Kentucky basketball falls to No. 10 Auburn; UK’s 4th straight loss
By Drew Koch
The Kentucky basketball team has now lost 4 straight games. The Wildcats fell to the No. 10 Auburn Tigers on Wednesday night.
The Kentucky basketball team lost their 4th straight game. The Cats fell to the No. 10 Auburn Tigers 76-66. While Kevin Knox led all scorers with 19, he was lifeless late in the game. The Tigers closed the game on a 20-7 run.
First Half
John Calipari shuffled his starting lineup and started Wenyen Gabriel over PJ Washington. A slow start from the field (1-for-11) for Auburn led to an early 5-4 advantage for the Cats. Hamidou Diallo, who brought some energy early, had to sit after picking up his second foul barely 5 minutes into the game.
A countless number of turnovers and missed shots led to a scoring game early. At the under-12 minute timeout the Kentucky basketball team led 10-6. At that point, the Wildcats had 8 turnovers and the Tigers were 0-of-9 from downtown.
A 10-2 run by Auburn, including 2 three-pointers, put the Tigers up 16-12 and caused Coach Cal to call a timeout to stop the bleeding. The Cats trailed 25-21 with 5:07 left when Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his second foul.
Kevin Knox led the Wildcats in scoring in the first half with 12 points. Jarred Vanderbilt had 2 points, 2 blocks and 8 rebounds. As both teams headed to the locker room the Tigers led the Wildcats 39-33.
Next: Calipari flipped the line up, just not the right one
Second Half
Knox came out aggressive with a drive to the basket and pull up three-pointer to start the second half. After the first TV timeout the Tigers held a 4-point lead over the Cats. Knox converted an and-1 opportunity and cut Auburn’s lead to 1. Then Gabriel drove to the basket and threw down a two-handed dunk to give UK it’s first lead since early in the first half.
Gilgeous-Alexander grabbed back-to-back offensive boards and grew the Cats lead to 4 points at the under-8 minute timeout. However, a Diallo turnover led to a fast break bucket for Auburn and the Tigers took a 60-59 lead.
After Auburn took the lead, the Kentucky basketball team began to unravel. At the under-4 minute timeout the Tigers extended their lead to 66-61 and were headed to the free throw line. Auburn knocked down both foul shots and Green hit only 1-of-2 on the other end of the court.
A dead-ball on UK’s next possession put Washington on the line. He put through both and cut the lead to 4. Auburn buried a three-pointer to extend their lead to 7. The Tigers hit their free throws down the stretch and the Cats lost their 4th straight game.