Despite loss, Bruce Pearl says Kentucky remains a "championship team"

Kentucky may have lost at Auburn, but it came under unique circumstances. The Wildcats lost their second-leading scorer in the first half and saw their starting point guard miss time in the second. This was after UK led by double figures midway through the first half.

Even still, Kentucky cut the Auburn lead — the Tigers led by as many as 12 — to just four points with 3:20 to go and had a shot to complete the comeback late. A loss is a loss, but it wasn’t all ugly for the Cats.

In fact, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl went out of his way to praise Kentucky after the game, adding that the Wildcats were clear title contenders.

“That Kentucky team was short-handed when TyTy went down,” Pearl said. “Wheeler was bothered a little bit. For those guys to rally and outplay us like they did in the first half tells you they’re a championship team with a championship coaching staff.”

In particular, Pearl says the Wildcats made life difficult for the Tigers defensively, with Auburn needing to go back to the drawing board at halftime.

“Give Kentucky credit,” he said. “They extended, they drove us out of things, they played our strong hands. It was an excellent defensive gameplan by Kentucky and it certainly bothered us. We made some adjustments and anticipated some of that, did a better job in the second half.”

What pushed the Tigers out front in the end? It was a group effort across the board, with Auburn’s depth hurting Kentucky late. The Wildcats ran out of gas, especially after both starting guards went down.

“I think for us, it’s the sum of our parts,” Pearl said. “If we’re playing nine guys on a regular basis, sometimes ten, you’ve got to account for all of them. I thought we got really great contributions from everybody, they did what they did.”

At the end of the day, nothing has changed regarding Kentucky’s long-term potential. When healthy, the Wildcats are capable of making a serious postseason run.

“This was an incredible opportunity to have Kentucky at home,” Pearl said. “Both teams are playing very well. With TyTy going down and us being at home, we did what we were supposed to do. There wasn’t a lot of water splashed around our locker room, we didn’t win a championship, we’re not cutting down nets.

“We were good enough today to beat a really good team, a team that could be good enough to get to the Final Four.”