Rebounding and Free Throw Margin Clinch Another SEC Crown

Kentucky entered Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon needing a win over Auburn to clinch John Calipari's sixth SEC title and the program's 49th. In the previous meeting between the two teams, the Tigers made a living at the free throw line and making UK pay for not locking up the defensive glass. In Lexington, the opposite happened. The Wildcats collected 31 defensive rebounds compared to Auburn's 12 offensive rebounds and the Wildcats were 27 of 33 from the free throw line while the Tigers were 13 of 22. The result was a 73-66 win for the home team as UK improved to 7-3 in Quadrant 1 games. Despite Evansville wrapping up an 0-18 season in Missouri Valley Conference play, Kentucky continues to improve their resume and appears to have a great shot of landing on the two-line when Selection Sunday airs on CBS next weekend.

Offense

Kentucky scored 73 points in 69 possessions while posting 1.06 points per trip. The Wildcats only had 10 turnovers, shot over 50 percent from two and hit 27 free throws but it wasn't the biggest day offensively because of the deep ball. The Wildcats continue to labor from three in Rupp Arena and they were just 2 of 13 in the win. It also doesn't help when you're only able to reel in seven offensive rebounds. Once again, Immanuel Quickley led the way. The sophomore led the team in scoring with 18 points on 10 shot attempts, but he was only able to get three of them to fall. Quickley did most of his damage at free throw line hitting all 10 of his attempts to improve his season percentage to 92.2%. When the shots aren't falling he's getting to the line and that continues to make him a very effective scorer. Despite the points, he wasn't the best offensive player for Kentucky today. Tyrese Maxey scored 17 points on 13 shots, but was 5 of 10 from two-point range and hit 7 of 8 shots from the free throw line. The freshman dished out four assists in addition to collecting two offensive rebounds. With the other guards struggling, he was consistent all game and was hard for Auburn to deal with in transition as UK raced to a 21-10 fast break advantage. Ashton Hagans continues to work through a funk, but it wasn't due to turnovers. The sophomore point guard had five assists to go with just one turnover, but it was the shooting that came up short. Hagans was just 2 of 10 from two and 0 of 3 from three with no trips to the free throw line. He is now shooting just 39.4% from two and 23.5% from three in SEC play and is laboring offensively. Kentucky needs him to shake this slump fast. Down low, Nick Richards stepped up to the plate for a productive day after some recent ho hum efforts. The junior scored 14 points while hitting all five of his field goal attempts despite playing just 19 minutes due to foul trouble. Auburn is a very tough matchup for Richards due to their physicality, but in crunch time he produced and hit a big jumper to help Kentucky pull away. EJ Montgomery continues to give UK some positive minutes while Nate Sestina provided a big scoring punch off the bench. The senior scored 11 points in 19 minutes by knocking in a three, scoring in the post, off a baseline out of bounds play and getting to the free throw line. Keion Brooks Jr. provided a couple of buckets that showed off his leaping ability. If UK gets 15 points from the bench they are extremely hard to beat.

Defense

Kentucky held Auburn to 66 points on 69 possessions with the Tigers putting up just 0.96 points per trip. The Wildcats are now up to second in the SEC in defensive efficiency as they limited Auburn to just 9 of 34 shooting from three-point range after the Tigers hit their first four attempts to begin the game. The Tigers made just 13 of 22 free throws, but the story of the game was the rebounding. In the previous loss, Auburn gobbled up 17 offensive rebounds while Kentucky grabbed just 22 defensive rebounds and that helped propel them to the victory. In Rupp Arena, the Tigers grabbed just 12 offensive rebounds that led to just 12 second chance points while UK reeled in 31 defensive rebounds. Immanuel Quickley led the way with 12 defensive boards. It also helps tremendously when you are able to keep a team that ranks second nationally in free throw rate off the line and Auburn didn't really help themselves when they got there. It ended up being a total push on the boards while the Tigers were just plus-seven in second chance points while being minus-14 at the free throw line. You add that in with their very bad three-point shooting and it is going to be very hard for them to beat good teams with those numbers. Nick Richards collected just two defensive rebounds, but he was able to produce two blocks in just 19 minutes. Ashton Hagans is struggling on offense, but he remains a menace on defense recording three steals and creating instant offense with the takeaways.

Outlook

Once again, Kentucky has won an SEC regular season title and they are now 14-2 in conference play with just four wins occurring by double-digits. More often than not, this team has found themselves in a close game but they have been able to find ways to win. Despite just three lead changes in the game, Kentucky was never able to extend the lead into double-digits. Even with that, it felt like they were in control the entire way. Auburn lives and dies by the three-point shot and offensive rebounds on offense. When in trouble, they just put their head down and attempt to draw fouls. After the hot early shooting start, Kentucky stuck to their keys. They hit the glass hard with the guards making a huge impact on the defensive boards while they did a fair job keeping Auburn off of the free throw line. On the other end, there are still some issues. For Kentucky to be at their best, they need a better offensive version of Ashton Hagans and the sophomore just can't seem to get out of his funk. Despite the bad shooting from just him and Immanuel Quickley, the team still found a way. Nick Richards produced some major scoring in limited playing time while Quickley got to the free throw line. Tyrese Maxey is all of a sudden becoming a consistent force while the bench gave the team 15 points. That makes them very tough to guard. The Wildcats have now won eight games in a row and have a regular season conference title in their back pocket. Thanks to the Evansville loss, their NCAA Tournament resume has a slim margin for error but the team's Quadrant 1/Quadrant 2 record of 12-4 is very, very strong. Thanks to the SEC dominance in the win/loss common, the Wildcats now have a legit shot at a two-seed come next weekend. That was very hard to imagine back in December when UK left Las Vegas with two losses. On to Tennessee.