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Auburn continued on with its steady, unrelenting destruction of the best conference in basketball on Saturday.
On the road, in a place where Bruce Pearl has historically dealt with nothing but nightmares, the top-ranked Tigers throttled No. 17 Kentucky for their 14th win in 15 SEC games so far this season. In beating the Wildcats 94-78, Auburn orchestrated a beatdown so comprehensive that ESPN’s cameras refused to show the final 8 minutes of it.
The feed inside Rupp Arena cut midway through the second half and never came back. At least not on the local channel. ABC claimed its TV truck outside the arena lost all power and the network treated viewers to hockey instead. ESPNews carried the final 2:23 of the game. Kentucky fans likely weren’t all that torn up about it.
After a pair of free throws from Lamont Butler with 6:38 to play in the first half, Kentucky trailed Auburn by just 6 points.
Kentucky did not make another field goal for nearly 10 minutes of game time. A jumper from Koby Brea with 16:20 to go in the second half broke the seal on the hoop. In the interim, Kentucky committed 7 turnovers and missed 10 straight shots.
Just in the first 3:01 of the second half, Kentucky turned the basketball over 6 times.
Kentucky finished the day with 18 giveaways. And Auburn’s guards made the Wildcats pay repeatedly.
Johni Broome scored just 9 points on 9 shots. He had an uncharacteristically poor day. But it didn’t matter one bit.
Chad Baker-Mazara, Miles Kelly, and Tahaad Pettiford combined for 73 points. Kelly was unflappable, scoring 30 points while drilling a career-high 9 triples. Baker-Mazara had 22 points on just 12 shots thanks to 9 makes from the free throw line. Pettiford added 21.
The Tigers were energized from the opening jump, attempting behind-the-back, dump-off passes in transition and between-the-legs bounce passes to trailers. In a sign of what was to come, Pettiford dished to Kelly early int he first half for a pull-up 3 that banked in off the glass.
Everything went Auburn’s way. The Tigers led by as many as 22 points in the second half and Kentucky never got closer than 14. The win was Auburn’s first inside Rupp Arena since 1988.
The Tigers (26-2) are cruising toward a No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. With the win on Saturday, Auburn also clinched the program’s second regular-season SEC title in the last 4 years. Auburn has games remaining against Texas A&M on Tuesday and Alabama at home next Saturday.
Kentucky (19-10, 8-8 SEC) hosts LSU before closing on the road against Mizzou.
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
