Kentucky’s roller coaster ride of a season reached a nadir on Saturday at Auburn.
The Wildcats lost in controversial fashion, falling 75-74 on a last-second tip-in by Auburn’s Elyjah Freeman. The setback was the third in succession for Kentucky (17-10, 8-6 Southeastern Conference), its first such skid in the SEC in five seasons.
Facing South Carolina (12-15, 3-11) would appear to be an elixir for the Wildcats when the two teams clash in Columbia on Tuesday. But the Gamecocks are coming off an inspired victory over Mississippi State and have given Kentucky fits lately.
The Wildcats were ranked No. 25 in the country just two weeks ago, but losses to Florida, Georgia, and Auburn are quickly pushing the bluest of bloods toward the tournament bubble.
Leading 74-73, Kentucky was attempting to inbound the ball under the Auburn hoop with 14.3 seconds left, when Collin Chandler was called for pushing off Kevin Overton, setting up the Tigers’ game-winning sequence.
In his postgame comments, coach Mark Pope walked a fine line when discussing the officiating.
“We’re not allowed to talk about the referees, but you guys saw it, and I think sometimes it’s just super personal,” Pope said. “I’m not allowed to comment on the referees. I won’t comment on the referees. It’s unfortunate. It didn’t cost us the game.”
As he left the press room, the embattled coach was heard saying, “If those mother-effers try to fine me, screw ‘em. I did not say a word about how they (the officials) cheated us.”
The encouraging news for Kentucky is Otega Oweh’s recent play. The wing scored a career-high 29 points at Auburn and has recorded 20 or more points in seven of the last eight games, averaging 22.8 points per outing in that span. He is ninth in the SEC with 17.8 points per game and needs 19 points to reach 500 for the second straight year in Lexington.
“He’s been brilliant. He (was) playing with four fouls,” Pope said of Oweh’s effort on Saturday. “I thought he was brilliant in the way he executed.”
South Carolina snapped a seven-game slide with a 97-89 victory over Mississippi State and improved to 11-6 at home. The Gamecocks posted a season high in points, boosting their season average to 76.7 points per game, still 15th in the conference.
Sixth-year guard Meechie Johnson led the way with 21 points and nine assists. He paces the team and is 13th in the league with 17.1 points per game.
“The rest of the season is the shortest part of the season,” Gamecock coach Lamont Paris said after the win. “But it’s the most important part of the season for us. This is the first one that has culminated in a win in a little while, but continuing to build on some of the things that we’ve really been working on.”
The two teams have split the last eight meetings overall and the last eight contests in Columbia.
