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Auburn Basketball: Can the Tigers Shock the World at Kentucky?

By Nicholas Ian Allen

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The Auburn basketball team will try to do something no one else has done this season – beat the top ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Can the Tigers shock the world?

Auburn Tigers (12-14, 4-9) at Kentucky Wildcats (26-0, 13-0)

  • Date: Saturday, February 21, 2015
  • Start Time: 6:00 PM Central
  • Location: Lexington, KY
  • Arena: Rupp Arena
  • TV Info: ESPN
  • Live Stream: WatchESPN, ESPN3.com
  • Odds (VegasInsider.com): Kentucky (-25.5)

Welp. It doesn’t look good.

The Tigers are 12-14 overall and 4-9 in the SEC in Bruce Pearl’s first season. Kentucky, on the other hand, has been perfect. 26-0.

Auburn has struggled with injuries, a lack of size and depth. They’ll play without lightning quick sophomore guard Tahj Shamsid-Deen who had shoulder surgery this week, and 6-foot-8 Jordon Granger is the tallest player in the starting lineup.

Feb 17, 2015; Auburn, AL, USA; Auburn Tigers guard Antoine Mason (14) takes a shot against the Crimson Tide during the second half at Auburn Arena. The Crimson Tide beat the Tigers 79-68. Mandatory Credit: John Reed-USA TODAY Sports

The Wildcats start three players listed at 6-foot-10 or taller and every member of the starting five is at least 6-foot-6. That doesn’t even include 6-foot-6 freshman guard Devin Booker, who is the team’s leading scorer. Overall, the Kentucky roster includes ten McDonald’s All-Americans and is stocked full of future NBA lottery picks.

History is also on the side of the Wildcats. Auburn has lost 16 games in a row against UK, with the last win coming 15 years ago. The Tigers have won a basketball game in Lexington exactly twice in 47 attempts.

However, it’s a great opportunity to shock the world.

“This is one of those opportunities you can tell you grandchildren about,” Pearl said in a Friday press conference.

It’s worth noting that one of the two Auburn basketball victories in Rupp Arena occurred against a Kentucky team ranked No. 1 in the nation in 1988 – the only time the Tigers have ever beaten a top ranked team on the court.

That year Auburn won 19 games and made the NCAA Tournament, but at least there is some precedent to score a huge upset.

Yet as a 25.5-point underdog tonight, it sounds like Pearl is more concerned with his team playing hard for 40 minutes and playing well enough to stay in the game.

“We could play with them or it could get out of hand,” Pearl said. “I don’t know. How we handle it is all I can control. If it gets out of hand are we going to pout and be discouraged? What is our body language going to look like? Or are we going to play for 40 minutes? Are we going to bother them with a few things? Can we not turn the ball over?

“We have to make them beat us. We cannot beat ourselves. I am not worried at this point about the end result. I just have to worry about the process and how we handle it.”

Basically, for the Tigers to have any chance they need to play perfectly and for Kentucky to stumble.

K.T. Harrell and Antoine Mason need to be even better than they were against Alabama earlier this week when the senior guards combined for 45 points, and they’ll need K.C. Ross-Miller to rebound from his scoreless performance and return to the explosive player he was when he scored a combined 38 points against Arkansas and Georgia in the previous two games. The Tigers also need a Herculean performance from Cinmeon Bowers – the SEC’s leading rebounder.

“To beat Kentucky,” Pearl said, “would take an extraordinarily superhuman effort.”

Auburn

  • #5 Cinmeon Bowers, F, Jr., 6-foot-7, 278 pounds, 13.1 PPG, 10.7 RPG
  • #25 Jordon Granger, F, Jr., 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, 4.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG
  • #1 K.T. Harrell, G, Sr., 6-foot-4, 212 pounds, 17.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG
  • #12 K.C. Ross-Miller, G, Sr., 6-foot-0, 178 pounds, 6.4 PPG, 1.8 RPG
  • #14 Antoine Mason, G, Sr., 6-foot-1, 216 pounds, 14.9 PPG, 2.5 RPG

Kentucky

Next: ESPN Snubs Auburn-Alabama in Top Ten Rivalries List

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