AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Antonio Reeves and Kentucky stripped away Auburn’s aura of invincibility at home.
Reeves scored 22 points, and No. 22 Kentucky led throughout to beat cold-shooting Auburn 70-59 on Saturday night, ending the 13th-ranked Tigers’ 16-game home winning streak that had included two straight routes of ranked teams.
The Wildcats (18-7, 8-4 Southeastern Conference) held Auburn to 31-percent shooting, and responded to every challenge in the second half.
Kentucky coach John Calipari said having a player take over a big game like Reeves did is an encouraging sign for the NCAA Tournament.
“Today was Antonio,” Calipari said. “When one guy can go do what he did in those games, it’s huge. We have multiple guys that can go and do stuff like that.”
The Tigers (20-6, 9-4), which had been second in the conference behind No. 15 Alabama, lost their second-leading scorer, Jaylin Williams, to a right knee injury midway through the second half.
Williams was helped off the court after going down underneath the basket, and finished with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said Williams would have an MRI on Sunday.
“We were in range when he got hurt,” Pearl said.
Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara scored 14 points each for Auburn.
Denver Jones scored 12.
Adou Thiero, who started with Tre Mitchell out with a left shoulder injury, had 14 points and eight rebounds for Kentucky.
Rob Dillingham added 11 points.
“Coming into the game, nobody believed we were going to win the game,” said Kentucky center Ugonna Onyenso, who had seven points and 11 rebounds. “Nobody really believed in us, so we came into the game with nothing to lose.”
Broome’s layup cut Auburn’s deficit to five points with about 13 minutes remaining.
Then Reeves took over, scoring 13 of Kentucky’s next 17 points.
When he was done, the Wildcats were up a game-high 16 points, 64-48.
Reeves said he was determined to play physical down the stretch, and Auburn had little answer for his drives.
“I just got it going after that, and the guys looked for me at the end of the game,” Reeves said.
Kentucky’s Justin Edwards fouled out with four points.
The Tigers struggled after dominating No. 11 South Carolina 101-61 on Wednesday night, following an 18-point win over the Crimson Tide.
Broome and Williams combined for nine 3-pointers versus the Gamecocks, but missed all five attempts on Saturday.
“Kentucky can guard and they can turn it up when they want to, and they outplayed us tonight,” Pearl said. “We knew their guards were excellent and late in the game when it came down to just getting decent shots and keeping us at bay, they were able to do that.”
BIG PICTURE
Kentucky: Controlled Auburn’s frontcourt of Broome and Williams for a win to stay in the thick of the SEC race. The Wildcats had dropped the past three meetings at Neville Arena and five of the last six.
Auburn: The Tigers faltered in an effort to post wins over ranked teams in consecutive games for the first time since their Final Four run in 2019. Normally strong at home, they never got it going and suffered their first home loss this season. They made 4 of 22 3-pointers (18.2-percent).
ALL-STAR TRIP
Calipari planned to head to Indianapolis for the All-Star game on Sunday.
Seven of his former players were selected.
“The most ever from one school in an All-Star game was four — that’s by us. So we’ve got seven,” the Wildcats coach said.
UP NEXT
Kentucky: Visits LSU on Wednesday night
