AUBURN, Alabama — Antonio Reeves and Kentucky took away Auburn's aura of invincibility at home. And the loss may be more costly than just in the SEC standings.
Reeves scored 22 points and No. 22 Kentucky led all game to beat Auburn 70-59 on Saturday night, ending the 13th-ranked Tigers' 16-game home winning streak that had included two losses. consecutive matches of classified teams.
The Tigers (20-6, 9-4 SEC), who had been second in the conference behind No. 15 Alabama, lost their second-leading scorer, Jaylin Williams, to a right knee injury midway through the second half. . Williams was helped off the court after falling under the basket and finished with just three points on 1-of-5 shooting.
Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said Williams would undergo an MRI on Sunday.
“We were in range when he got hurt,” Pearl said.
The Wildcats (18-7, 8-4) held Auburn to 30.9% shooting and responded to every challenge in the second half. Kentucky coach John Calipari said having a player take charge of a big game like Reeves did is an encouraging sign heading into the NCAA tournament.
“Today it was Antonio,” Calipari said. “When a player can do what he did in those games, it's huge.
“We have several guys who can do things like that.”
Johni Broome and Chad Baker-Mazara each scored 14 for Auburn. Denver Jones scored 12.
Adou Thiero, who started while Tre Mitchell was out with a left shoulder injury, had 14 points and eight rebounds for Kentucky. Rob Dillingham added 11 points.
“Coming into the game, no one believed we were going to win,” said Kentucky center Ugonna Onyenso, who had seven points and 11 rebounds. “Nobody really believed in us, so we came into the game with nothing to lose.”
Broome's layup cut Auburn's deficit to five points with about 13 minutes left. Reeves then took over, scoring 13 of Kentucky's next 17 points. When he finished, the Wildcats were up 16 points, 64-48.
Reeves said he was determined to play physically down the stretch and Auburn had little response to his drives.
“I just started after that, and the guys looked for me at the end of the game,” Reeves said.
Kentucky's Justin Edwards fouled out with four points.
The Tigers struggled after dominating No. 11 South Carolina 101-61 on Wednesday night following an 18-point win over the Crimson Tide. Broome and Williams combined for nine 3-pointers against the Gamecocks, but missed all five attempts on Saturday.
“Kentucky can score and they can raise their game whenever they want, and tonight they outplayed us,” Pearl said. “We knew their guards were excellent and at the end of the game, when it came to making decent shots and keeping us at bay, they were able to do that.”
Calipari told reporters he planned to travel to Indianapolis for the NBA All-Star Game on Sunday. Seven of his former players were selected.
“The most by a school in an All-Star Game was four, that's on us,” Calipari said. “So we have seven.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
