Bluegrassrivals

AUBURN, Ala. – Kevin Knox scored 19 points and grabbed five rebounds, but Kentucky lost to No. 10 Auburn 76-66 on Wednesday night at Auburn Arena.

Kentucky (17-9, 6-7 SEC) got 13 points and five rebounds from PJ Washington, while Shai Gilegous-Alexander had nine points, five rebounds and three assists.

The Wildcats hit 25 of their 54 attempts (46.3 percent) from the field, while holding Auburn to 22 of 60 (36.7 percent) shooting. Kentucky hit just three of 14 (21.4 percent) from behind the arc, while Auburn made eight of their 27 attempts (29.6 percent).

Auburn (23-3, 11-3) took advantage of its chances at the free throw line, hitting a sizzling 24 of 28 (85.7 percent) from the line. Kentucky was able to hit 13 of 20 (65 percent) from charity stripe.

Kentucky got out of the gates quickly, taking an early 10-4 lead. However, Auburn scored the next seven points to take an 11-10 lead with 11:09 to go in the half. Kentucky took the lead back, 12-11, on a dunk by Nick Richards, but Auburn scored the next five points to establish a lead that the Tigers would hold for the remainder of the half. Auburn would lead by as many as eight points before settling for a 39-33 halftime edge.

Auburn would maintain a similar advantage through the first five minutes of the second half, but Kentucky would not give in. The Wildcats used a 7-0 run to take a 49-48 lead with 13:10 to go in the game. In fact, UK would lead by as many as four points on three occasions in the second halfa, the last coming with 7:06 left when the Cats held a 59-55 advantage.

From there, Auburn would assemble a decisive 13-2 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 68-61 lead with 3:57 remaining. Kentucky would get within four, 68-64, with 3:14 to go, but Auburn finished the game on an 8-2 run.

Kentucky returns to action on Saturday, when the Wildcats host Alabama at Rupp Arena. Tipoff is at 2 p.m. and the game can be seen on CBS.

http://ukathletics.com/news/2018/2/14/me...uburn.aspx

Ouch

Only one quality guard makes it difficult to win.

I was afraid it would be a 10 loss season. Now that will be easily passed. I'm as much a UK fan as anyone, but I don't even want to be in the Big Dance this year now. And I'd pass on the NIT. That would never happen, but I see no inside presence, no consistent shooting, and not much effort. It's there at times, but it isn't always evident.

It's a Robert Morris kind of season.

I think the 2012-2013 team would beat this one by 10+ points with a healthy Nerlens Noel. No heart or fight with this bunch, that's my biggest concern.

Jared Vanderbilt is one of my favorite players on this team, but those who have compared him to Lamar Odom either see something in Vanderbilt's shot that I don't or are really discounting how well Odom was able to shoot the ball.

On a side note, is Lamar Odom the only man in history to have cocaine and hookers save his marriage?

OK, let's be honest there are 3 players on this UK team that are killing this team every time they are on the court. The worst without a doubt is #3 Diallo. He is averaging 27 min a game, 11 pts. a game, and has turned the ball over 44 times, with only 37 assist. He is always out of control, and last night every time he came into the game, UK lost the lead. He's been a HUGH disappointment, and one can only hope he leaves after the season, he's one of the worst recruits Cal. has brought into UK during his tenure, IMO. The second worst at this point has to be Washington. He is playing 27 min a game, averaging 10 points a game, with a total of 47 assist, and 50 TO's this season. He disappears for long stretches of time, and always has that smart ass smile, like he could care less about if UK wins or not. He's a poor free throw shooter, and doesn't rebound the ball as well as he should. This has nothing to do with talent, he's just very lazy, and yet another poor player Cal. brought into UK this season, again one can only hope he's gone after this season. Lastly, the other player that just kills this team at times is Green, a turnover machine, but unlike the other 2 guys I've talked about, he seems like he does care, and just needs to get better with the rock, and cut down on the TO's and stop shooting so many 3's as well, and just be a facilitator of the basketball. I really think if UK rids itself of Diallo, and Washington after this season, this can be a much better team next season.

I have seen this team quit many times this year..... I do not believe there have been many UK teams give up before... It is really hard to win at this level without a really good effort and not having some shooters.....I bet this will be the last class they bring in without a couple of shooters....

Anybody who does not want Vanderbilt back for another year does not understand basketball. He may be the best passer on the team, he is rebounding at a rate of almost one rebound for every two minutes on the floor and is the team's leading rebounder despite playing only 14.7 mpg.

If Vanderbilt stays another full year, and IMO, he would be foolish not to stay, and he does not mature into one of the top all around players in the SEC, then Calipari needs to catch a bus out of town.

Despite missing half the season and shooting under 33 percent from the field, many NBA scouts still have him pegged as one of the top 50 prospects in the freshmen class. A hard working freshman rebounding machine who is struggling with his shot is not the kind of player that should be pushed out the door to make room for a less experienced raw recruit, who may or may not pan out.

I think Knox is the only one leaving right now. But that is just looking at how well they are all performing. And with that Knox imo could do better than what he does because of lack of effort at times. But the big thing that will be in these kids faces at the end of the season will be $$$$$. Not saying all of these kids are going but it seems money plays a bigger part into their decision now a days. And they make it sound so good like your set for life now. And the ones that are legit that is true. But then you have the ones that just don't have that talent that they expected them to have and they end up going to the D league or over seas when they could still be playing college ball and have a better opportunity to make it into the NBA if they would have stayed a couple more years.