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Bruce Pearl jabs Kentucky media over Mark Pope tampering, Miles Kelly success in Rupp Arena

ns_headshot_2024-clearby:Nick Schultz•about 10 hours•

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Auburn guard Miles Kelly
© Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

In two games at Rupp Arena this year – one against Kentucky and another in the NCAA Tournament – Miles Kelly has shined. The Auburn guard is 16-for-29 from three-point territory in those games, and he has one more ahead on Saturday in the Round of 32.

That’s quite the clip. When asked about it, Bruce Pearl cracked a joke about Mark Pope potentially angling to get Kelly to Lexington full-time.

Pearl joked Pope was trying to get Kelly another year of eligibility and to enter the transfer portal given his apparent love for playing at Rupp. Regardless, Pearl said the game plan for Saturday’s game against Creighton would be to make sure Kelly keeps getting those good looks.

“From what I understand, Mark Pope is petitioning the NCAA to give him another year of eligibility to come after him in the transfer portal,” Pearl said Friday. “Because that’s what I would do if I was Kentucky’s coach. He’s loving what he’s seeing. We’ll get Miles open, and he’ll bang shots.”

Kelly helped lead the charge for Auburn in a victory over Kentucky in Lexington during the regular season. He dropped 30 points on 10-of-17 shooting, including 9-of-14 from three-point territory. As if that wasn’t enough, he again lit it up from deep in March Madness in the opener against Alabama State. He had 23 points and hit seven of his 15 shots from downtown.

Those efforts helped lead Kentucky to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Bruce Pearl pointed out the impact of making it to the second round, considering only a few players on the roster know what it’s like to win a game in the big dance.

Now, the goal is to get to the second weekend, and Pearl knows Creighton won’t be an easy out. Still, he’s hoping Auburn can get past the Bluejays and advance to Atlanta.

“There are two things right now at play,” Pearl said. “One, I was happy for our guys, because only four guys on my team have won an NCAA Tournament game. Three at Auburn – Chris Moore, Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell. And then, JP [Pegues] had won one at Furman. The rest of the team has not won an NCAA Tournament game.

“And we got to the Final Four in 2019, but since that time, we haven’t been to the second weekend. So none of our guys have been past this moment right now. We’ve got a huge obstacle in our way in Creighton. But I was happy for the guys to get the one they got, and obviously, we will be really happy for us if we can make it to Atlanta because it will be the first time for almost all of us.”