Auburn vs Kentucky: 2019 NCAA Tournament game preview, TV schedule
By Joey Loose
Auburn and Kentucky will meet in an all-SEC Elite Eight matchup in Kansas City; will it be the Tigers or Wildcats heading to the Final Four?
TV schedule: Sunday, March 31, 2:20 pm ET. CBS
Arena: Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri
They played in January and in February, but when the Tigers and Wildcats meetup on Sunday afternoon, the stakes will be higher than they’ve ever been. These teams have muscled out three NCAA Tournament wins and will meet up with a Final Four bid on the line.
A highly regarded team all season, Auburn (29-9) has really turned things on in recent weeks. They won the SEC Tournament after struggling through the initial stages of SEC play. They took care of 12-seed New Mexico State before winning big games over 4-seed Kansas and 1-seed North Carolina, returning to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1986. Owners of an eleven game winning streak, the Tigers hunt for the first Final Four in program history.
Auburn suffered a critical drawback when sophomore forward Chuma Okeke (12.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg) tore his ACL while leading the way with 20 points against North Carolina on Friday. Junior forward Danjel Purifoy averages just 3.5 points per game, but hit four three-pointers in that victory; they’ll need him to have another standout game. Guards Bryce Brown (15.8 ppg) and Jared Harper (15.2 ppg, 5.8 apg) are the hot hands to watch; as Brown led the way with 25 points against Kansas. How the team plays without Okeke down low will be interesting to see, but coach Bruce Pearl will have this team emotionally ready to play.
The Tigers rank 6th in offensive efficiency and are up to 11th in KenPom. They’ve been playing great ball recently and are a much more potent team than their 5-seed indicates. Rebounding hasn’t come easy for the Tigers, and that challenge will be elevated in Okeke’s absence. However, Auburn ranks 1st in the nation at forcing turnovers on defense; they’ll need to force the Wildcats into some mistakes. This is all a top 15 team shooting from long-range; clearly Auburn will need to keep hitting their 3-pointers to make it to the Final Four.
Across the court, Kentucky (30-6) finds themselves in the midst of another impressive season, their seventh Elite Eight in the last ten years under John Calipari. They fell to Tennessee in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament, but this young team is gelling at the right time. They crushed 15-seed Abilene Christian before surviving tough tests against 7-seed Wofford and 3-seed Houston. The Wildcats knocked off Auburn twice already this year, but do they have the pieces to do it a third time?
The critical piece for the Wildcats is sophomore forward PJ Washington (14.8 ppg, 7.4 rpg) who returned from injury and played in their Sweet Sixteen win over Houston. Freshman guard Tyler Herro (14.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg) had 19 points in that victory while fellow freshman Keldon Johnson (13.5 ppg, 5.8 pg) put up 25 against Abilene Christian last week. These are all highly-tauted recruits that Calipari is putting in a great position late in the year. Another name to watch is Reid Travis (11.3 ppg, 7.2 rpg), the grad-transfer from Stanford who had a double-double against Wofford and added 11 boards two nights ago against Houston.
Kentucky currently sits at 7th in KenPom, sporting a team ranked 8th in defensive efficiency. They completely shut down sharp shooter Fletcher Magee and Wofford last week and have the capability of doing the same against Brown and Harper. The Wildcats rank in the top 25 in offensive boards and in free throw shooting; they will dominate down low in Okeke’s absence. Kentucky is great defensively but are susceptible to turnovers.
This should be a highly competitive game, but Auburn’s really going to miss Okeke’s presence. For the Tigers to pull off the win, they’ll need Brown and/or Harper to have a great shooting efforts, while also taking advantage of Kentucky’s mistakes and turning them into quick offense. For the Wildcats, they need to dominate the boards and win the battle down low. They got big games from Hero and Washington against Auburn earlier this year and will be back in the Final Four if those two can shoot similarly again.
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The way Auburn has been playing lately, they’ve been nearly unstoppable, but the injury to Okeke makes this a different ballgame. With PJ Washington back in the lineup, these Wildcats have been playing inspired basketball. It’s very possible that Auburn’s talented guards will spur the Tigers to their first Final Four, but I expect Kentucky’s size to play a big role. Expect this to be a close game, but Calipari’s Wildcats will make the Final Four once again.