Auburn, Alabama, is not a place Kentucky likes to visit. It gets loud, it gets rowdy, and Auburn is always a different team at home. Case in point, this year Auburn is 9-3 at home and 5-9 on the road or at neutral sites.
Kentucky has lost 5 of its last 7 on the plains and Auburn is going to do everything it can to make it 6 of 8. We discussed why we think Kentucky will win the game; you can read that here. But what does Vegas say, and what are the experts predicting?
FanDuel says Kentucky-Auburn is pretty close to a toss-up
Over at FanDuel, the current odds sit in favor of Auburn, but not by much. Currently, they are a 3.5-point favorite, but home court advantage is worth a point or two. That means they believe this game will come down to one possession. Looking at the series history, it's hard to agree.
Since January of 2019, Kentucky has played Auburn a total of 11 times. The series history is split 6-5 in favor of Kentucky during that time, with only 2 of those meetings having been under 7 points; 4 of them have been double-digit victories. So, this game is unlikely to be close if recent history has anything to say about it.
Experts predict more pain for Kentucky
A loss here for Kentucky would be a disaster; it would mean a 3-game losing streak and 10 losses with 4 more games to go, and none of them easy. If Georgia pushed them back onto the bubble, a loss to Auburn may push them out of the tournament. That's why if you are a Kentucky fan, you probably should look away.
Haslametrics- L 76.25 - 78.86
EvanMiya- 78-81
KenPom- 77-81
BartTorvik- 77-82
ESPN- 41% chance of a Kentucky victory
TeamRankings- Auburn, but only 1 of 5 victory confidence
In a bit of good news most models had Kentucky knocking off Georgia, so there's that.
WBN prediction
I really thought Georgia was a dangerous game, but that the Cats would find a way to win it before losing to a really desperate Auburn team on the road. They lost, and now this is a battle of two teams nearing the end of their respective ropes when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. In fact, I think the loser really has an uphill battle simply because of the remaining schedule.
Couple that with the fact that Kentucky has been .500 on the road in conference play, I think Auburn uses a 1-2 punch of Keyshawn Hall and Tahaad Pettiford to a victory and dealing a serious blow to Kentucky's tournament chances.
Auburn 72 Kentucky 65
How to watch and listen to Auburn vs. Kentucky
Time:Â 8:30 PM ET on February 21, 2026
Location:Â Neville Arena in Auburn, Alabama
Channel: ESPN
Announcers:Â Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes
Streaming: Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, FuboTV, Sling TV (Orange Plan)
Radio: Stream live at UKAthletics.com or on iHeartRadio via WLAP 630.
Local FM/AM:
Lexington: 98.1 FM / 630 WLAP
Louisville: 840 AM WHAS
London: 103.9 FM WWEL
Hazard/Pikeville: 101.1 WSGS
Madisonville: 93.9 FM WKTG