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Auburn wins SEC regular season championship outright after Alabama loss

Justin Hokansonby:Justin Hokanson•03/01/25•

_JHokanson

Auburn Basketball
(Auburn Athletics)

Auburn won their third SEC regular season championship in the last eight seasons and fifth conference championship overall in the Bruce Pearl era earlier in the day on Saturday after whipping No. 17 Kentucky.

Now, the Tigers’ championship will be held outright after No. 6 Alabama’s loss at No. 5 Tennessee. With four league losses, Alabama and Florida no have no mathematical way to catch Auburn, who sits at just one league loss with two games remaining.

No. 1 Auburn clinched at least a share of the SEC championship with a win at Kentucky on Saturday. It’s the first win inside Rupp Arena for the Tigers since January of 1988 and only the third win inside Rupp or in Lexington all time for Auburn.

RAPID REACTION: NO. 1 AUBURN 94, NO. 17 KENTUCKY 78

It’s Auburn’s fifth regular season SEC championship in program history. Three have come under Pearl’s leadership.

The Tigers have won two SEC Tournament championships, including last season. Meaning, the last two possible conference titles up for grabs, Auburn has won. Pearl’s bunch will go for a second-straight tournament title in Nashville later this month.

‘WE PLAYED LIKE CHAMPIONS’: PEARL REACTS TO AUBURN’S WIN OVER KENTUCKY

“I’m so happy for the kids. You know, we played like champions. We truly did. The guys have been so locked in all year. The league is so good. Before the game, one of the things I said to the team, I said, ‘it’s gonna be hard in here.’ They said, ‘yeah, it’s gonna be hard.’ And you know, nothing was going to come easy. We knew that,” Pearl said after Auburn’s 27th win of the season.

“Here’s what I’m most proud of. Before the game, I said, both teams have played 15 games in SEC. One team is 14-1 and the other team is 8-7. What does that tell you about what kind of a year these kids have had and how they prepared and how they’ve grinded, and how they’ve been rewarded to do it?

“This is obviously historic. For this one to be for a championship, to make history. This our fifth team in the last eight years that’s won either a regular season or tournament championship. I’m just super, super happy about that.”

‘THE PIECES HAVE COME TOGETHER NICELY’: PEARL PROUD OF HIS SEC-TITLE TEAM

Auburn’s most recent win ties the program record for regular season wins at 27 with the 2021-22 team led by Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler, and ties the program record for SEC wins at 15 with that same Smith-Kessler-led championship team. The Tigers still have two games remaining at Texas A&M and at home against Alabama to break those records.

And with the win, Pearl ties former Auburn coach Sonny Smith with the most wins versus Kentucky at seven.

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