No. 1 Kentucky 91, Auburn 67: Willie Cauley-Stein had 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots as the Wildcats dominated an SEC tournament semifinal against the short-handed Tigers in Nashville, Tenn.
Andrew Harrison added 15 points and four assists for Kentucky (33-0), which will face No. 20 Arkansas on Sunday in the program’s 39th SEC championship game. The Wildcats shot 56.3 percent from the field, hit a season-high 30 free throws in 35 attempts and enjoyed a 39-25 rebounding advantage to easily overcome 26 fouls.
Antoine Mason scored 23 points to lead 13th-seeded Auburn (15-20), which had posted three upset wins to reach the semifinals but had to play Saturday without suspended starters Cinmeon Bowers and Jordon Granger. Bowers, the Tigers’ leading rebounder and third-leading scorer, was suspended due to a potential rules violation Friday while Granger, the team’s second-leading rebounder, was forced to sit out after receiving a Flagrant 2 fighting foul in Friday’s quarterfinal victory over LSU.
Trey Lyles, Aaron Harrison and Devin Booker all added 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers for Kentucky, which hit 7-of-14 3-pointers and had its third-highest scoring game of the season. Malcolm Canada had 16 points, KT Harrell added 13 and Devin Waddell had a team-high five rebounds for Auburn, which shot 33.3 percent from the floor but finished 25-of-34 at the free-throw stripe.
Auburn’s only lead came at 2-0 as Kentucky quickly followed with a 15-2 run to go up by double digits. The Wildcats shot 57.7 percent from the field and hit 13-of-15 free throws in the first half to take a 47-29 lead into intermission, and led by as many as 28 points over the final 20 minutes while the Tigers never got closer than 13.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kentucky improved to 39-2 all-time in SEC tournament semifinal games. … Auburn, which was making its first SEC semifinal appearance since 2009, fell to 3-9 all-time in the round. … The Wildcats’ 33-game win streak became the longest in program history, eclipsing the 32-game run from 1953-55.
Auburn | Kentucky | |
Antoine Mason 23 | Scoring | Willie Cauley-Stein 18 |
KT Harrell 1 | Assists | Tyler Ulis 6 |
Devin Waddell 5 | Rebounds | Willie Cauley-Stein 7 |
KT Harrell 11 | Free Throws Made | Karl-Anthony Towns 8 |
Malcolm Canada 1 | Steals | Tyler Ulis 2 |
N/A | Blocks | Willie Cauley-Stein 3 |