Kentucky has a winning record vs. No. 1-ranked teams at Rupp Arena

Kentucky will host the No. 1 Auburn Tigers on Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena. It will be the 25th time in program history the Cats have faced the No. 1 team in the country since the AP Poll began in January 1949; Kentucky is 8-16 so far in those meetings. It’s just the sixth time that the No. 1-ranked team in the country has come to Rupp. The good news? Kentucky has a winning record in those games, 3-2.

As we wait to see if the Cats make it 4-2, let’s look back at Kentucky’s history against No. 1-ranked teams at Rupp.

Dec. 15, 1979: No. 5 Kentucky 69, No. 1 Indiana 58

Bobby Knight was 7-3 against Kentucky as Indiana’s coach coming into this game. The No. 1-ranked Hoosiers came to Rupp led by freshman Isiah Thomas, a future NBA Hall of Famer, and senior Mike Woodson. According to this New York Times article, Joe B. Hall put two pennies he found in downtown Lexington while walking out of the barber shop in his left shoe for good luck.

“It makes it kind of rough walking around,” Hall said, “But those pennies are strong medicine. When you’re playing Indiana, you need all the help you can get.”

It worked. Indiana got out to a hot start, but Kentucky kept it close, down just three points at halftime. The Cats came out with something to prove in the second half, outscoring the Hoosiers 33-19 en route to the 69-58 victory.

Kyle Macy scored 12 points, while Jay Shidler and Lavon Williams had 11 each. The Cats held Indiana to just 17-49 (34.6%) from the floor. Thomas had 14 points, with Woodson and Ray Tolbert scoring 16 each. Both teams finished that season in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

You can watch the entire thing synced with Cawood Ledford’s radio broadcast below.

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Feb. 4, 2003: No. 6 Kentucky 70, No. 1 Florida 55

One day after Florida was anointed the No. 1 team in the AP Poll, the Cats brought the Gators back to Earth. Tubby Smith’s squad used its trademark defense and a flurry of three-pointers and dunks to jump out to a 45-22 halftime lead. That ballooned to 60-31 with 12:49 to go in the second half. It was a statement victory for the 2003 team, which was eager to make the Gators pay for bragging before the game that they wouldn’t get rattled at Rupp. The crowd brought it that day, directing most of its ire at Matt Walsh.

“I don’t know, but a 20-point lead at the half, I’d get rattled,” Gerald Fitch said via The Cats Pause. “It’s tough to come into Rupp. The crowd was big time, which made it even worse (for Florida).”

“They were a deserving number one,” Tubby Smith said of Florida. “Our crowd and players were really into it. You could just feel the energy in the building. For us, it was a great college basketball game. We came focused and ready to play.”

Fitch had 14 points, Keith Bogans 15, and Erik Daniels 12. Kentucky held Florida to just 17-50 (34%) shooting while connecting on 48% (30-63) of its shots. The 2002-03 Kentucky team made it all the way to the Elite Eight, where they lost to Marquette.

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Feb. 10, 2007: No. 1 Florida 64, No. 20 Kentucky 61

Four years later, the No. 1-ranked defending national champion Gators got the best of the Cats at Rupp. The shots just weren’t falling for Kentucky, which made only 23-60 (38%) from the floor and 3-22 (14%) from three in the 64-61 loss, their fifth straight to Florida in the series. The Cats held the Gators to their lowest point total of the season thus far and Ramel Bradley cut Florida’s lead to three, 63-60, with 18.4 seconds to go. Bradley had a chance to tie it up at the buzzer, but his shot hit the front of the rim instead.

“I’m not going to sleep,” Bradley said, via The Cats Pause. “Anytime you miss shots that you know if you make them you win, I’m not going to sleep.”

“I thought we battled pretty hard,” Tubby Smith said. “We just couldn’t make a shot. We shoot, what, zero percent from three in the first half? Basketball is about putting the ball in the basket. A lot of it is predicated on that. You have to score points. Thirteen percent on threes, 57 percent on free throws, that’s the game.”

Bradley finished with a game-high 20 points, followed by Randolph Morris with 18. The 2006-07 Cats’ season came to an end with a loss to Kansas in the NCAA Tournament Second Round. The Gators, of course, won the SEC and NCAA Tournaments that season for the second year in a row.

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Dec. 1, 2007: No. 1 North Carolina 86, Kentucky 77

This was the first big game of the Billy Gillispie Era and it was not a very memorable one. Kentucky got out to a good start, leading 9-7 about five minutes in, and cut North Carolina’s lead to three at the start of the second half, but from there, it was all Tar Heels. North Carolina led by 20 at the eight-minute mark and cruised to the 86-77 win. It was the first of four straight losses for Billy Gillispie’s first Kentucky team.

Joe Crawford led Kentucky with 21 points, followed by Patrick Patterson and Ramel Bradley with 19 each. Danny Green came off the bench for North Carolina to finish with 20 points, followed by Wayne Ellington with 18 and Tyler Hansbrough with 14 points and 11 rebounds.

The 2007-08 Cats lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, while the Tar Heels made it all the way to the Final Four.

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Feb. 16, 2019: No. 5 Kentucky 86, No. 1 Tennessee 69

How about some happier memories? On Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, the No. 1 Tennessee Vols came to Rupp riding high on a 19-game winning streak. The Cats snapped it, eager to get the loss to No. 19 LSU on a last-second tip-in out of their heads. Tennessee stayed with Kentucky in the first half but the Cats used a 25-7 run in the second to take control, withstanding a 13-0 Tennessee run to win by 17, 86-69.

“It shows everybody that we can still play with great teams in this league and also in the country,” said PJ Washington, who finished with 23 points on 9-12 from the field.

Keldon Johnson had 19 points, including three three-pointers, and Tyler Herro chipped in 15 points and 13 rebounds in the victory, Kentucky’s most recent over a No. 1 team in Rupp. The Cats outscored the Vols 36-20 in the paint.

“I hit them right after the game with LSU and said, ‘Hey, that was a tough loss,'” John Calipari said. “But you know, we needed it. We need to go back to what we were, and sometimes you’ve got to get knocked in the head to know that. So the loss to LSU probably helped us win this game.”

Tennessee avenged that loss in Knoxville a month later and again in the SEC Tournament, but that’s not stopping me from smiling when I remember that Saturday in February six years ago.

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March 1, 2025: No. 1 Auburn vs. No. 17 Kentucky

Mark Pope has the opportunity to make more Kentucky Basketball history on Saturday. No first-year Kentucky coach has ever beaten the No. 1 team in the country on their first try in the regular season. Kentucky is 9-4 vs. Auburn when both teams are ranked and 4-0 when those matchups take place in Rupp Arena.

Pope’s first Kentucky team has a history of pulling off big wins too. Kentucky is 7-2 against AP Top 15 teams and 5-2 against AP Top 10 teams. A win tomorrow would be the biggest, and tie the record for the most regular-season wins against both AP Top-10 and Top-15 teams all-time among any program.

Let’s do it.