A look back at Charles Barkley vs. Kentucky before his broadcasting debut with Dick Vitale

Saturday night, Charles Barkley, Dick Vitale, and Dave O’Brien will call Kentucky vs. Indiana for ESPN from Rupp Arena. It’s the first time Barkley and Vitale have called a game together, and, if my research is correct, Barkley’s first time calling a college basketball game ever. Barkley has covered the NCAA Tournament for CBS Sports and TNT as part of its studio coverage, but on Saturday, he’ll be cozied up to Vitale and O’Brien on the Rupp Arena sideline, a treat for those of us watching from home.

It’s far from Barkley’s first trip to Rupp. During his time as an Auburn Tiger (1981-84), Barkley played Kentucky eight times, going 3-5 against the Cats. Four of those games took place at Rupp, including one in the 1982 SEC Tournament. As a freshman, Barkley had double-doubles in each game against Kentucky, going up against Melvin Turpin. As Kenny Walker recalled during a conversation with Oscar Combs, Turpin gave Barkley plenty of fuel.

“Melvin had a tendency to sometimes maybe say things in the press to get other teams riled up a little bit, and I think that somebody asked him right before the game, ‘What’s it going to be like to go against Charles Barkley?’ And he said, ‘Who? Charles who?’ So, immediately, that kind of created a controversy and I think that got back to Charles a little bit.”

The next season, Barkley was thrown out of Kentucky’s game at Auburn two minutes in for smacking Charles Hurt in the back of the head. As Walker told Combs, Melvin Turpin wasn’t feeling well during warmups and told the coaches he wasn’t sure if he could play. His tune quickly changed when Barkley got thrown out.

“Needless to say, we’re happy to get him out of the ballgame, but nobody’s more happy than Melvin Turpin. All of a sudden, he’s up off the bench, and he’s feeling good now. He comes in the ballgame, he leads up in scoring, has a tremendous ballgame, and I think he probably had the best game plan probably of all, but it’s just amazing to me how well he started to feel when Charles Barkley got kicked out of the ballgame.”

Kentucky won 71-69, thanks in large part to Turpin, who finished with a game-high 25 points.

In his third and final season, Barkley, teammate Chuck Person, and the Tigers dominated Kentucky in the first game at Auburn, winning by 19 points. The Cats returned the favor in Lexington, winning by 20. They got the last laugh, too, beating the Tigers 51-49 in the 1984 SEC Tournament championship in Nashville on a Kenny Walker buzzer-beater. The defeat left Barkley on the floor of Memorial Gymnasium in tears.

Walker and Barkley talked about that moment on “Southern Hoops,” the SEC Network’s docuseries on SEC Basketball. Auburn was unranked going into that game, facing a Kentucky team full of greats, including Walker, Turpin, Sam Bowie, Winston Bennet, and Jim Master. Auburn ended up getting a bid to the NCAA Tournament, losing to Richmond in the first round, but it wasn’t certain at the time. The Tigers had never made the NCAA Tournament before. The possibility that they may have come up short in his third and final chance was enough to move the Round Mound of Rebound to tears.

“In the great sight of all of the Kentucky fans, the SEC Player of the Year, Charles Barkley, he lay on the floor, and he cried,” Walker recalled.

“I wasn’t crying because we lost,” Barkley said. “I was crying because I knew that was my last college game.”

Hopefully, Barkley will share some more old stories tomorrow night (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Hearing him and Vitale call a game together should be a treat — as long as Kentucky takes care of business. The duo will also team up to call one of the First Four games for the NCAA Tournament in Dayton. This will be Vitale’s second Kentucky game this season. He called the North Carolina game on Dec. 2.

Charles Barkley vs. Kentucky

Date	Location	Result	Barkley’s stats
Jan. 6, 1982	Rupp Arena	Kentucky won 83–71	25 points, 17 rebounds
Feb. 3, 1982	Auburn	Auburn won 83–81 (OT)	18 points, 12 rebounds
Mar. 4, 1982	SEC Tournament (Rupp Arena)	Kentucky won 89–66	18 points, 11 rebounds
Jan. 15, 1983	Rupp Arena	Auburn won 75–67	9 points, 9 rebounds
Feb. 12, 1983	Auburn	Kentucky won 71–69	0 points, 0 rebounds (Ejected)
Jan. 13, 1984	Auburn	Auburn won 82–63	21 points, 10 rebounds
Feb. 11, 1984	Rupp Arena	Kentucky won 84–64	18 points, 11 rebounds
Mar. 10, 1984	SEC Tournament Championship (Memorial Gym, Vanderbilt)	Kentucky won 51–49	14 points, 6 rebounds