No. 17 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Auburn: Preview, Odds & How to Watch

It was The Otega Oweh Game in Norman, the former Oklahoma guard returning to his old stomping grounds for a career night, ending with 28 points and the game-winner. That was then and this is now, though, Kentucky rewarded with a battle vs. No. 1 Auburn, Bruce Pearl and the Tigers coming to Lexington with the best team in college basketball. They’ve got the best resume in the sport with just a week to go until the regular season transitions into the postseason. Can Kentucky put a dent in that resume as it pushes to lock in a bye in Nashville?

KSR has everything you need to know about the matchup against the Tigers in Lexington.

No. 17 Kentucky vs. No. 1 Auburn: How to Watch, Listen

• Date, Time: Saturday, 1:00 p.m. EST
• Television: ABC (Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 84 or 191
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our new LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour before tip-off, or join the conversation on KSBoard

Early season rewind

Kentucky: KenPom 16

• 11/4: 103-62 W vs. Wright State
• 11/9: 100-72 W vs. Bucknell
• 11/12: 77-72 W vs. No. 6 Duke
• 11/19: 97-68 W vs. Lipscomb
• 11/22: 108-59 W vs. Jackson State
• 11/26: 87-68 W vs. Western Kentucky
• 11/29: 105-76 W vs. Georgia State
• 12/3: 70-66 L at Clemson
• 12/7: 90-89 W OT vs. No. 7 Gonzaga
• 12/11: 78-67 W vs. Colgate
• 12/14: 93-85 W vs. Louisville
• 12/21: 85-65 L vs. Ohio State
• 12/31: 88-54 W vs. Brown
• 1/4: 106-100 W vs. No. 6 Florida
• 1/7: 82-69 L at Georgia
• 1/11: 95-90 W at No. 14 Mississippi State
• 1/14: 81-69 W vs. No. 11 Texas A&M
• 1/18: 102-97 L vs. No. 4 Alabama
• 1/25: 74-69 L at Vanderbilt
• 1/28: 78-73 W at No. 8 Tennessee
• 2/1: 89-79 L vs. Arkansas
• 2/4: 98-84 L at No. 25 Ole Miss
• 2/8: 80-57 W vs. South Carolina
• 2/11: 75-64 W vs. No. 5 Tennessee
• 2/15: 82-78 L at Texas
• 2/19: 82-61 W vs. Vanderbilt
• 2/22: 96-83 L at No. 4 Alabama

Auburn: KenPom 2

• 11/6: 94-43 W vs. Vermont
• 11/9: 74-69 W vs. No. 4 Houston
• 11/13: 79-56 W vs. Kent State
• 11/18: 102-69 W vs. North Alabama
• 11/25: 83-81 W vs. No. 5 Iowa State
• 11/26: 85-72 W vs. No. 12 North Carolina
• 11/27: 90-76 W vs. Memphis
• 12/4: 84-78 L at No. 9 Duke
• 12/8: 98-54 W vs. Richmond
• 12/14: 91-53 W vs. Ohio State
• 12/17: 100-59 W vs. Georgia State
• 12/21: 87-69 W vs. No. 16 Purdue
• 12/30: 87-58 W vs. Monmouth
• 1/4: 84-68 W vs. Missouri
• 1/7: 87-82 W at. Texas
• 1/11: 66-63 W at South Carolina
• 1/14: 88-66 W vs. No. 15 Mississippi State
• 1/18: 70-68 W at No. 23 Georgia
• 1/25: 53-51 W vs. No. 6 Tennessee
• 1/29: 87-74 W at LSU
• 2/1: 92-82 W at No. 23 Ole Miss
• 2/4: 98-70 W vs. Oklahoma
• 2/8: 90-81 L vs. No. 6 Florida
• 2/11: 80-68 W at Vanderbilt
• 2/15: 94-85 W at No. 2 Alabama
• 2/19: 67-60 W vs. Arkansas
• 2/22: 82-70 W vs. Georgia
• 2/26: 106-76 W vs. Ole Miss

Series History

Kentucky leads the all-time series 98-23, including an impressive 51-2 run when hosting Auburn in Lexington. UK enters the matchup with a two-game winning streak, defeating AU on The Plains 70-59 last season — Antonio Reeves led the way with 22 points in the win — then 86-54 at home the year before.

Bruce Pearl, in his 11th season at Auburn, is 10-18 against the Wildcats overall while Mark Pope is set to take on the Tigers for the very first time. Pope was a perfect 2-0 against Auburn as a player, averaging 6.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in those two matchups.

Kentucky vs. Auburn Odds

Spread: Auburn -5.5
Total: 167.5

KenPom and Bart Torvik both project wins for Auburn, both with an anticipated score of 86-81. ESPN’s BPI likes the Tigers by 3.8 points while giving the road team a 64.3 percent chance to pull off the win.

