Saturday’s sport between Auburn and Kentucky had the makings of being a barn burner for the primary quarter-hour of sport time.
Nevertheless, when the Wildcats gained management with 5:03 remaining within the first half, they turned on the jets and left Auburn within the mud. Kentucky outscored Auburn 71-50 over the sport’s ultimate 25 minutes to win large, 86-54.
Kentucky constructed an 11-point halftime lead and led by as many as 40-points earlier than an 8-0 run by Auburn trimmed the result in 32 factors by the sport’s finish.
Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was lower than thrilled along with his workforce’s efficiency.
“It was simply terrible on all ends of the courtroom,” Pearl mentioned Saturday following his workforce’s loss to Kentucky. “We received beat in each side of the sport. We weren’t aggressive. We had been clearly able to play as a result of we performed effectively early however from the final 4 minutes of the primary half right through the second half, a really, very poor efficiency–a really, very poor effort. I apologize to our followers for such a letdown.”
In consequence, Auburn’s place within the newest KenPom rankings has suffered drastically. With two video games remaining within the common season, Auburn might want to play extremely effectively as a way to increase their possibilities for a cushty NCAA seeding. The highway is not going to be simple as their ultimate two opponents, Alabama and Tennessee closed Saturday as top-five groups within the KenPom.
Right here’s how Saturday’s loss impacts Auburn within the newest KenPom rating replace:
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The 32-point loss did a quantity to Auburn’s total KenPom rating as they fell eight spots from final Wednesday’s replace following the win over Ole Miss.
Houston, UCLA, Alabama, Tennessee, and UConn spherical out the highest 5 following Saturday’s motion. That spells unhealthy information for Auburn, because the Tigers face two of the KenPom’s prime 5 groups within the ultimate week of the common season.
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Auburn suffered one other noticable drop, this time in adjusted offensive effectivity. Auburn checks in at No. 77 getting into Sunday, which is a ten-spot drop from Wednesday. In response to KenPom, Auburn is projected to attain 111.0 factors per 100 possessions.
Gonzaga is the perfect workforce on this class by scoring a projected 123.4 factors per 100 possessions.
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The Tigers endure a small drop in adjusted defensive effectivity from No. 15 to No. 19. Regardless of the dip, Auburn stays within the prime 25 by permitting their opponents to attain a projected 94.5 factors per 100 possessions.
Auburn’s regular-season finale foe, Tennessee, is the nation’s finest workforce. KenPom forecasts the Volunteers to permit a complete of 86.7 poins per 100 possessions.
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Auburn gained a few spots within the adjusted tempo class by creating an estimated 68 possessions per sport. In Saturday’s sport at Kentucky, Auburn had 65 offensive possessions, however solely scored on 24 of them.
St. John’s and Alabama have essentially the most offensive possessions per sport in accordance with KenPom, as they’re projected to have 73.5 possessions per sport.
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Kentucky’s sturdy win over Auburn truly advantages the Tigers. Auburn now holds the No. 33 hardest schedule within the nation in accordance with KenPom, which is a nine-place improve from Wednesday’s sport towards Ole Miss.
Kansas holds on to the nation’s hardest schedule.
The Tuscaloosa Information
Alabama improved to 25-4, 15-1 in SEC play after defeating Arkansas, 86-83. Right here’s a glance how their win over the Razorbacks impacts their KenPom rankings
- Total: No. 3
- Offensive effectivity: No. 17
- Defensive effectivity: No. 5
- Tempo: No. 2
- Power of Schedule: No. 8