2019-2020 Kentucky @ Auburn (Game 21)

[Music] welcome to saturday prime time presented by h r block a big time matchup here in the sec you're watching the sec on espn auburn arena is packed it is loud for this huge game between kentucky and auburn the tigers taking on the cats inside every cat lies a predator and just after sunset they're the most dangerous [Music] it's february and no one is backing down from a fight we gotta play fast we're gonna hit him out we're gonna stay together bring him down if you can't fart him you can't be in the game the kentucky wildcats are bringing elite talent nobody in the country can stop pagan it's not just doubt the wildcats need to tame it they're up against the whole auburn pack wildcats titus warner proud in primetime this is an espn sonic blockbuster and if that tease and this atmosphere and all this noise doesn't get you fired up for this game bruce pearl will we respected our opponents all year long okay don't fear this one this one's better they'll make themselves they'll make some plays okay they're not better than us they're not better than you on a good day on a good day but can we beat kentucky if it's not a good day if it's not a good day if it's not a good day can we beat them no sir we can we're fixing to have us a good day i want your best night i want your best day that's what i'm looking from you yes sir let's go here we go check it out three one two three let's go i want your best dad [Applause] just can't get enough of that dan shulman j billis i need your best day today you got no shot of that uh can't get enough of the bruce pearl pre-game speech and can't get enough of all the hype and all the energy in this building give us a match-up that's really working for you they're excellent guards in this game but i think the match-up inside is really intriguing starting with kentucky junior nick richards who over the last nine games there's not been a better big guy in the country he's averaging 17 points just about 10 rebounds 67 from the field over that period he has been absolutely dominant he has to stay on the floor and his counterpart at auburn is going to be austin wiley inside a low post big guy and wiley's got terrific feet he can run the floor and he's a high level rebounder averaging over almost 10 rebounds a game on the season he's got to get nick richards in some foul trouble and force him to guard you have to go at richards otherwise he's gonna have his way here in the jungle that was a lot of the talk at the auburn shoot around this morning for more on the atmosphere here in this building let's say hello to the bravest person here today in holly [Applause] it is road loud and so crazy here at auburn they have really helped to create a true home court advantage for their auburn tigers but john calipari says kentucky is used to dealing with crowds like this some of the kentucky folks said that last weekend was one of the craziest atmospheres they have ever celebrated so he thinks his kids are experienced with this kind of energy hostile against them keep in mind nick richards covering 19 points nine rebounds on the road but how will they handle this jungle at auburn bless you holly great job what's on the line here today well these two teams are currently second and third in the sec standings everybody's looking up at lsu which won again today beat ole miss at home by 10. they are eight no a lot of close wins for lsu so far obviously whoever wins this one is in better position to try to make a run at lsu for the top spot we are ready for the tip of our sonic blockbuster and so my friends are the auburn fans the first time that game day has come to auburn and they are fired up kentucky with the first possession of the game ashton hagans the outstanding point vote card for kentucky being guarded by isaac ocoro the freshman from auburn okoro is a high level defender that can switch off and guard absolutely anybody one through five he has some good size on him as well lecoros 6-6 225 an early slip there by tyrese maxey shot clock running down on the cats if anybody makes a catch as good as max he's in the super bowl that'll be something because that dude caught that ball and could have walked easily but he had his left knee was a great pivot need what is a catch though really jake and then maxie knocks down a three remember maxie's had some big games against big time opponents this year like michigan state and louisville first possession now for auburn at times they have struggled to score at times j as you know they've been a very slow starting team but most of that has come on the road jayvon mccormick and swatted out of bounds easily by nick richards maxie did a great job of staying in front of mccormick and then forcing him to shoot over and richards came from behind as a weak side shot blocker that was just excellent defense by tyreese maxey an underrated defender the lob off the inbounds wiley inside off the glass this auburn team dan does a great job on out of bounds under that was a a four low along the baseline just a cross screen from one side of the lane to the other first time these two programs have met since the elite eight last year when auburn won in overtime taking the tigers to the final four for the first time in a program history meanwhile emmanuel quickly with a bucket and a foul for kentucky just a screen across a little cross screen for block to block and austin wiley oh this was the last play quickly in the post they are going right after javon mccormick who is a small player they're going to try to make him finish over they don't want to foul him and don't want to give an open shot make him finish at the rim which they did on that last play and then clearly they're going to try to bully him if they can take him down into the post go ahead and do that and how about quickly the last nine games averaging almost 17 points per game kentucky's got four players who on the season average between 13 and 15 points per game okoro too short and down with the rebound is maxie richards changed that coming over from the weak side to block it hagins for three and what a start for the guards maxia three pagans a three and quickly a three-point play and this for a team that we've questioned their ability to shoot it and they are knocking down shots left and right they're shooting much better in sec play though and samir dowdy fouled on a three-point attempt ashton higgins is one of the best point guards in the country and one of the best defensive point guards but he starts knocking this shot down forget it he shoots 31 percent from three that's his 13th three on the season you're not going to find a player that is better on the defensive end both on and off the ball than ashton hagins has been i think he's the front runner for national defensive player of the year he made some incredible defensive plays last week in the win over texas ted and he made some plays the last time i saw him in person was at georgia and the plays he made he turned complete advantage situations for georgia into buckets for kentucky it was remarkable like three four times he turned layups for georgia into a layup for kentucky two minutes into the game it's already nine to five kentucky with the early advantage a turnover as okoro takes it away and here come the tigers dowdy in transition get a mismatch with montgomery on him and he's fouled on the drive smart play by samir dowdy he had the mismatch with ej montgomery picking him up in transition but isaac ocoro does such a good job of making winning plays look how he's got back in front of the ball after hagins was able to get past and he does gets down on the floor winds up getting the ball and then starts the break on his back he just makes winning plays and that's we're not gonna find many freshmen that do it like he does he's a good player he's uh sergey he's out there with four seniors but bruce pearl thinks he's so advanced for his age that he calls him uh not a freshman he calls him a senior so you got one for senior and four seniors out there for auburn and everybody in the coaching staff says okoro is just all about winning but kentucky is doing an awfully good job covering up for sometimes having a defensive mistake nick richards switches out and then you saw ej montgomery come over and pick up the roll man and that was a great job blocking the shot when he picked up the roll that was a foul i mean you can't just bump a roller like he did but the officials missed it so give all the credit to ej montgomery so wiley goes to the bench with his first anthony mclemore checks in off the bench and this really changes the look for auburn mclemore's not nearly as big as wiley but he's a stretch five at the offensive end yeah he can really shoot him he'll also block shots at the rim but he's more of a weak side shot blocker maxie with a floater won't go richards rejected but a foul is called that's the problem richards is doing such a good job on the offensive glass of not surrendering to a blockout so you can get a body on him but he is not going to stop moving because of that body and the body just with mclemore a little bit too small there he was able to wedge mclemore under the basket and still get that offensive board not much doubt about that foul was there so a good opportunity to talk about this incredible run that nick richards has been on in the running for sure for sec player of the year playing with a ton more confidence scoring rebounding blocking shots and one of the best field goal percentages in the nation he was up and down at the start of the year and then kentucky wound up playing back to back in las vegas utah and ohio state lost both games in those two games nick richards had seven points four rebounds and eight fouls combined in those 80 minutes since then he's been magnificent nine games since 17 points 10 rebounds 66 from the field couple of blocks per game really just tremendous performances consistently coro patched up to three and now dowdy with a shot clock under 10. kentucky's turned him into individual offensive players now they're not able to run anything tough shot kind of a step back three there by samir dowdy who has not been shooting the ball well lately the last five games doubt he's five of 27 from three that's under 20 and if he's going to take