It’s been a sec.
When it comes to winning big games, Mark Pope has been masterful in his first year as the Kentucky Wildcats head coach.
The Cats currently have nine Quad I wins under their belt, tying them with Tennessee, Oregon, and Michigan State for third-most in the country. Only Alabama (10) and Auburn (11) have compiled more Quad I wins in this college basketball season.
On Saturday, Kentucky will have an opportunity to bolster their resume even further by beating Bruce Pearl and the top-ranked Tigers, and history will be on UK’s side when the ball is tipped off.
Auburn hasn’t won inside Rupp Arena since Ronald Reagan was President back in 1988.
That’s right, nearly 40 years.
Oddly enough, the last time Auburn did beat UK, it was by way of upsetting Eddie Sutton’s #1 ranked Wildcats.
Roles will be reversed on Saturday at 1:00 PM when it’s the Tigers who will take the floor as the nation’s top-ranked team looking to avoid the upset.
ESPN’s matchup predictor is giving Kentucky just a 35.7% chance of beating Auburn and securing another marquee victory. Meanwhile, FanDuel has the Tigers favored by 5.5 points, nearly a touchdown favorite in an arena that hasn’t seen an Auburn win since before any of these players were born.
With a 26-2 season record, there hasn’t been much offered up in terms of a roadmap to beat Pearl’s squad. However, in their two losses, the Tigers were held under their scoring average and were trailing at halftime in each contest.
So, getting off to a good start will be in the Cats’ best interest if they have plans to knock off #1 Auburn. Both losses also came to Duke and Florida teams that Kentucky was able to beat.
Priority #1 will be attempting to slow down NPOY candidate Johni Broome. The 6-foot-10 senior is averaging 18.8 points and 11 rebounds per game.
It should be a treat watching Broome and Amari Williams battle in the paint on Saturday afternoon.
Kentucky still has a lot to play for in terms of securing the best SEC and NCAA tournament seed possible.
Will they rise to the occasion?