in the early bracket reveal Saturday afternoon — and their ability to bounce back and continue a season that's already yielded 20 wins.

"This was not a demoralizing game," Pearl said. "That’s a good team that played a really good game that played a really good game. What’s demoralizing about a loss to Kentucky when they play well? I can’t even begin to answer that. Do I look demoralized to you? Anybody think I’m demoralized? The point is, and this is what I want you guys to understand: Our guys have been achieving at a high level. ... I said to my son Steven, I said, ‘You know what? This might be the easiest game of the next four.’ Looking at Kentucky here, even going on the road to Georgia, then going on the road to Tennessee. For these kids to have grinded and be in the position? Guys, come on. Demoralized? 

*** Subscribe to Auburn Undercover for the latest news and intel, podcasts, recruiting coverage and more ***

*** Get Auburn news straight to your inbox with the Auburn Undercover newsletter ***

[aubiefifty 16,791]

al.com

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl gives update on Jaylin Williams’ knee injury

Updated: Feb. 17, 2024, 8:29 p.m.|Published: Feb. 17, 2024, 8:16 p.m.

2–3 minutes

Auburn's Jaylin Williams injures knee against Kentucky

Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said star forward Jaylin Williams has a knee injury after he appeared to injure himself while attempting a dunk in No. 13 Auburn’s 70-59 loss Saturday against No. 22 Kentucky.

“Yeah, he’s hurt,” Pearl said on Auburn’s post-game radio show. “He’s hurt. We don’t know what it’s going to be.”

Pearl said Williams will have an MRI tomorrow. During the radio show, Pearl mentioned Williams’ meniscus, but was not certain if that’s what was injured.

“We were in range when he got hurt,” Pearl said. “We think he’s gotta have something. We think it’s something. Not just a bang.”

Williams went up for a powerful dunk with a little more than 10 minutes remaining in the second half. With Kentucky defenders in the area, it was a physical play to begin with.

But as he came toward the ground, he tangled with a Kentucky defender and fell strangely on his right knee, which appeared to bend awkwardly as Williams’ foot hit the ground.

Williams’ improvement this season has been such a dramatic part of Auburn’s success. He is an integral leader on this team and the winningest player in program history.

Williams had three points on 1-5 shooting when he came out of the game. He is averaging a career-best 13.4 points per game so far this season.

Auburn is now 20-6 overall and 9-4 in the SEC.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com