No. 2 Auburn will have an improved case to be No. 1 in the AP Top 25 for the first time in program history come Monday after the Tigers rallied from an early 10-point deficit to knock off No. 12 Kentucky 80-71 on Saturday at Auburn Arena. The victory is the 15th in a row for Auburn (18-1, 7-0 SEC), which got a game-high 19 points from Walker Kessler in front of a raucous home crowd.
Kessler's dunk off a Jabari Smith feed with 1:28 left put the Tigers ahead 74-66 and helped stifle a persistent Kentucky squad that fell to 15-4 (5-2) with the loss. The Wildcats lost star freshman guard TyTy Washington for the game due to an ankle injury in the first half, and were without starting point guard Sahvir Wheeler for parts of the second half after he took two hard falls. But despite the attrition, UK drew within four at the 3:20 mark following a Kellan Grady 3-pointer.
The next points came from Smith, Auburn's star freshman, who drilled a contested fadeaway at the 2:28 mark to put the Tigers back up six. Smith and Kessler repeatedly made pivotal plays throughout the afternoon. Another play from Smith that stuck out was his block of UK big man Oscar Tshiebwe layup attempt at the 4:55 mark that would have brought the Wildcats within six points. He finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
Kentucky pulled ahead 19-9 early in the game as the Wildcats kept Auburn out of sync by using a 15-5 edge in points off turnovers to take a 33-29 lead into halftime. But a pair of Kessler dunks in the final minute before the half helped give Auburn the momentum. From there, scoring bursts from K.D. Johnson and Wendell Green Jr. in the second half, combined with the play of Smith and Kessler, helped Auburn pull away.
Key contributions
Smith and Kessler will get a lot of attention for their performances down the stretch, and rightfully so. The duo is one of the most lethal frontcourt tandems in the country. But the unsung heroes of the win for Auburn were Johnson and Green, both of whom sparked runs in the second half after combining for just three points in the first half.
Johnson scored five straight points early in the second half to tie the game for the first time since the 18:03 mark of the first half. He later followed up with a personal 6-0 run that included a 3-pointer and three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt. That spurt turned a 58-52 lead into a 64-52 lead, Auburn's largest of the game, with 6:07 left.
Green hit two 3-pointers in a 25-second span between the 11 and 12-minute marks to break up a Kentucky run as the duo totaled 25 of Auburn's 51 second-half points. Green also had this sweet assist to Kessler among his five dimes for the game.
The SEC is Auburn's to lose
With the win and Texas A&M's loss at Arkansas on Saturday night, Auburn now has at least a two-game lead on everyone in the SEC. The league is the Tigers' to lose, and the cushion should only grow with a game against lowly Missouri up next on Tuesday.
The Tigers shared the SEC title with Tennessee in 2018 but haven't claimed a solo conference crown since 1999. It would be merely the latest example of the program's overachievement under Pearl after Auburn was picked to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll.
As Pearl told CBS Sports' Gary Parrish after the game, "we're a football school, but we're also an everything school."
Kentucky plagued by 'what if?' scenarios
UK's only two league losses came on the road in games tainted by injuries to key players, leaving Kentucky fans to wonder what could have been if their key guards had stayed healthy. Wheeler was knocked out of the Wildcats' 65-60 loss at LSU just four minutes into the game after running into a hard screen.
Then, on Saturday, Washington landed awkwardly and appeared to twist his ankle after a shot attempt at the 8:20 mark. He needed help to leave the floor before walking to the locker room under his own power. However, he did not return. Compounding the issue was the fact that Wheeler missed a key three-minute stretch in the second half after running into yet another screen.
When he exited at the 11:28 mark, UK trailed just 51-47. When he returned with 8:41 left, the Wildcats were down 58-48. With no other scheduled meetings between UK and Auburn, it's a shame for the Wildcats that they won't get another crack at Auburn when fully healthy.