shots like that that percentage is not going to go back up ashton hagen's running off some screens down low now he's going to get a high ball screen that's a fist action tough fade away on the baseline won't go with the rebound down to mccormick actually was a four on three there briefly for auburn but they don't take advantage in transition yeah good transition defense won by hagins is stopping the ball but everybody ran back and had a sense of urgency [Music] [Applause] mclemore inside okoro and he is held and fouled before the shot attempt so it'll be auburn the ball when we come back also when we come back inside the rivalry between auburn and kentucky espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is presented by h r block with more ways to file it's better with blind and in part by state farm talk to an agent today at 800 state park aerial coverage is brought to you by state farm talk to a state farm agent today let's take a look now with tonight's sonic blockbuster as we go inside the rivalry between kentucky and auburn which has been dominated historically by kentucky wins and 20 losses for the wildcats all time but a lot closer recently since 2016 it's three up and three down and the most important game into which these two programs have competed against one another of course came in the elite eighth last year when auburn defeated kentucky in overtime advancing on to the final four where the tigers were knocked out of the national semifinal by the eventual national champions the virginia cavaliers two really good programs i mean bruce pearl now in his sixth year here in auburn he's got the the students excited he's got sellout crowds he's got a final four under his belt right now i think the only thing as high as the energy level of the students here today is the energy level of the two coaches bruce pearl and john calipari and they bring it every day both in practice film had an opportunity to sit in film session and scouting yesterday with auburn and it is a well-prepared team but their problem is they're playing another well-prepared team what a rebound a well-prepared team in kentucky as devin cambridge a freshman from nashville down to the rebound for auburn and he is an elite athlete devon cambridge that was a big time rebound how about this in his last three games he scored 26 points they were all in the same game 26 against south carolina hasn't scored at all in the last two games isaac accoral with all these switches that are going on isaac okoro needs to get into the post he can do some damage there they missed him when he was there mccormick over richards and out of bounds it'll be kentucky ball let's take a look right here at isaac okoro on this out of bounds play now okoro right here he's going to he's going to refuse this ball screen so instead of going around the ball screen he's just going to take and then spin off sistina and get right to the rim that was off the out of bounds play he just popped up to the elbow then was going to get a little elbow to elbow ball screen turned it down and was able to get all the way to the rim in isolation that was just an excellent play by isaac ocoro i think you're going to see bruce pearl use him a lot in ball screens in this ball game quickly tough shot over okoro and the rebound down to dowdy downey with a full head of steam it won't go but he does draw the foul but doubt he looked like a running back going through the line he was protecting the ball and then used his left arm almost as a a shield to get the defender emanuel quickly off of him not quite a stiff arm not quite a stiff arm but close tough guy philadelphia kid played at vcu transferred to auburn and guys like mccormick and dowdy in bigger roles this year yeah bruce pearl has some key players back from the final four team but he lost some great players harper brown okiki among them so a lot of the guys who are back jay are in much bigger roles than they were a year ago absolutely lost horace spencer malik dunbar as well from a team that made five 454 three-point shots last year but it's remarkable that's over 11 a game and this year they're nowhere near the shooting team but very good defensively they don't turn you over quite as much as they did last year they played differently but still hard to beat remember they started the year 15-0 they were the next to last undefeated team rose's high is fourth in the rankings but the bruce pearl kept saying yeah i know we're winning games but we're not where we need to be and sure enough they would go on to lose a couple of games in conference play back-to-back recently at alabama and at florida boy okoro's got talent he has talent and he's got a great sense of how to play and as soon as he gets a reliable jump shot he's going to be unguardable unguardable he's showing up in mock drafts as a potential lottery pick and another kentucky foul one of the things that acorah does really well he's just an elite defender he's coming off a 14.9 rebound game against ole miss where they were down 19 but he's strong he's a good athlete but he can really drive the ball and he's driving it without having a jump shot that makes you press up on him so if you got to start pressing up on him then he's going to just blow by people let's bring in holly road well yesterday at practice john calipari warned his kentucky team that listen this is not football with the super bowl looming he did not want these guys being too physical and getting fouls called they have put auburn on the line now to take the lead in this game and most of those points have come from the free-throw line that's exactly what calipari did not want yesterday with his team all right holly thank you dowdy's already seven for seven from the line and he just buried a three and it's a 9-0 run for the tigers you come into this environment you have to be physical you just don't want to foul i mean playing physical and fouling are two different things you don't want to reach but kentucky's got to accept the physical challenge that this auburn team is going to present because these guys are athletes and they're tough and chucky going left and right but not north and south right now maxie air ball on the three ball is live but it belongs to auburn shot clock finally yeah they need to yeah okay the referee's got it there by the time the ball was saved it was a violation samir dowdy did such a nice job of stepping in rhythm little turnover just ashton higgins lost the ball and then just ran out of the play and samir dowdy just came down in rhythm was able to step into that three rather than take a challenge three which he'd done earlier in the game doubt he's got as many points as kentucky right now okoro into the chest of montgomery out of bounds to auburn that's just a little set that auburn runs to get okoro isolated on that elbow and gives him the opportunity to drive he can either drive it left down the lane or go right and get into the middle of the lane let's see what they run here this 1-4 low if they're going to go set that cross screen again [Applause] and they get it into the freshman alan flanagan okoro for three hesitated he's a 26 three-point shooter wiley with a great offensive rebound but then air mailed it over the head of dowdy and dowdy is saying and wiley's saying as well that he got a hit on the arm that's why that pass sailed now depleting his case with one of the officials to no avail no hagins right now jay for kentucky tyrese maxi can run the point quickly also an excellent ball handler actually the penetration loves the floater misses with a left hand but we get a foul call [Applause] kyries maxey always wants to go baseline it's tempting to try to make him go left every time but he can go left and you just want to keep him from going baseline where he can he is such a good driver of the ball and i think as he refines the shot that he has if you notice when he shoots it he shoots a flat ball because he shoots the ball more out than up but when he starts shooting the ball more up he's got a good stroke he's going to be an excellent shooter in a big second half wednesday night as kentucky came back against vanderbilt they were having all kinds of trouble to drop against the commodores jerry stackhouse's team played hard before kentucky finally prevailed in the end before vanderbilt with all the injuries they've had last two years lost 25 conference games in a row quickly in transition montgomery has it knocked away it'll be out of bounds to kentucky when do we come back two-point lead for auburn in the early going when we come back bruce pearl's going 94 feet with jay bilis what's great is when they're talkative you only have to answer one question just one and he qualifies bruce what was your first car it was a 1972 monte carlo it was kind of gold and it looked a lot like the car that davey allison drove in the and uh i guess you'd call it nascar now did you pay for yourself 1500 bucks uh shoveled snow cut grass having a lawn care business you had your own lawn care business i figured out it was a lot easier to cut grass myself and get a couple other guys to cut grass too and make a few dollars now you went to boston college and i'm told you were the mascot in a game how did you become the master one game i was a mascot for one game once you're mascot for one game you're always a mascot right that the eagle got sick and i was a manager for dr tom davis 1981 frank johnson ray mccallum playing and said we're tournament tuscaloosa he said send the uniform i got a guy on the bench that i know can put this thing on if it doesn't work out in coaching you think you'd do the mascot you'd be the tiger we always have to have you're looking coaching when you're winning they're worried you're gonna leave when you're losing they're packing your back so we're always coming through when you have to have a backup plan 94 feet we've seen him breath sweat through a suit imagine how sweaty he was in the mascot's costume when he was doing that let's take a look at the transformation of the auburn program under bruce pearl year six as we mentioned for bruce 92 wins in the last four years this senior class will be the winningest class in auburn history and most notably again making it to the final four last season and by the way the kansas north carolina and