Kentucky blows out Auburn 86-54 behind incredible second-half performance

Kentucky men’s basketball was at its absolute best on Saturday afternoon.

Thanks to an explosive second-half performance, the Wildcats (20-9; 11-5 SEC) made light work of the Auburn Tigers (19-10; 9-7 SEC) at Rupp Arena, coming away with an easy 86-54 win. Kentucky has now won four games in a row with two left in the regular season before the SEC Tournament. The ‘Cats shot 56 percent against Auburn for the game while holding the Tigers to just 25 points after halftime and 34 percent shooting for the entire afternoon. Kentucky outscored Auburn 46-25 in the second half.

Oscar Tshiebwe was the star of the game for UK, finishing with 22 points and 17 rebounds on 8-10 shooting and a perfect 6-6 mark from the free-throw line. Antonio Reeves wasn’t far behind as he poured in 21 points, 18 of them coming in the second half alone. Cason Wallace posted a near-double-double of 19 points and nine assists while Jacob Toppin added 13 points, 12 rebounds, and five assists to the cause before fouling out down the stretch.

Tshiebwe came ready to play from the opening tip, scoring the first six points for Kentucky out of the gate. He was going shot-for-shot with Auburn’s big man and Morehead State transfer, Johni Broome, who put up nine of the Tigers’ first 11 points. Following a quick start from both sides, the offense soon began to stall.

A perfectly executed out-of-bounds play resulted in a Lance Ware dunk that gave Kentucky a 14-11 lead midway through the first half. UK would slowly extend its lead out to six points a few minutes later, but could never push the pedal all the way down. A second-chance dunk from Auburn’s Jaylin Williams even gave the Tigers a brief 25-24 advantage. That’s when things began to swing heavily in Kentucky’s favor.

UK would close the first half on a 15-4 run to take a 40-29 lead into the locker room. After 20 minutes of action, Tshiebwe was already up to a 14-point, 10-rebound double-double while Wallace chipped in 10 points of his own. Out of the intermission, it didn’t take long for Kentucky to do what it hasn’t done since the beginning of the season — blow a team out of the gym.

Auburn would make the first basket of the second half, but it was all ‘Cats everything from then on. Kentucky ballooned its lead to 16 points five minutes into the half before making it 20-plus with roughly 11 minutes in regulation. Things would only get worse for the Tigers, too.

A fastbreak slam from Tshiebwe made it a 33-point lead, 77-44, for UK as the packed Rupp Arena crowd was on the verge of blowing the roof off the building. Reeves put the nail in the coffin with a three-pointer that made it 82-46 in favor of the ‘Cats with under four minutes to play. When it was all said and done, Kentucky locked up a dominant 32-point victory, extending Auburn’s 35-year losing streak at Rupp Arena for at least one more game.