What people are saying about the Kentucky win at Auburn
Kentucky hit the road and delivered a Stone Cold Stunner to Bruce Pearl’s Auburn Tigers. A team that appeared invincible at home trailed for 40 minutes in a double-digit loss. The elated Big Blue Nation celebrated the biggest victory of the season. Here’s what the national pundits are saying about the Kentucky win.
ESPN, Myron Medcalf & Jeff Borzello
The Kentucky defense was a revelation on The Plains. Myron Medcalf went back to the 2014-15 season to compare this UK team to the final team those Wildcats beat, Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish were a top 5 offensive team and outside the top 150 in defense, yet still made a run to the Elite Eight. Kentucky is taking steps in the right direction late in the season.
“They held Ole Miss to just 88 points per 100 possessions on Tuesday. And during the first half on Saturday, they limited the Tigers to just 28% of their attempts. The same Tigers that had scored at least 80 points in 17 previous games,” writes Medcalf. “Kentucky has played with more defensive energy in recent days. If it can make that effort consistently down the stretch, it could change its postseason fortune.”
Jeff Borzello believes the secret sauce is in the frontcourt, thanks to the 1-2 punch between Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero.
“Kentucky might have found something on Saturday with the power forward-center duo of Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso. Thiero gives the Wildcats a different level of physicality and energy at the 4, especially in up-and-down games against deep, athletic teams like Auburn. He went for 14 and 8 against the Tigers.”
Rothstein: Kentucky can beat anyone
Similar to Medcalf, Rothstein is turning back the clock to find a comparison for this Kentucky team. The CBS Sports analyst believes that like the 2014 Cats, this team is capable of beating anyone in the country.
“Three days after the Tigers scored 101 points and beat South Carolina by 40 at Neville Arena, the Wildcats held Auburn to just 59 in an 11-point win. The victory was far and away the best performance of the season for Kentucky, who reiterated its long-term potential with the triumph,” writes Rothstein.
“I’ve said it before and I’ll it again: This version of the Wildcats reminds me of John Calipari’s team during the 2013-14 season, who struggled with consistency issues all year, but wound up advancing all the way to the national title game despite only earning an eight seed on Selection Sunday. If Kentucky is good enough to beat Auburn at Neville Arena then it’s good enough to beat anyone anywhere.”
Kentucky is a Legitimate Final Four Contender
Entering the season we knew this team was talented enough to play on the final weekend of the college basketball season in Phoenix. That has not always been evident over the last month, thanks in large part to a porous defense. Matt Norlander was on The Plains and the CBS reporter left The Jungle with confirmation that this team has what it takes to go on a run.
Every upset has one side whose result carries more significance. Tonight the side slants to Kentucky, now an 18-7 squad, and one capable of more variance than seemingly any other Final Four contender. And yes, this is the EXACT type of result to verify Kentucky as a Final Four contender. As I wrote recently, the Wildcats still have long-term work to do on their defensive reputation to become a national title candidate, but nevertheless something may have fertilized on the Farm. In back-to-back games these Wildcats have proven they can beat NCAA Tournament teams the rugged way. On Tuesday night, it was a 75-63 win over Ole Miss. Saturday was more impressive because the opponent’s better and it came on the road. Wouldn’t you know it: Kentucky’s held its past two foes to 61.0 points per game.
Prior to those two results, Kentucky was giving up more than 80 per night.
Matt Norlander, CBS
Dick Vitale
“The Cats & BBN feeling great & they should as they give Auburn their 1st loss at home 70-59,” Dickie V Tweeted. “They did it with a fab defensive TEAM effort holding the Tigers to 59 points. This has to make Coach Calipari feel gr8 as Defense has been where they wanted to improve.”
Field of 68
Norlander joined Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster, who had a live postgame show from midcourt at Neville Arena. The folks at Field of 68 don’t think the Wildcats need to suffocate opponents defensively to go on a deep NCAA Tournament run. They just need to be better than what they showed early in SEC play.
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