kentucky on their way to the final four just a remarkable season great job that last possession by austin wiley to stay between nick richards and the basket didn't give him an angle made him try to score over weiler's open give him the ball mccormick looked in his direction couldn't get it in there now they'll reset that's good pressure on the ball by ashton hagins to take away his vision flanagan spinning into the paint and a foul going against auburn got wiley with a push that's number two on austin wiley tonight it's the men's australian open final it'll be novak djokovic and dominic team 3 30 a.m eastern time 12 30 a.m pacific time on espn and the espn app team looking for his first major championship it won't be easy obviously against one of the greatest players that tennis has ever seen higgins turns it over numbers for auburn i don't know if okoro knows it tried to do it himself and it winds up in the hands of maxie oh what a block by mccormick a little euro step by maxi and mccormick just read that perfectly and the little guy blocked it with the left hand right out of maxie's hand watch this block that is spectacular mccormick's house of leather all ball what a block for mccormick his second block of the season and that one will be memorable yeah this was a basket saving block because that was an easy score get fouled or both opportunity and was able to keep from making body contact and took it right out of his hands meanwhile as we mentioned austin wiley picked up his second foul he's gone to the bench and anthony mclemore is back in so they are smaller but they do have one more shooter on the floor higgins good pressure there by matt got it they got it they called it hagen saying he was fouled john calipari saying he was fouled auburn makes it so difficult just to get the ball in bounds of the teams over the years i've seen of defending out of bounds underneath the two best have been bruce pearl coach teams when he was at tennessee and now at auburn and then davidson under bob mckillip nice drop step back for more misses off the glass and down with the rebound is keon brooks jr the freshman from fort wayne indiana kentucky is down to an eight-man rotation basically because khalil whitney left the program last week even though it's past the start of the semester if he used to continue in college basketball he won't be able to start in the middle of next year but he has left the program so john calipari has really got eight guys at his disposal now i don't know that colin whitney's even gonna stay in college my guess is he'll go pro so extra minutes for johnny giuseng among others for the freshman from los angeles knocks down a corner three you'd better be prepared for the entire 30 seconds and zuzank did a great job of having his feet set and ready to shoot as the ball arrived got a switch first field goal into more than eight minutes for kentucky after they got out of the gates quickly johnny giuseng has done a really nice job of hanging in there he wasn't getting a lot of playing time early in the season hasn't been shooting the ball well but he is an outstanding shooter what a great fake and hagin's called for the foul watching here in the corner he's calling for the ball he knows is open and when his man helps off and that was jamal johnson helping off he knew that he was going to be open repositioned himself in the corner and caught it in rhythm and was ready to shoot when the ball arrives he's catching it to shoot and then make the closeout take it away here's a big loss for kentucky in spite of the fact he hasn't been at his best so far but two on ashton hagan's and he goes to the bench with better than nine minutes left in the half four turnovers for ashton higgins that is unusual mccormick with a good look and richard's down with a rebound that might have been a good one to shot fake and drive because maxie was closing out in a hurry on mccormick so quickly we'll do more of the ball handling with hagins on the bench maxi'll help as well good help flanagan called for the foul and now the auburn players are incensed with the call that was just a smart play by emanuel quickly he had a step and he went right into the arms of flanagan to pick up that foul flanagan's hands were up now watch he gets the step and then he just went right into his body now so you might say that's offense initiated contact but flanagan wasn't in legal guarding position so quickly can do whatever he wants to get to the basket as long as they push off john calipari said emmanuel quickly is in the gym about as much as any player that he has coached at kentucky drawing comparisons to guys like tyler hero and shea gilges alexander both thriving now with the nba watch him shoot free throws he'll close his eyes before each free throw attempt he didn't do it this time yeah he's been doing that he started doing it against louisville he closed his eyes and visualized maybe he missed one he's a great free-throw shooter i find some of your best analysis with your eyes nice screen but an easy miss there underneath debit cambridge had an easy reverse but couldn't finish it there's just a little lifted flex action with a back pick along the baseline side and you're not going to get much more open than that that should have been two points for auburn brooks left hand got it keon brooks has been struggling last two games he played 18 minutes didn't score that's his first bucket in a couple of games well i'll tell you mclemore is flying down the court when auburn gets the ball making richard's run with him and now he air balls a three but it'll stay with auburn with 7 52 to go in the first half kentucky led early then auburn now the cat's back on top the only guys working harder than the players today might be the two coaches here in auburn [Music] as we mentioned great energy from both coaches great motivators as well here's what it's like to play for the likes of john calipari and bruce pearl we're trying to win if you don't want to win go in the locker room all right let's go let's go game day game day you could absolutely be hearing my voice but not listen to a thing i'm saying not gonna be able to help you if you're not listening our purpose all year long is to keep getting better look they're good so away adversity it reveals character you don't have to make them all but you can't miss them all just take a shot got him bang bang bang bang bang bang enjoy the wins man enjoy the wins it's always amazing jay when the guys who have been at it as long as these two guys have been still have as much energy as they do every single day well they love it they love teaching they love competing all right they gotta replay that they're gonna they're gonna take a look and see whether that was a flagrant foul when samir dowdy was past the ball looked like he caught nick richards right in the right in the face on the reversal [Applause] yeah that looked inadvertent but it might not matter but that was he was just making a pass called a common common foul on the floor they're reviewing it for possible flagrant and anytime you get an elbow or a forearm up above the shoulder level it's almost automatic though yeah the key is were his arms more up and down he's armed more up than out right if they were more out than up it'll probably be a flagrant and samir dowdy's saying come on man he faked that that didn't touch him [Applause] so a common foul on downey in the ball over to kentucky leading by five 7 46 to go here in the first half first meeting of two here in the regular season between kentucky and auburn [Applause] and right now i'm not sure there's anybody on the floor that has a great opportunity to guard nick richards and you'd like to see kentucky get richards a little bit more involved on the offensive end because thus far auburn has had a tough time scoring they're three of 16 from the field 10 of the 14 auburn points have come from samir dowdy richards without a field goal he's got one free throw one point two rebounds and they're going right into him but he can't convert just isolating the low post but a nice job by mclemore to stay between him and the basket now mclemore's doing a good job posting up but a travel called up top on mccormick let's listen in a little bit earlier in the game bruce pearl wired in the huddle go go go go give it to him get it give it you gotta throw the ball up the floor throw it to empty throw it up the floor bruce pearl talking to bruce pearl talking to his guards about advanced passing not just dribbling it up the court but pass it up the court they'll have a better opportunity to get something in transition advanced passing rather than dribbling up the floor jay they don't have a point in six and a half minutes never mind that's a that's been happening and especially happened against ole miss there have been droughts that they've had the kias can they hang in there when they're having a drought because it's not a great offensive team well everybody but dowdy is having a drought right now he's got 12 of their 16 points he's also got another foul he just picked up a foul trying to trail emmanuel quickly coming off a baseline screen and right now steven pearl is telling samir that let it go just your second foul emmanuel quickly coming off that screen then stops i don't know about that i mean the referee is a smart play by quickly i don't know if that was much of a foul it's a good stop cut now dowdy with two but he will stay in the game remember wiley has been on the bench for a while with two but dowdy's all their offense right now so bruce pearl will trust him to play through the foul trouble and wiley back in you've got to trust a senior because you know oftentimes when you get two fouls a lot of coaches will take the player out and they're playing the best defense on their best player that any defense could by putting them on the bench a lot of dribbling up top by mccormick can't get around maxie good deed maxie does a good job and mccormick has a hard time seeing over maxie because he's bigger and longer three danjel purifoy not there great rebound okoro and a foul nobody put a body on isaac okoro and okoro averages about two offensive rebounds per game almost half of his rebounding output is on the offensive end okoro comes all the way in from the wing and nobody even