Second half offensive efficiency gives Auburn edge over Kentucky

Kentucky has one of the best offenses in college basketball. The Wildcats are a legitimate top-five unit, and the group performed well enough to beat a top-10 defense on the road.

Yet, the defense did not do their part.

In the 80-71 victory over No. 12 Kentucky, Bruce Pearl’s No. 2 Auburn squad sliced up Kentucky on the offensive end using a heavy dose of pick-and-roll to score 51 points after halftime in the major victory on the Plains.

To provide a quick reaction, KSR is digging into the box score to show the stats that made the difference as Kentucky is now 1-5 in their last six games at Auburn Arena.

Two-point efficiency bludgeons Kentucky

For the game, Auburn scored 80 points in 60 possessions. The Tigers posted 1.33 points per possession and scored 51 points in the second half in 32 possessions for a 1.59 points per possession number.

The Wildcats just could not get stops.

The Tigers were 19 of 28 (67.9%) from two, 6 of 16 (37.5%) from three, and 24 of 29 (82.8%) from the free throw line. Each average surpassed the season totals for Pearl’s squad.

After a handful of turnovers in the first half, Auburn settled in and with just a 19 percent turnover rate, had an easy time running offense. When the Wildcats couldn’t force takeaways, Auburn typically put points on the scoreboard.

The Tigers produced eight dunks and got a few tough makes from two by K.D. Johnson and Jabari Smith. There will be a lot of talk about no TyTy Washington, but Kentucky simply wasn’t good enough on defense to beat a team of this caliber on the road.

Free throws certainly helped

Of Auburn’s 51 points after the break, 21 came from the charity stripe. The Tigers were 21 of 23 at the foul line after half and the efficiency negated any Kentucky run that was started.

Not only did Kentucky’s defense struggle to protect the paint as Auburn scored 32 points with 13 dunks/lay-ups, but the Wildcats also were unable to guard without fouling.

Jacob Toppin and Keion Brooks Jr. combined to commit nine fouls as Auburn was able to get Oscar Tshiebwe away from the bucket and attack the UK defense.

The performance was just a bad one for Kentucky and now the Wildcats have slipped to 30th in defensive efficiency at KenPom.

Lack of close game success continues

The best part about Kentucky’s 64-58 win over Texas A&M on Wednesday was that it gave the Wildcats a taste of close game success. That was much-needed after last year’s team finished 4-10 in games decided by single-digits. However, this team is now 1-4 this season in games decided by single-digits.

The Wildcats cannot find a way to finish.

In losses to Duke and Auburn, Kentucky did just enough to hang around in the second half but could never truly make the run to get over the top. Against Notre Dame and LSU, the Wildcats could not make the plays to close the game out in crunch time.

Kentucky seems to have a close game problem, and the team won’t be able to solve it until the squad puts together a couple of close wins. The loss to Auburn was another missed opportunity as Kentucky is 0-3 against top-12 KenPom teams with the defeats coming by a combined 22 points.

Stats that stood out

• Despite both teams ranking in the top-150 in pace, the game between Auburn and Kentucky featured just 63 possessions. After a hot start, Bruce Pearl got his team out of a transition battle with Kentucky and that gave the Tigers an edge. The game was more proof that the Wildcats just aren’t built to grind out wins against good teams. Kentucky seems better suited to play in track meets.
• Entering the game with Auburn, Kellan Grady was shooting just 30.2 percent (13/43) from three-point range in SEC play. However, the grad transfer might have busted that cold shooting spell with a 4 of 7 performance against a good defense. Grady is now shooting 43.8 percent from three on the season, and Kentucky needs those makes to be at their best.
• Losing Sahvir Wheeler to injury for part of the game was really unfortunate. The Georgia transfer finished the afternoon with 17 points on 12 shots with four assists and just one turnover. Wheeler poured in his fourth three-point field goal in the last three games and had a lot of success getting downhill with the dribble against Auburn. The final result might have been different if the junior doesn’t exit the lineup after running into another hard screen on defense.
• TyTy Washington finished the game with four points in eight minutes, but it was clear things turned when the freshman exited the lineup. Kentucky held a 25-16 lead going into the under-8 timeout in the first half. From that point forward, Auburn was plus-18 in the game and could not be stopped on offense. Not having another guard to attack on offense hurt, but more importantly, Kentucky missed the on-ball defense that Washington could have provided.