Kentucky Projected Starters

#1 – Lamont Butler
6-2 – 208 – GUARD – GRAD SENIOR
12.3 PPG, 4.7 APG, 2.9 RPG

#00 – Otega Oweh
6-4 – 215 – GUARD – JUNIOR
16.1 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.5 SPG

#4 – Koby Brea
6-7 – 215 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
10.9 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.2 APG

#7 – Andrew Carr
6-11 – 235 – FORWARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
9.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 1.8 APG

#22 – Amari Williams
7-0 – 262 – CENTER – GRADUATE STUDENT
10.9 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 3.0 APG

Auburn Projected Starters

#2 – Denver Jones
6-4 – 205 – GUARD – SENIOR
11.0 PPG, 2.0 RPG, 2.5 APG

#13 – Miles Kelly
6-6 – 190 – GUARD – SENIOR
10.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.0 APG

#10 – Chad Baker-Mazara
6-7 – 180 – GUARD – SENIOR
12.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 2.5 APG

#4 – Johni Broome
6-10 – 240 – FORWARD – SENIOR
18.8 PPG, 11.0 RPG, 2.5 BPG

#44 – Dylan Cardwell
6-11 – 255 – CENTER – GRADUATE SENIOR
5.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.6 BPG

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Interesting stats from UK’s game notes:

• Amari Williams is averaging 40.8 points-assists-rebounds per 40 minutes, the fifth-most in Division I. That total is the third-most by a UK player dating back to 1996-97 and sixth-highest by an SEC player during that same time span
• Kentucky has nine Quad 1 victories in 2024-25, which is tied for third-most in the country. With a win on Saturday, the Wildcats would have six wins over AP Top 10 teams this season, tying Syracuse (2009-10), Duke (1998-99) and Indiana (1992-93) for most such victories in a single year.
• Otega Oweh carried UK down the stretch against his former school, scoring a career-high 28 points at Oklahoma — including the final 18 of the night to secure the 83-82 win. He’s scored in double figures in all but one game this season with nine games of 20-plus.

Pregame Storylines

BUTLER IS IN, ROBINSON IS OUT

After weeks of Kentucky taking on shorthanded battles, we got one half at full strength at Oklahoma on Wednesday — and not even that, actually, considering Amari Williams tweaked his ankle in the first half, too. Either way, the injury report revealed both good news and bad news with No. 1 Auburn coming to town, starting with Lamont Butler officially cleared with no setbacks with his shoulder while both Williams and Andrew Carr (back) are ready to roll. As for Jaxson Robinson, he missed the second half against the Sooners with his injured wrist and he’s back on the bench for this one after a four-game hiatus prior to the trip to Norman. It’s not quite full strength, but it’s better than things have been.

A WINNING RECORD VS. NO. 1 TEAMS AT RUPP

Kentucky has faced the No. 1 team in the country just 24 times in school history, the Wildcats just 8-16 in those meetings dating back to 1949. The catch? Just five of them have been inside Rupp Arena with UK sitting at 3-2 in those matchups — a winning record against top-ranked opponents at home. The wins include No. 5 UK vs. No. 1 IU in 1979, No. 6 UK vs. No. 1 UF in 2003 and No. 5 UK vs. No. 1 UT in 2019.

Can the Cats make it 4-2 with No. 1 Auburn coming to town?

KENTUCKY IS UNDEFEATED VS. AUBURN AT HOME SINCE 1988

Speaking of extended streaks, Kentucky is a ridiculous 51-2 against Auburn when the game is played in Lexington with no losses in nearly four decades. Auburn last left with a win 37 years ago, back on Jan. 9, 1988, making it the longest active road losing streak against a conference opponent. The only other win came inside Rupp Arena back on Jan. 15, 1983 when the Tigers took on a sixth-ranked Wildcats squad.

Bruce Pearl doesn’t know what a win in Lexington feels like as the head coach at AU. Let’s keep it that way.

AUBURN IS THE BEST TEAM IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Keeping Pearl winless in Lexington with the Tigers will be easier said than done. Why? He’s coaching the best team in college basketball, one that has racked up a ridiculous 15 Quad 1 victories with a resume matched by no one. They are the elite of the elite, and Mark Pope knows it. “There’s a lot to see that makes them so good. Bruce is doing his thing, right?” he said. “He keeps it really, really simple and puts guys in a position to play where they’re really familiar with what they’re doing and they’re really good at it. He’s got five guys on the floor that are all capable of putting up 20 (points) on any given night. They’re incredible shot-makers. They make really, really hard shots.”

A BATTLE OF TWO ALL-SEC BIG MEN?

When Amari Williams and Johni Broome face off in the frontcourt on Saturday, it may just be a battle of the two best bigs in college basketball. At minimum, we’re talking about two clear All-SEC talents, Broome a top contender for National Player of the Year averaging 19.4 points in the SEC and 14 games on the year with 20-plus. As for Williams, his 40.8 points-assists-rebounds average per 40 minutes is fifth-most at the DI level while also playing his best basketball in SEC play. Two larger-than-life big men with unique talents, only one will come out on top this afternoon.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during the game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live from Rupp Arena on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from Mark Pope and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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