Bruce Pearl admits he had a line ready for Kentucky fans had Auburn lost at Rupp Arena

The top-ranked Auburn Tigers continue to dominate the college basketball world in the 2024-2025 regular season. And on Saturday, they handled business as usual against the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena (Lexington, Kentucky), a place where their head coach, Bruce Pearl, hasn’t won very much at all during his career. Auburn prevailed 94-78, in a comfortable win. Following the victory, Pearl explained that he had a line ready for UK fans had his team lost.

“Why in the world would you ever want me to be your coach when I can’t win in Rupp [Arena]? That was going to be my line. But having coached at Southern Indiana, having coached in Division II for a long time, you remember what great basketball there is in the state of Kentucky. And the state of Indiana. And how you all love high school basketball. You also love Division II basketball, because you all respect the game so much,” Pearl explained in his postgame press conference.

“There are no more knowledgeable fans anywhere in the country than right here in Kentucky. And so, there have been times when we’ve brought really good teams in here and we’ve gotten spanked. And every now and then I walk away going, ‘You know what I don’t know if that Pearl can coach at all, but he can whatever…”

He didn’t stop there.

“And so, I want to bring a great team in here,” Pearl continued. “I want to play good basketball. I want to win the game, whether we win or lose. We’ve played well a couple of times and gotten beat. But, this is obviously a sweet one. 2 wins and 33 losses. 33 tries. And for this one to be for a championship. It’s what we do it for, to make history, this is our fifth team in the last eight years that has won a regular season or tournament championship. I’m just super, super proud. Super happy about that.

The Tigers’ Miles Kelly led their team in scoring, erupting for 30 points, while draining 9 of 14 three-pointers. Chad Baker-Mazara chipped in 22 points, and freshman Tahaad Pettiford poured in 21 points, while dishing out four assists for Auburn. UK had four players in double figures: Andrew Carr (20 points), Amari Williams (13 points), Koby Brea (21 points), and Lamont Butler (15 points). Williams stuffed the stat sheet with 13 points, 14 rebounds, and seven assists, nearly dropping a triple double.

Pearl and Auburn jumped on Kentucky in the first half, building a 49-34 advantage going into the locker room. And not much changed in the second half, as the Tigers prevailed by 16 in the end. The Tigers outscored the Wildcats 45-44 in the second half. Auburn has been the top-ranked team in America for much of the 2024-2025 season for a reason.

The Tigers currently sit at 27-2 overall and 15-1 in the SEC. No. 17 ranked Kentucky fell to 19-10 overall and 8-8 in the SEC.

And Pearl can rest easy knowing he can coach at Rupp.