turns their head to find out where he is everybody thinking they're just going to jump for the rebound and okoro with nobody botting him up is going to have a free run and the offense gets to follow the flight of the ball defense has to turn and block out from powder springs georgia bruce pearl got him over the likes of georgia florida state and others and he has been a tremendous hell remember all the good players we talked about they lost for the final four team okoro has stepped in and had a pretty terrific freshman season so far i don't know if auburn knows what they're in defensively there was some confusion there at the defensive end maybe between man and zone or doubt he didn't seem to know who he was covering and you can see him now right now questioning purifoy and it led to a wide open three yeah they had no idea what they were in just a miscommunication there's a flex cut dowdy two more good poise by samir dowdy he could have tried to give it off to wiley turned it over or walked with it but he showed very good poise and finished with that left hand doubt he's kind of still barking about what happened on the last possession now he finds himself guarding quickly and now they know they're in man-to-man yeah hagen's on the bench with two quickly baseline can't get the shot off brooks from the elbow yes that's really his shot keon brooks is a very good mid-range shooter and has just been not he's edmond playing as well over the last few games he's got a good stroke from 15 feet and then he's got a bigger opportunity now right right with whitney out of the program another block no it's a goaltend two more points for dowdy [Applause] dowdy with the nice little runner in the lane was able to just put the brakes on and let quickly fly by and that was picked off right in front of the rim so on on the way down so dowdy's now got 16 of auburn's 21 points even though auburn has had a tough time shooting a decent percentage they're still just two possessions down off the screen good fake didn't get the foul call he should have a good job by wiley to run down and get a good post purifoy steps into the three wiley with the offensive rebound and draws the foul i think wiley made that by the fact he had a great rim run and then tried to seal his defender right in the lane he occupied the defense then when the shot by purifoy went up that gave him some great positioning and leverage to go up and get the ball and wiley's really taken a step forward at the line this year 52 in his career before this season 70 as a senior i was really surprised they didn't call a foul when emanuel quickly was shooting on that other end [Applause] one of two actually tries to turn the corner boy he'll put up more of that type of shot maybe than anybody in college basketball that mid-range floater just when he gets downhill and the screens are being set much higher so it gives him the room to go north south instead of east west got away with a walk there [Applause] with a runner at the other end a nice play by danielle pirifoy who is more of a three-point shooter than he is inside of two but just a mismatch that can really stretch the floor well they're running tyrese maxi off all kinds of screens and actions now here's the high ball screen look how high it is can't reach number three on wiley how big is that just have to move your feet you cannot reach tyrese maxi he can come off screens constant motion and when he gets downhill he is a shot maker that's a beautiful little floater espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is brought to you by the carhop classic only at sonic [Music] game day coming to auburn for the first time ever terrific atmosphere this morning as the students packed their way here into auburn arena for the show coming up on the jeep halftime report freeze davis seth greenberg alfonso ellis will look at the zags and the jayhawks hanging on and a slew of upsets for favorite teams on their home court today in the big east holly is with coach and fox well they will also break down this game and coach you really like the defense that's been played so far what's impressive they're taking the big guys out of the game because ball pressure buys time to pressure on the basketball you can't feed the poster what do you got to do you got to drive it these guards are going to be making plays because they can't throw to the bigs offensive you you like that that they've been able to get downhill a little bit yeah kentucky's done a really nice job of getting into the lane being able to kick out for some threes but also being able to score but when the bigs of kentucky catch that basketball two feet in the paint they've got to score it arrived that's right the big men have been shut out a little bit they got to get going here you can always feed the post there is never a time the ball cannot go into the post that's not what coach k said during your playing days that's a different story you could tell alfonso was a big guy seth greenberg was a guard don't throw it in there none of the big guys for kentucky have a field goal yet in this game richards montgomery or sustina and again austin wiley picked up a foul just before the last timeout is third he's back on the bench johnny picks up the foul there because he got caught on the low side and [Applause] did a great job by macklemore of you know really holding him off in the low post when they got the switch [Applause] mclemore the lefty at the line for auburn excellent student already has picked up his degree into finance now pursuing a master's degree he's recruited about mit and harvard the strokes a little funky you see it from beyond the arc as well but the ball goes in the basket gets the shot up in a hurry from beyond the three-point line yeah both he and purifoy can step away and really stretch a defense pull a big guy away from the basket a little pressure here this has not been a pressing team throughout the course of the year and really kentucky doing a pretty good job with ashton hagins on the bench with those two fouls higgins had been turning the ball over when he was in there anyway but both quickly and maxie really doing a nice job here's another high point look at that split what a job by tyrese maxey boy this high ball screen is being set so far out i'm not sure that you need to stay that connected to the big guy but they are just taking whoever is playing the five spot just an over commit by anthony mclemore instead of staying connected to the screener and a beautiful split of the defenders by tyrese maxine [Applause] was it a technical foul here on bruce pearl [Applause] we i believe we have a technical foul called on bruce [Applause] he pearl to be thrown out saying throw me out and from our understanding what we're being told is it was a coach's box violation now usually if not always you get a warning for that before you get the check that's what he was saying he said i thought you get a warning she's also saying throw me out remember john calipari got thrown out a couple of weeks ago in a game down at arkansas yeah his team played better they really responded no not better because he's out but they really responded and they were down i believe to arkansas and you know maxie quickly pagans just did a terrific job down the stretch as did nick richards so it's a four-point trip for the cats all at the line maxie is really good now but he's going to be a big time player [Applause] with richards on it they got a switch so he needs to take advantage of it he's trying wow a hard foul there by quickly and jamal johnson will go to the line for three i don't know what the urgency was you want to close out get a hand up make the shot difficult [Applause] but there was really no reason and he knew it when he was going up he knew he didn't have the angle johnson a redshirt sawmora transfer from memphis [Applause] you wonder sometimes in coaching clinics or with young young coaches if they have a if they have sort of a clinic portion when they they say all right and then when something like that happens when you have nothing to say you say what are you doing and just punch your fist dude yeah every coach says that they say what are you doing and the player of course doesn't know what they're doing or they wouldn't have done that three-point game and a steal by purifoy that's where ashton hagins being in the ball game you would hope a point guard with experience would not have made that pass because what were you what are you going to do with it when you catch it johnson fouled again this time by jose where the closeouts for kentucky in the last several possessions have not been good because they've essentially been flybys and when you do a flyby like that you're taking yourself out of the play and so zhuzhang was late getting to the ball wound up fouling and putting a team that is struggling to score in the half court on the line where they can score with no defense and this is something you don't see all that often a guy coming back into the game this late in the half with two fouls usually if you can get through this many minutes without him you leave mao but john calipari doesn't like the way this one's going right now yeah you have to put your quarterback back in the ball game to settle things down and get some better decisions because you have to expect that auburn is going to continue to come with pressure there is pressure but they get it over boy maxie quick release on the three richards the rebound hagin's a three with boxed out by purifoy they can tire take the lead almost the walk good ball movement okoro baseline but he was standing out of bounds when he caught the pass but kentucky really needs to be more disciplined on closeouts right now they're flying all over the place and they need to just stay down and stay in front and get a hand up one two two three quarter court pressure right now all screen richards now maxie sends them away maxie wanted to drive on purifoy carafoy rejects another one mccormick passed ahead that was a good advance pass the problem was he passed it to mclemore too early we got mismatches right now okoro johnson great rebound by mclemore and another kentucky foul boy this small lineup that bruce pearl is employing in part because austin wiley's in foul trouble has been successful they've