Fresh off a blowout home win, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl readies for another battle against UK

Bruce Pearl has played John Calipari and Kentucky plenty of times before.

But the Auburn basketball head coach has never entered a matchup against the Wildcats with the kind of momentum he does this week.

Ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, Auburn (20-5 overall and 9-3 in SEC games) is fresh off a 101-61 home win against No. 11 South Carolina on Wednesday night.

Per ESPN, Auburn’s 40-point win was the largest margin of victory in a top-15 showdown since 2016.

“I thought we really shared the ball. I thought we worked hard to try to keep that ball moving and turn down good shots to get some better shots,” Pearl told reporters Friday.

That beatdown also pushed Auburn to a perfect 13-0 mark at home this season: Pearl’s team hasn’t lost inside Neville Arena on The Plains since Feb. 11, 2023, more than a calendar year ago.

When answering a question Friday about Auburn’s home court advantage, Pearl also tossed in some thoughts on the pressure he feels Kentucky has to shoulder when playing in Rupp Arena.

“Kentucky actually plays better on the road,” Pearl said ahead of Saturday night’s showcase game. “Lot of pressure at Rupp Arena to win. … Sometimes they get away from home and there’s just a lot less pressure. Lot of pressure at Kentucky to win. … They’ve got the kind of talent, they can be fearless. These are confident players.”

Bruce Pearl previews Auburn-Kentucky basketball game

Yes, Pearl and the Tigers have momentum on their side entering Saturday night’s prime-time showdown against No. 22 Kentucky.

But that doesn’t mean Pearl is taking the Cats lightly.

“The thing you have to worry about with Kentucky is long shots, long rebounds, and they’re elite in transition,” Pearl said. “If (Kentucky) is not taking the ball out of the net after a 3, they’re pushing it down the floor and they’re dunking on you, or shooting their own 3s.”

But Pearl has plenty of firepower to counter what UK is bringing to the table. Per KenPom, the Tigers boast the ninth-best adjusted offense and the fourth-best adjusted defense in the country, entering Friday’s games.

Former Morehead State big man Johni Broome has continued to shine in his second season at Auburn, averaging 16.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks, leading the Tigers in all three categories. Broome is also one of four Auburn players shooting 38% or better from 3-point range.

Auburn has also been blessed with roster continuity this season: 10 players have appeared in all 25 games.

Contrast that with Kentucky: The Wildcats have only had two players (Antonio Reeves and Reed Sheppard) appear in all 24 games.

Reeves would do well to repeat his exploits from last season against the Tigers: He scored 18 second-half points last February as part of an 86-54 UK win over Auburn in Lexington.

“Reeves has always killed us,” Pearl said. “… He’s a big, big, big, long, physical guard, really shoots it. He’s improved his float game, his midrange game. Sheppard leads the league in steals. He’s a dynamic point guard, great shooter. Great playmaker. Has great patience and poise, already a Kentucky favorite.”

Pearl also had praise for another standout Kentucky freshman: Rob Dillingham.

“Dillingham is a one-man scoring machine,” Pearl said. “He scores like I breathe.”

This appears to be a vintage version of a Pearl-coached team, and Auburn is widely expected to be included Saturday when the NCAA Tournament selection committee announces an in-season look at the current top 16 overall seeds for March Madness.

But Pearl doesn’t have to look too far back to find an example of a team similar to Kentucky that gave Auburn major issues.

Last weekend, Auburn suffered a blowout loss at Florida, a team that like Kentucky boasts significant length: Per KenPom, the Gators are 11th in the nation in average height, while the Wildcats are 12th.

“(Kentucky) has great length, they do a great job protecting the rim,” Pearl said. “We struggled against Florida’s length, and we have to find a way to not allow Kentucky’s length to have the same impact on us that Florida’s length did.”

Bruce Pearl, John Calipari renew coaching rivalry

Of course, the storylines surrounding Saturday’s contest between Auburn and Kentucky also involve the coaching rivalry between Calipari and Pearl.

While UK has historically dominated the all-time series with Auburn — the Wildcats are 97-23 all-time against the Tigers — that hasn’t been the case of late.

Auburn has won four of the last seven meetings against UK.

Pearl is 6-8 against the Wildcats since he became Auburn’s head coach in 2014. That’s a remarkably good record considering that Auburn only beat UK once (in January 2000) from February 1990 through 2015, a span of 33 games.

“Kentucky’s still the gold standard in our league. They always will be, that’s never going to change,” Pearl said. “If you want to be relevant in the world of college basketball, if you want to be relevant in the SEC, you’ve got to beat Kentucky every now and then.”

And in particular, UK has hit hard times of late when traveling to play Pearl’s team at the 9,121-person capacity Neville Arena.

Not only has Auburn gone 43-2 at home over the past three seasons, but Kentucky has lost three straight and five of its last six at the venue.

Saturday’s atmosphere also promises to be among the most hostile the Wildcats will have faced all season. Auburn students began camping outside Neville Arena days ago. ESPN’s “College Gameday” will also be on hand for the showdown.

“You can feel the energy on campus,” Pearl said, before noting that Saturday’s game will also be the program’s annual “AUTLIVE” game to promote early cancer detection.

During a Friday afternoon media session in Lexington, Kentucky players Justin Edwards and D.J. Wagner were both keenly aware of the road challenge that awaits them Saturday night.

“(It’s) a crazy environment … I’ve been watching little highlights of their student section,” Edwards said. “It’s right behind our bench, so just being prepared for that.”

“We’re excited. I’m excited as well, just knowing the type of environment we’re going to play in (and) the type of team we’re going to play against,” Wagner added. “They’re a good team, they’re a great team, well-coached. They’re a competitive team as much as we are. I feel like it’s going to be fun, it’s going to be a good game.”

This will be Kentucky’s seventh true road game of the season. UK is 4-2 in those previous six games, with losses in front of raucous crowds at Texas A&M and South Carolina.

What have the Wildcats learned from these past experiences that they can use Saturday?

“I would probably say just staying together, just not letting the crowd get to us, just staying together throughout the whole game, through ups and downs,” Edwards said. “Basketball is a game of runs. (Auburn) might start out hot early, just staying together the whole entire game … Just knowing how to lock in and tune out the crowd and stuff, and keep the main thing the main thing.”

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Next game

No. 22 Kentucky at No. 13 Auburn

When: 6 p.m. EST Saturday

TV: ESPN

Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1

Records: Kentucky 17-7 (7-4), Auburn 20-5 (9-3)

Series: Kentucky leads 97-23

Last meeting: Kentucky won 86-54 on Feb. 25, 2023, in Lexington