Kentucky - 93 (Head Coach: Rick Pitino) - [Ranked 3rd by AP]

Player	Min	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	PF	Ast	St	BS	TO	Pts
Rodrick Rhodes	19	3	12	0	4	1	2	0	2	2	4	3	0	0	3	7
Walter McCarty	27	8	12	1	3	5	5	5	5	10	3	2	2	0	2	22
Andre Riddick	7	1	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	3
Tony Delk	33	3	13	1	5	0	2	2	3	5	4	3	1	1	2	7
Jeff Sheppard	18	5	7	2	3	2	2	2	2	4	4	1	0	0	1	14
Mark Pope	26	7	12	2	3	3	3	8	2	10	3	1	1	1	2	19
Jared Prickett	19	2	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	4	2	3	1	0	1	4
Anthony Epps	20	1	3	1	3	2	2	0	4	4	0	4	0	0	2	5
Antoine Walker	18	4	11	1	4	0	0	2	3	5	3	4	3	1	1	9
Chris Harrison	13	1	5	1	4	0	2	0	0	0	3	2	0	0	0	3
Team								2	2	4
Totals	200	35	81	9	29	14	20	23	26	49	28	23	8	4	14	93

Auburn - 81 (Head Coach: Cliff Ellis) - [Unranked]

Player	Min	FG	FGA	3pt FG	3pt FGA	FT	FTA	Off Reb	Def Reb	Tot Reb	PF	Ast	St	BS	TO	Pts
Chris Davis	31	5	12	0	0	7	7	2	5	7	4	1	2	1	1	17
Ray Donald	25	2	7	1	4	2	6	1	6	7	1	5	1	1	3	7
Pat Burke	29	5	11	0	1	3	4	2	4	6	2	2	3	3	3	13
Audie "Moochie" Norris	38	6	12	4	8	4	4	0	2	2	3	4	1	0	5	20
Tim Costner	11	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	2
Franklin Williams	8	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	0	0	0	1	0
Lance Weems	25	2	6	2	5	1	2	2	2	4	4	1	2	0	5	7
Wes Flanigan	33	4	8	1	1	6	8	2	4	6	1	2	0	0	3	15
Team								2	0	2					1
Totals	200	25	58	8	19	23	31	12	25	37	19	15	9	5	22	81

Game Writeup - Courtesy of Dr. Jeffrey Neil Burch; Dr. J's UK Newsletter, Vol. 4 No. 35. (All Rights Reserved)

Kentucky Tames a Team of Trepidacious Tigers:

It wasn't pretty near the end, but UK held on to beat Auburn in its opening game in the SEC Tournament by a score of 93-81. The Cats led by as many at 18 late in the 2nd half, but had to hang on as the Tigers exhibited a tenacious press and made many steals which cut the lead to 7 in the final minutes of the game before the Cats finally won by 11.

Auburn got the opening tip and made the 1st basket, and went up 4-0 until Sheppard hit a 3 for Kentucky's initial points. The Tigers were up 6-3 until a McCarty 3 tied the score at 6-6. UK surged to a 17-11 lead on a Sheppard fingerroll, Pope FTs, and a Pope putback of a Rhodes miss, but Auburn went up 19-17 after shots by Burke and a pair of Norris 3s. The Wildcats quickly moved back on top to stay with an old fashioned McCarty 3, an Epps 3, and a McCarty turnaround banker (to make the score 25-21).

Later Auburn closed to 2 at 29-27 when Costner made a layup and was fouled (and missed the FT). A nice Rhodes-to-Pope assist and a Rhodes 14 footer were canceled by a pair of Chris Davis FTs and a pair of Burke FTs to make the score 33-31. UK had a mini-run, scoring the next 9 points to go up 40-31, then Harrison, Norris, and Walker exchanged 3s. A Prickett layup and a Pope putback made the lead 47-34, and the Cats closed with a Pope 3 to make the final 50-38 as Flanigan ended the half with a putback shot. The Cats had a 14-3 run after the score reached 19-17, and Mark Pope had 14 1st half points.

Auburn closed to 8 in the second half at 50-42 as Burke made a basket, but the Cats oscillated between leads of 8-12 points for much of the early 2nd half. Sheppard had a dunk attempt block (how many is that for the year now?), and Rhodes went through a very dry spell where nothing would drop, but at least UK had many offensive rebounds to retain possession. After a Pope dunk off a Rhodes assist, a Sheppard 3, a McCarty drive, a Delk 3, and a Walker dunk, the Cats led 65-49. Later Jeff Sheppard finally got his dunk on an assist from Walker, and the UK defense began to force more and more Auburn turnovers. A Flanigan dunk, a Donald 3, and a pair of Norris FTs closed the gap to 73-62 with less than 9 minutes remaining.

McCarty put back a long Rhodes miss, Epps hit a pair of FTs, and Pope knocked down a 3 to go up 83-65. But Auburn hung tough, and went on an 13-2 run to close to 85-78 on shots and FTs by Norris and Davis. Delk finally broke the scoring drought with a 12 foot leaner, and Sheppard hit a pair of FTs to ice the win. Final McCarty and Sheppard dunks closed out scoring for the Cats as they cruised to a 93-81 victory. Norris went over to shake Pitino's hand (Martyn had been highly interested in playing for UK early in life) as he came out of the game.

Walter McCarty (#40) shoots over Auburn's Pat Burke (#31)

Anthony Epps and Auburn's Moochie Norris (#24) eye the loose ball

Mark Pope and Walter McCarty fight off Auburn players for the rebound

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