been harder to guard they've spread the floor they're driving it and they have been hard to block out [Applause] coach pearl is hot under the collar right now isn't he you don't have a collar [Applause] by the way you see the t-shirts that bruce pearl the coaching staff and all the students are wearing that is a program that bruce pearl started when he was the coach at tennessee in honor of chris lofton a great player for the volunteers who beat cancer it's called outlive and when bruce pearl came to auburn they just traded out the o brought in the aau auburn still called it outlive and it's a program that is designed to raise awareness for cancer prevention and detection and also donates money to the families of people fighting cancer at local hospitals mccormick another great rebound by mclemore for keon brooks what a great steal out of that one two two but keon brooks was in the middle and he was hiding in there you have to be an outlet and a target and want the ball he clearly did not want the ball there that led to the turnover purify for three yes this press has been effective the small lineup has been effective maxie knocks one down what a big answer a huge answer by tyrese maxie he is a player man a big game player so they trade threes in the closing seconds of the first half and kentucky will come off the court leading by one holly's with john calipari well coach you have to absorb a lot of that first half with ashton hagan's on the bench how did that impact you it's hard you saw a freshman throw it away we play we don't go back and forth versus the press that's when he was in high school i need ashton back thank you they need ashton to back they got a one-point lead at the half what an atmosphere what a good first half here between kentucky and auburn in a big game in the sec [Music] 35-34 kentucky leads we'll send you to the jeep hack time report with reese and the guys right after these messages here at auburn arena [Music] welcome back to saturday prime time presented by h r block this is an espn sonic blockbuster a lot of energy a lot of intensity in the first half here in auburn samir dowdy carrying auburn's offense really for the first 10 minutes or so of the game a little bit more balance for kentucky though not all that much tyrese maxi had a dozen emanuel quickly had a dozen as well ashton hagans spent a lot of time on the bench with foul trouble for the cats welcome back to auburn arena dan shulman j billis what'd you think intense just a hard-played intense first half for kentucky kentucky's got to do a better job of defending without fouling because auburn is shooting such a low percentage against kentucky's defense you cannot foul them and put them at the free-throw line they're 14 excuse me there were 20 free throws shot by auburn in that first half that's just too many and auburn's got to do a better job of guarding the ball they've got a square up bruce bro calls it framing they got to stay in front of the ball and not give up these drives off the high ball screen do a better job of staying connected but this is a very good defensive team this is going to be decided by rebounds loose balls and things like that because we're not going to get great shooting percentage out of this one let's hear from holly road auburn coach bruce burrell said there's been too many empty possessions for us we've done a great job getting fast breaks and then we don't initiate our offense and don't get into something to run good action he said we have got to come away with better possessions no more empty possessions here in the second half he's like if the fast breaks there and we can make it happen great but if we can't we've got to run something and run it efficiently guys ollie thank you one point game kentucky leading going to the second half each of these teams looking up at lsu atop the sec standings we're ready for the start of the second half of our sonic blockbuster dan shulman jay bilis holly rowe the first time ever that game day has come to auburn students are behind us they're fired up and as jason a very intense first half a foul before the shot and we talked about it in the first half when isaac okoro makes his mind up to drive into the paint something good is probably going to happen for auburn just a little dribble handoff where he could turn the corner and get to that right hand get all the way into the lane and doing it again now he's got a switch is deflected by maxie mclemore starts the second half for wiley who's got three fouls and auburn takes the lead thanks to purifoy well cruz pearl clearly liked what he saw out of this smaller lineup with wiley out with those three fouls gonna stick with it is a much quicker lineup and they can really spread the floor more what about kentucky getting richards involved well they got to get him the ball i mean they've been really good off that high ball screen wow max or quickly rather knocks down the three quickly is emerging as a great player he can shoot it he can put it on the deck and he's an excellent defender he did a really good job earlier this year when he was guarding jordan warra when they wound up beating beating louisville in overtime gowdy the high score in the game and after a switch he's got aj montgomery on him [Applause] shot clock at five it'll be purifoy again a good blockout by quickly on anthony mclemore kept him off the glass nobody guarding quickly and he misses the wide open three auburn was very fortunate there you don't get that much time to shoot a three in a horse game john calipari didn't always have the three guards starting together earlier on it was whitney who's left the program or brooks but hagin's maxi and quickly have been starting in recent games together still to come more college basketball action there will be better than 31 000 people at the carrier dome in syracuse trey jones and duke are there to take on the orange duke's gonna have to guard two of the best offensive players in the acc buddy behind one of the best shooters and elijah hughes who's averaging just under 20 points per game wendell moore is back from the broken bone in his hand he returns tonight for duke that foul on quickly by the way his third he's gone to the bench zoozhang is back in [Music] mclemore working hard just caught kentucky on a switch and rolled anthony mclemore down into the low post great feed another one two beautiful passes and a dunk for richards well usually a big guy like ej montgomery catches that ball on a cut they're gonna shoot it or turn it over but that little under the shoulder pass that was a backhanded scoop to nick richards what a beautiful pass that's the first bucket of the night for richards now hagins nearly comes up with a steal you have to know where ashton higgins is all the time on the floor he's like a great safety in football okoro short on the three rebound maxi smart play by dowdy not to go after that rebound that could have been foul number three drag up top and a roll and pop and ej montgomery with just his second made three-pointer on the season well they called it a two my mistake put on the line a long two for montgomery kentucky leads by three well that was a big play by e.j montgomery who had been struggling a bit on the offensive end of nine points in the game against vandy and he needs to become a more consistent scorer to work on him and a great block by montgomery zhuzhang from the baseline well short that is a tough shot in that little short corner especially for a three-point shooter like look at the speed from mccormick and he's headed to the free-throw line now take a look at these screens by montgomery and richards this is called a double drag and so you're going to see montgomery pop and then a roll right here and the pop out top you went with the roll man and you wind up getting the guy popping e.j montgomery for an easy shot and a wide open shot really well run by kentucky they traded the lead back and forth here in the opening minutes of the second half jayvon mccormick at the line for auburn mccormick has done a really good job this year stepping into the point the point guard position that was left vacant by jared harper when he decided to go pro early the only issue with mccormick is he's awfully small so coming off screen rolls it's hard for him to deliver the pass over bigger defenders sticking with the one two two three quarter court pressure dowdy up top pagans end to end and richards thought about it but the ball was still on the cylinder so he let it go great outlet pass okoro the crossover okoro no but the follow will go he got fouled hagans lays it in kentucky back on top boy there is contact throughout this game you had better be ready for a physical confrontation when you take the ball to the basket and nobody's walking the ball up the court are they mccormick at the other end nobody picked the ball up and mccormick took advantage of it what a beautiful finish good defense by dowdy it'll be auburn ball when we come back the intensity and the pace if possible have even picked up here in the early stages of the second half the lead going back and forth between the tigers and the cats he's just a spectacular basketball player remarkable and holly you're going to be there as part of our coverage that's right and i can't wait because sabrina unesco has a freshman wheeled her team to an elite eight appearance for the first time with oregon but they got run by uconn this is her chance for unfinished business she didn't turn pro for this opportunity looking forward to that one and really enjoying this one bucket and a foul as wiley extends the lead for auburn bruce pearl going to tom davis offense little baseline flex action and when they came off the down screen sameer dowdy was able to turn the corner and get to the rim and it looks like tyrese maxi might have injured his hand there holding that right i'm not sure with his right or left hand but and it's number three on hagin so they got a problem with a foul for hagins and they got a problem with an injury from axey that was a really good call out of the timeout to go with that flex action a little that's old-time tom davis stuff dr tom that's who bruce pearl that's who his mentor was and has been all these years bruce pearl from southern indiana to milwaukee to tennessee and now