Kentucky vs Auburn...Rd2....A Preview

Kentucky vs Auburn….2/9/13 Saturday 4PM (TV-SEC Network)
UK leads series 87-17

Auburn Tigers

Location: Auburn, ala.
Enrollment: 25,078
Arena: 9,600

Head Coach: Tony Barbee
Career Record: 108-88 (55.1%) 6 seasons
At Auburn: 26-46 (41.9%) 2 seasons

2011-12 Record: 15-16
2011-12 SEC Record: 5-11
2011-12 Postseason: None

2012-13 Record: 9-13
2012-13 SEC Record: 3-6

Auburn 61 IPFW 50
Murray St. 79 Auburn 59
Auburn 55 College of Charleston 51
Dayton 73 Auburn 63
Boston College 50 Auburn 49
Rhode Island 78 Auburn 72 (2OT)
DePaul 80 Auburn 76
Auburn 92 Grambling St. 42
Auburn 64 Furman 50
Auburn 81 Tennessee Tech 62
Winthrop 74 Auburn 67
Illinois 81 Auburn 79
Auburn 78 Florida St. 72
Auburn 68 LSU 63
Auburn 74 South Carolina 71
Arkansas 88 Auburn 80 (2OT)
Kentucky 75 Auburn 53
Vanderbilt 73 Auburn 61
Ole Miss 63 Auburn 61
Georgia 57 Auburn 49
Missouri 91 Auburn 77
Auburn 49 Alabama 37

PPG-66.7
FG%-41.4%
3PT%-33.0%
FT%-69.2%
RPG-35.5 (+0.8)
APG-14.1
TO’s-14.8
SPG-7.7
BPG-3.8

Probable Starting Lineup

Frankie Sullivan-G 6’1” Jr……………….16.1 PPG
Robb Chubb-C 6’10” Jr…………………..9.5 PPG
Allen Payne-F 6’6” Soph…………………8.4 PPG
Shaquille Johnson-G 6’5” Fr……………..4.6 PPG
Josh Wallace-G 5’10” Jr………………….3.9 PPG

Other Key Players

Jordan Price-G 6’5” Fr…………………….5.4 PPG
Noel Johnson-G 6’6” Jr…………………....5.5 PPG
Chris Denson-G 6’2” Soph………………..11.5 PPG

Auburn opened the SEC season with 2 straight wins….then proceeded to lose 6 SEC games before winning an ugly game over Alabama last night. Coach Tony Barbee is now trying to take the 9-13 Tigers to a winning season, but it won’t be easy with the remaining SEC season. Barbee continues to use a lot of players with 10 players averaging 12 plus minutes. So at least, Auburn has an experienced bench and good depth.

Auburn is led in scoring by Frankie Sullivan who unfortunately takes the most perimeter shots by far….41-145….but is hitting a very poor 28.3%. Freshman Jordan Price is the only decent long range shooter on the team hitting 42.3%, but he only averages 14 minutes per game. Robb Chubb leads the team in rebounds while Josh Wallace leads in assists.

Overall this is simply not a very good shooting Auburn team….hitting only 41.4% from the field. Coach Barbee was very upset with the Tigers play when UK defeated them earlier by 75-53 at Auburn. You can bet that Barbee will have his Tigers fired up and playing much harder and much better when they come to Rupp arena.

In contrast, UK has won 6 of their past 7 games and will be looking to hand the Tigers another defeat this season. In the previous game against Auburn, UK shot an excellent 54.5% and held the Tigers to 34.8%. Also, the Cats hit 5-15 from long range while Auburn missed all 15 of their perimeter shots. In addition, UK had 43 rebounds to Auburn’s 30…..so UK out played Auburn in all facets of the game with the exception of TO’s where the Cats had 15 TO’s to Auburn’s 9.

Unfortunately, TO’s have become a major problem for this UK team. The Cats have committed 36 TO’s in the past 2 games and are averaging 14.3 TO’s over the past 9 games. UK must correct the bad passes and poor decisions that are costing them far too many possessions.

Although UK is in much better shape regarding making the NCAA tourney….they still have work to do and they simply can’t afford another bad loss at Rupp arena….especially to a 9-13 Auburn team.

It was great to see Willie Cauley-Stein by in the lineup and he brought great energy to the South Carolina game where UK had 5 players in double figures….and shot over 60%. However, the 17 TO’s are a concern and that needs to corrected ASAP.

I look for a solid game from UK on Saturday against Auburn and a 15-20 point victory. GO CATS!