Kentucky vs Auburn: 2018-19 College basketball game preview, TV schedule
By Cody Gerena
The Auburn Tigers will head to Lexington for an SEC rematch with the Kentucky Wildcats. A No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament may be on the line.
TV schedule: Saturday, February 23, 1:30pm ET CBS
Arena: Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky
It goes without saying that the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the whole world he didn’t exist. The second greatest? Convincing college basketball fans that the Auburn Tigers were national championship contenders. After coming off last season with their first SEC regular-season championship in 20 years and second NCAA Tournament appearance in 15, the Auburn Tigers looked like they have a potential national championship in their future.
They started off this season with the #11 ranking in the polls, couple that with good out of conference performances such as an 88-66 win against #25 Washington and a strong showing against an unstoppable #1 Duke team in a 78-72 loss in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational, the Tigers looked like they had the tools necessary to improve on what they accomplished last year.
Forget about the weak recruiting class of literally no-one just all walk-ons, forget about losing two starters not to the NBA, but to other schools including the top-player from last year, Mustapha Heron. This was Auburn’s year to finish the job and get to at least the sweet 16, and it looked like it.
Then the conference season happened, and the #11 13-3 (2-1) Auburn Tigers slipped, losing three straight to fall off the polls altogether. They responded by winning three straight to go 16-6(5-4), but then they lost two more. Now they’ve won two more again to be 18-8(7-6), but the third game on this new win streak is against the #4 Kentucky Wildcats 22-4(11-2), and a loss could start one more slide, and a slide will knock them out of the bracket and onto the bubble.
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With a tough schedule remaining with only one “easy” game left (at Georgia) and games at home against #5 Tennessee and a Mississippi State team whose beat them 92-84 earlier this season, and a game at their rival Alabama left, now is not the time to start losing.
While Auburn will be going into the Rupp Arena looking to finalize their spot into the NCAA Tournament, the Kentucky Wildcats will be looking to finalize their season atop the whole NCAA basketball division. With the #1 Duke Blue Devils losing and the #3 Virginia Cavaliers had a tough match-up on Saturday at #18 Louisville, Kentucky will have the chance to leapfrog both teams and possibly the #2 Gonzaga Bulldogs by the next polls with a strong win against an Auburn team who still receives some votes.
In addition, the #1 ranking this late in the season could help them win the top spot in a region for the tournament. Also, with a win against Auburn this Saturday and #5 Tennessee having a hard game against #13 LSU, Kentucky could take the top spot in the SEC.
Auburn, on the other hand, will be looking to save their season from themselves. Now at an 8-seed in both the latest Busting Brackets Bracketology and ESPN’S Bracketology with Joe Lunardi, who knows what might just another losing streak will do to them. For reference, they were projected to be a 2-seed earlier this season. They may be in the “Firmly in the Field” section in the newest Bubble Watch, but they still have at least six more games to play left this season, and a lot can happen in six games.
In their first meeting this season, the Wildcats beat Auburn at Auburn 82-80. Kentucky held the lead by 13 in the second half and Auburn actually took it from them with around 30 seconds remaining. The game featured a nice 8 for 9, 28 point performance by Bryce Brown(more on him later).
The Tigers will be led by three of their starters from last year. Senior guard Bryce Brown leads the team in points per game with16.3. Junior guard Jared Harper is second in points per game with 15.2 and first in assists with 6.2 per game. Finally, sophomore forward Chuma Okeke leads the team in rebounds with 6.7 per game and is second in assists with 2.1 and third in points with 11.2 per game.
Leading the Wildcats’ team will be sophomore forward P.J. Washington who has returned to Kentucky after contemplating being a one-and-done player, who now leads the team in points and rebounds per game with 14.9 and 8. He also led the team in points with 23 in the major 86-69 win against Tennessee earlier this month. He’ll be backed up by freshmen(something Auburn lacks) guards Keldon Johnson and Tyler Herro. Johnson is second in points and third in rebounds per game with 13.8 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Herro is third in points and second in assists with 13.5 points and 2.3 assists per game. He also got a double-double in the Tennessee game with 13 rebounds and 15 points. Kentucky also has another starting freshman guard by the name of Ashton Hagans, who leads the team in assists and steals per game with 4.3 and 2.0.
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In the end, even though the Tigers may have more experience, the younger, more talented Wildcats will easily beat them. Let’s just hope that Auburn doesn’t fall into a slump after this game.