here to auburn that was james harden right there he saw that mccormick quickly saw that mccormick was reaching and just went right into his arm let's take a look at what happened to tyreese maxey here [Applause] maybe got his hand caught he's trying to get get around that screen harmless play but it looks like a left thumb issue for maxi bodies are flying let's bring it holly the athletic trainer jeffrey staton has examined his left hand right now it's his left thumb right where it meets the palm of his hand they are going to possibly tape it up right here but he looks like he will be able to return he keeps shaking it getting his head shaking like i gotta get back in right there on the region you can see it at the beginning of the play and again with hagans having three fouls it's a little bit dicey right now with a maxi on the bench hagins thought about the shot richards went to get a rebound and instead it turned into a pass and it's auburn ball well you really have to accept the physical challenge that auburn presents this is a physical basketball team and they will chest you up little zone right now 2-3 zone looks like for kentucky see if they can make auburn prove it over the top but auburn can't settle for jumpers they've got to penetrate the gaps of this zone whether it's by the pass or the dribble not a great three-point shooting team on the season just over 31 percent and ashton hagins just picked up number four now maxie is getting ready to come back in so evidently his hand is okay but they have lost hagins now for a while and that's one of the problems playing zone is the blockout responsibilities and going out right after the ball and hit johnson head on and remember what john calipari said to holly in the interview at the end of the first half he said i need ashton in the game played less than 11 minutes in the first half and who knows how long he'll have to sit right now austin wiley had a tip in or a tip dunk there he's really done a nice job going after the offensive glass now remember last time that ashton hagan was out of the game auburn brought a ton of pressure students behind us certainly bringing the noise right now and quickly does it again johnson cannot put that left arm out because quickly is just going into that arm now that happens in the nba all the time james harden the best at this but quickly sees that arm out and just goes right up into the arm gives the official no choice but to call it it has to be a shooting foul it was initially signaled as a shooting foul but now the officials are going to the monitor to verify oh no now we're being told it will be shooting they're looking to see whether it should be a two or three yeah three easily behind the line [Music] for the second time that quickly has done the same thing it's like replay that means the exact same play let's listen in as we did in the first half bruce pearl wired for sound they're not better than you on a good day on a good day i can't hear you i can't hear you run your fast break drive it deeper there he is there he is we gotta start by the defensible we got to make plays there it is there it is girl shotgun how does he have a voice in practice tomorrow well how does he expect on the other end of the floor in this atmosphere for his players to hear him a better question well you foul emanuel quickly just mark him down it's like watching a an intentional walk i mean you know what the results gonna be such a good free throw shooter 92 as you can see on the season is automatic jay that's not the way it works you realize that's not the way it works you said he was going to close his eyes in the first half too and he didn't do that well maybe he did there and just didn't forget to open him back to the 2-3 zone middle wide open [Applause] dowdy looking for an opening just forces his way in offensive basket interference yeah somebody i'm not sure who it was it was cambridge he touched the rim there's no question so wave off the basket what a strong drive by samir dowdy you want to praise the offensive rebounding effort because that took a bucket away off the screen quickly floater got it wow he has just got his defender in this case johnson on a string great job curling that little pin down screen and a really nice job not moving his pivot foot once he put it down in the lane johnson has the three rejected and great hustle by cambridge to knock it out of bounds off of richards now watch emmanuel quickly number five coming off this little pin down now he already got the ball there just a little jab step one dribble and a little push shot that's just beautifully done wiley lost it dowdy retrieves less than 10 to shoot boy again dowdy just forcing his way in and this time richards got all of it but we got a foul call got the body john calipari saying he jumps straight up but i thought it was a foul see he went into him it wasn't like he was just standing under the basket going straight up he didn't have legal guarding position there and it was a really good job by dowdy getting all the way to the rim [Applause] and dowdy unhappy after he missed the free throw inadvertently threw it down off his foot it went out of bounds gonna be a little careful with that yeah we've seen technical fouls handed out for that kind of thing before remember remember it happened that happened to isaac humphrey that's right a few years ago texas a m one of the dumbest calls in basketball history it was right near the end of the game right it was just minute of the game it was and there's the first point of the second half for dowdy who had 16 in the first half kentucky trying to get by without ashton hagins for who knows how long he's got four fouls trying to get quickly coming off that little pin down now you got to expect the high ball screen here it comes max he splits the double team again and knocks in a left-handed runner and draws the foul he is so good at splitting defenders you have really got to stay connected when you are guarding the screener in that high screen and roll action really nice job by nick richards to clear that area and just a wonderful step through tyree's maxi has gained man this guy is a baller at 26 points against michigan state he recalled to start the season just a fantastic way to start the year and that's 27 he had against louisville those were big time performances he's got 14 tonight quickly leads kentucky with 19. here's the 2-3 zone okoro a little bit quiet at times tonight kicked it back out to dowdy they can wind up going man at the end of the clock coral with a hard drive he'll head to the free-throw line well you you have to be really smart defensively because auburn goes body seeking when they drive they're not just driving to get to the rim they're driving to get into your body draw the contact and get to the free throw line watch how he draws the contact [Applause] brooks would be better off just going up trying to block the shot rather than bottom up but you know all year long you've been able to throw your chest into a shooter and it hasn't been consistently called one issue for auburn and it hasn't hurt them that much tonight they've been shooting them pretty well but generally they're not a good free throw shooting now they're 67 on the season kentucky's one of the best in the nation they're better than 77 three-point shooting and free throw shooting has hurt auburn they're 12th in the sec in both categories three-point percentage and free-throw percentage 69 percent on the year just missed them both with a 1-3-1 half court defense right now for auburn they can trap out what a play to deflect that maxey lost it dowdy's got a coral with him [Applause] tried to do it himself there was a lot of contact up there good block up top quickly took a shot to the side of the head as he came down with a rebound the physical nature of this game continues between these two sec rivals number 13 kentucky number 17 auburn in a back and forth affair espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is brought to you by zaxby's hand breaded chicken and fresh ingredients made to order only at zaxby's this is the sec on espn aerial coverage is brought to you by state farm talk to a state farm agent today with jay billis holly rowe i'm dan shulman auburn alabama first time game day has ever come here as auburn hosts kentucky and we see as the whole sports world really even beyond the sports world continues to remember kobe bryant after the passing of bryant his daughter gigi and the seven others who perished in the tragic helicopter crash on sunday everything you're seeing here this is on the shoes of players in this game here tonight kentucky players or auburn players kentucky also as a team wearing warm-up shirts with both of kobe bryant's numbers on it a an emotional to say the least ceremony at the staples center last night before the lakers game their first game playing since the crash last sunday and just something jay that people are still it's still reverberating around the sports world and beyond people still having difficulty you know trying to cope with it and assimilate what happened a few days ago just incredibly traumatic and for all these young players you know kobe bryant was very active in the basketball community and he met a lot of these you know big time prospects when they were in high school at the different camps the nike skills academies and it developed relationships and that kobe bryant was there michael jordan yeah that 1-3-1 for auburn effective again and i'll tell you kentucky has got to rebound they are getting killed on the offensive glass it is 15-1 in favor of auburn and second chance points here's a switch now dowdy with the richards on him up top seven to shoot dowdy for three another offensive rebound with long rebound mclemore back out to dowdy mclemore can shoot it got to get out on him i want to settle for jumpers here corner three not there for flanagan and that rebound belongs to nick richards nobody was taking that away from him yeah i think you'd rather drive the ball a little bit attack the rim with the opportunity to get to the foul line rather than settle for deep jumpers that is not a strength of this auburn team auburn tonight is just three for 19 from three-point range so what they're gaining on the glass they're losing from beyond the arc with a 3-2 zone here and the maxi's foul got it to the corner gave up the baseline tyrese maxi you know it's it's one thing to say hey we got to guard the ball better stay in front force him to his left staying in front of this guy is a difficulty he is a stud athlete earlier today in the sec lsu with a 10-point win over ole miss so lsu still undefeated in league play at 8-0 kentucky and auburn the next two teams in the sec standings and for auburn they will play lsu one week from today here in auburn and auburn's got a return game at kentucky later in the season so a lot still to be decided in this league lsu's road record the last two years in the sec is ridiculous they've got three different guys that can go get you a shot when you need one very few teams have that macklemore he'll shoot it it's not a not a good shot there was good pressure by richards recovering that was shot fake and drive max c and johnson stayed in front of him maxie backs it out smart decision they continue to play without hagans on the bench with four fouls now quickly with a shot clock under 10. here comes their fist action the high ball stream good job by mccormick saying it ever shot clocks in one walk shot clock violation boy that's a good 30 seconds of defense wasn't it just outstanding especially jayvon mccormick for him to stay in front that was really really good defense by auburn auburn's defended really really well it's just been their offense holly road talked about empty possessions they've taken a couple of shots you'd they'd probably rather have back the last two possessions they need to get the ball into the lane against this zone jay we see isaac okoro back into the game one for seven three points quiet game for him as they try to go over the top and montgomery is going to be called for undercutting mclemore he gets whistled for the foul [Applause] mclemore along the baseline just snuck behind and got behind ej montgomery and just too much contact as he was going up for that number four on montgomery he takes a seat looking for a replay as he goes to the bench and nate's sistina's back in the last thing you want to do if you're kentucky is foul they'll make auburn take a tough shot and then go after the rebound they're leaving some points on the line now last couple of times down there they've come up empty and john calipari outside the coaches box i think this is just a warning it's not a technical it's just a warning and by the way to clean up something from the first half we were told bruce pearl got his teeth for being out of the coaches box that is not what happened the t was for an accumulation of um saying more than he should have said in the direction of the official so that's why he eventually got teed up how was that was that diplomatic enough very diplomatic thank you i am canadian limited minutes for sistina for kentucky today he's a threat from beyond the ark the grad transfer from bucknell quickly off balance richards the follow anytime you go to try to block a shot that's going to open up the offensive glass and richards took advantage of it boy this 2-3 is pretty wide and long but okoro can drive it he's trying bounce pass mclemore it's simple i mean drive a gap you make the middle man play in then dump it off mclemore was down at what they call the dunk spot and you have to penetrate those gaps and the gaps were wide brooks looking into richards doesn't get it to him cross screen quickly set the screen for richards to get him open left hand no auburn ball boy bodies are flying right now yeah you're right i hate it when they do that they couldn't they couldn't tell who started it so they called on both of them mclemore and richards actually the foul's on richards i'm pretty sure that saddling up a guy and riding him from the top is a foul on the defense it's just a it's just an official not paying attention honestly so they bail out with a double foul [Applause] in for brooks second on richards and onto mclemore as well hagen's the only player with a four he continues to ride the bench right now for kentucky a number of players on both sides have three montgomery also has four he's on the bench as well for the wildcats still have to penetrate this here comes the ball screen against the zone macklemore needs some help and he needs it fast mccormick forces it air ball kentucky ball with the bad possession for auburn good defense by kentucky any time you go after a blocked shot you can open up the offensive glass and nick richards takes advantage of an open backboard and jams it in and penetrating the zone freezing the middleman pocket pass and anthony mclemore with the easy dunk we got a good one dan shulman [Music] so much going on each and every saturday in the college basketball season how about this three ranked home teams in the big east lost today the lenovo seton hall and butler all losing on their respective home courts big win for wisconsin holding off michigan state late and beating the spartans by a point spartans have now lost three of their last six and cole anthony is back b.c and carolina tied at 68 with a minute and a half to go in the second half that game currently airing on the acc network and anthony has 24 points so far in his return still to come it'll start on espn news before it moves over to espn after the conclusion of this game it'll be elijah hughes who quietly is having a great year and what an opportunity for syracuse tonight jay to pick up a significant win with duke in town well it seemed like the first half of the season syracuse couldn't buy a win and then the last 10 games or so the orange have really started to play much better and starting to play really well at times and a big reason has been the offense of elijah hughes and buddy behind both of whom could put 30 on you in a given night i mean against i think it was virginia tech buddy bam scored 18 straight points for the orange and those two have the ultimate green light from jim beijing 7 38 to go here in auburn with kentucky leading by three and max he's gonna use a timeout can't get the ball in so we'll step aside here in auburn espn's exclusive presentation of college basketball is presented by h r block with more ways to file it's better with blood and in part by wendy's try a big bacon classic today sportscenter comes your way tonight after duke syracuse with john boochiegrass and john anderson they'll break down a big nba matchup tonight between the celtics and the 76ers our crew in miami has the very latest news on the eve of super bowl 54 and inside this year's pro football hall of fame class sports center after tyler troops on espn and the espn app who wins the super bowl i like kansas city but ashton hagen's back into the ball game for kentucky and kentucky having a hard time getting the ball in bounds and kentucky actually outscored auburn 10-3 during those minutes that hagans was on the bench quickly and maxie just so hard to guard they'll be even harder to guard with hagans back in the game to handle the ball pagans the drive the force auburn ball no doubt he was wide open on the far side of the court mccormick didn't see him and dowdy who now has the ball was visibly displeased at not getting it 2-3 zone they got quickly and maxie out top and then hagin's down on the baseline wind-up essentially going man with all the action here auburn's got to get a look soon they will agoro yes beautiful job not the panic as the shot clock was going down then find the open man on the other side of the floor the best place to score is the other side of the floor just a 26 percent three-point shooter isaac okoro has tied the game what a great matchup dowdy and quickly quickly slipped and it results in a turnover so he tried to curl that little screen on the block slipped and that led to the turnover okoro needs to drive when he gets the ball [Applause] and a kickball just a terrific job getting the ball from one side of the floor to the other and finding the open man could have gone to purifoy but instead went to okoro and just a beautiful wide open three-point shot shot clock resets to 20 after the kickball and now we got the foul going against kentucky maxi same play they run out of bounds where you have four along the baseline that just throw it to the elbow and get a little ball screen elbow to elbow so that okoro can turn the corner okoro to the line another chance to listen in to bruce pearl tonight [Applause] we're down three we're down three you guys should be excited about the last seven and a half minutes your energy and your teammate senior senior for senior senior senior it's our time it's our time right now that's great awareness he knows how old they all are but back to what we were talking about in the first half i don't know if you caught it there senior senior a senior senior senior yeah uh okoro is a freshman but he's so mature he calls him a senior higgins keeps possession look at the position here for richards and the second time he'll get it through he got fouled the first time just didn't call it you better be prepared to get hit when you go up for a shot because no fouls are being called in this game staying in the zone maxie trying to figure out where he should be right now finds a man down on the baseline again the shot clock becomes a factor and dowdy is fouled by quickly [Applause] ashton hagans on the other end on the offensive end mishandled the ball that actually opened up nick richards there when he got the ball he did a terrific job of sealing inside he got fouled on the first portion of it but stuck with it see macklemore botting him up and just throws his body right into richards like that is a foul on any level of basketball for some reason in college basketball the officials have stopped calling that jay look at the foul trouble right now for kentucky hagins quickly montgomery montgomery on the bench but hagins in it quickly each with four fouls for auburn they have to take advantage of that drive the ball after moving it from side to side drive it and put kentucky in a position to foul or in a position to back off and then again for them hopefully knock down their free throws they are not a good free-throw shooting team and mccormick does a nice job staying in front this is a hard guy to stay in front of switch shastina for three dowdy the rebound okoro everything but the finish but he's going to the line what a great job by ocoro terrific pass by dowdy but a great job by okoro moving the ball from his right to his left hand to try to finish this and got the foul from nick richards it's just a big time play and almost got it to go that close poro to the line holly rose got more well guys bruce pearl told us yesterday at practice that accor of this freshman has more impact on winning than anybody on this team he said it's just his personality it's his mo he is a big a joy to coach as any kid i have ever coached in my entire career and we're seeing it whether it's defensively hitting big threes when that's not really his game he is a winner and bruce pearl loves having him on the floor in this moment ollie thank you okoro makes them both and extends the lead to three still a lot of time hagen's off the ball maxie brings it up here comes a high ball screen another split man oh man it's just big time i mean the screen is being set so high that if you commit and you're not connected he's going to split those defenders and be able to get all the way downhill to the basket and good luck stopping it okoro more assertive now misses it and actually the other way for the cats maxie not this time but there is a foul now watch maxie handle this high screen got a high screen there's way too much space there austin wiley has to stay connected to nick richards because that you could drive a truck through that and a guard as good as maxie that is way too much space good free throw shooter 82 percent how come everything works out when you when you start talking about the free throw percentage i say something you claim there's an announcer jinx or something i'm living my best life [Applause] you can have the next one somebody the next guy i just don't believe in that not that we need to devolve into that but i don't believe when you talk to a pitcher when he's got a no-hitter it has anything to do with the next pitch i don't believe it would either but it was fun for me to call you on it [Laughter] with a corner three yeah what a big shot by janjeel pirifoy and he took it without hesitation better job staying connected there by wiley i'm actually trying to take over late here for kentucky oh what a rebound ball's loose dowdy's got it no we've got a kentucky foul beforehand as a coral was attempting to pass the ball so it'll be auburn at the line would we come back up by 2-3-36 to play a spectacular rebound by isaac okoro and a spectacular three in the corner by d'angelo purifoy the stretch four coming through more hoops coming your hurricane hey coming up here on espn duke at syracuse but they have tipped off and that is currently airing on espn news jay and dan back to you guys allison thank you very much so a big day of college basketball as we start to move into a big evening of college basketball and how about this game here today auburn leading by two and how about ashton hagenstein just fouling out of the game well isaac okoro grabbed a big time rebound after purifoy knocked this ball out went after with two hands and ashton hagins fouls him as he's trying to get the ball down court to samir dowdy that's the fifth foul on ashton hagens not a smart play by hagins but just reacted in the moment and hagins fouls out of the game with just five points six turnovers and a plus minus of minus 11. so minus 11 points when he was on the floor in his 21 minutes tonight our nba saturday prime time matchup a big battle in the eastern conference joel embiid and the 76ers jason tatum in the celtics coverage begins with a jump at eight eastern on abc and the espn app all-star jason tatum and all-star joel embiid and beat an all-star in his third years last year as well and jason tatum his first ever all-star appearance isaac ocoro at the line for auburn [Applause] they have been to the line now 35 times tonight they have made 25 of them it's really been a gigantic part of the offense because auburn has not shot a good percentage from the field it's not often you shoot 33 percent from the field and have a chance to win the game well their offensive rebounding has been off the charts codes 16 offensive boards in this game for three wiley with a big-time rebound richards has called for the foul that'll be his fourth austin wiley is an elite level rebounder he averages over nine rebounds per game three of them on the offensive end and he goes after the ball with two hands and coaches talk about that but not all players do it it's easier to go after it with one and try to corral it wiley goes after it with two austin wiley comes from basketball royalty his mom vicki orr had her number retired here she also wore number 50 and his dad aubrey led the southeastern conference and rebounded wow what a bounce on the second where's mom vicki orr was a great player auburn by five and if possible it's getting even louder what huh quickly forces it up and somehow gets it to go what a play by emanuel quickly quickly and maxie can make something out of nothing about as well as any guard combo in america those two have been just terrific tonight coral thought about it [Applause] will he drive on brooks step back three whoa he got it isaac okoro is doing it every which way in this game what a shot in the guts to take it too so big in the last few minutes for auburn and another one for quickly he's so good with that shot fake jab step getting pure boy just a bit off balance then driving it and kissing it off the glass that's a big time move by emmanuel quickly quickly with 23 maxi with 20 as they keep kentucky afloat here in auburn robert needs to move the ball agora wants to take over [Applause] and the tip goes up and in for wiley riley got away with a little bit of a push got richards out from underneath the basket tipped it in maxie draws the foul with good luck staying in front of these ultra quick and explosive guards from kentucky the shot fake got purifoy off balance got him off the floor and then a beautiful finish by emanuel quickly and that was a foul that wasn't called but because wiley was able to get to the offensive glass yet another offensive rebound for auburn minute 37 to go four point lead auburn one two two three quarter court from kentucky oh wiley was begging for the ball had sistina sealed down under the bucket well he's smart not to go for that right now just run a little clock okoro and threw it off the back of the backboard but he got away with an extra step there well he is a bull when he puts his head down and drives they refuse that little ball screen that was coming his way [Applause] cestina's got to put good pressure on this poro driving again and is fouled before the shot you got to run another defender at him because he is looking to drive at every opportunity and one one guy is not going to be able to stay in front of him he's just too strong double bonus both ways two free throws both teams the rest of the way he needs to work on this because he's he's a decent free-throw shooter but he's going to live at the line with his ability level he is 5 for 11 tonight kentucky cannot settle here and a timeout taken by john calipari a minute five to go the wildcats down by five here in auburn points although carolina lost at home to bc by one they get 26 points for cole anthony in his return to the tar heels lineup we will have duke in carolina six o'clock eastern time one week from today meanwhile we got a five point game here with just over a minute to go kentucky ball auburn leading going with a zone look right now for auburn you like it out of the timeout i do step in quickly no and who's it going against it is going against kentucky auburn goes after the ball so hard they've generated a lot of these fouls by how the how hard they've pursued the ball like pirofoy went after that ball hard and jade that's number five on emmanuel quickly well you had dowdy going after it with two hands quite he must have said quickly was on his back i don't know how you can call it from the angle where the official came in from because from that angle everything looks like it's on his back you're being shielded out yeah he hit him yeah so quickly he becomes the second wildcat to foul out he just tied a career high with 23 today hagen's out quickly out so now maxie is in there along with zhu zhang brooks cestina and richards as dowdy tries to add to the lead at the line 74 free throw shooter i'm not sure that if bruce pearl could pick anyone he'd pick anyone other than samir dowdy in this situation he's a philly guy and he's tough-minded three-possession game less than a minute to go maxie trying to do it himself tough job mark by bruce pearl to stick with that zone was confusing and john calipari is unhappy he was telling them to foul mccormick and they fouled dowdy but you can't hear anything in this arena right now i'll tell you for auburn to shoot the ball at the low percentage they did it's really remarkable that this team can find a way to win with its defense offensive rebounding and then finding a way to get fouled and get to the free-throw line attacking the paint off the dribble just really impressive they've taken 20 more free throws in this game than kentucky has auburn played older in this game four seniors who start five in the rotation out of the pack comes dowdy john calipari says don't foul much to the delight of this raucous crowd here in the auburn arena the tigers will knock off kentucky here today not just beating kentucky but staying within striking distance of lsu what a scene here for the auburn arena this is the first time since 1990 that the tigers have defeated the wildcats twice in a row did it in the elite eight last year and now they do it here this season they'll meet again in lexington later on in the year holly rowe is with bruce pearl well coach this group is a new group not the kids that beat kentucky to go to the final four how did they show up and make a name for themselves tonight they took a big step tonight ollie with all you guys here kentucky's a good basketball team this team's got character it's got hardest got great good kids great men as coaches an unbelievable

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Length: 102min 19sec (6139 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 27 2020