Kentucky basketball bench struggles, Auburn snags victory in last second

AUBURN, Ala. — Kentucky’s reserves managed only eight points and seven fouls on 3-for-11 shooting Saturday night at Neville Arena, and the statistical imbalance proved fatal when Auburn’s Elyjah Freeman followed his own miss with 1.4 seconds left to lift the Tigers to a 75-74 win and hand the Wildcats their third straight loss.

The defeat, the first three-game skid of Mark Pope’s two-year tenure in Lexington, dropped Kentucky to 17-10 overall and 8-6 in SEC play. Auburn, which had lost five in a row under first-year coach Steven Pearl, improved to 15-12, 6-8.

With 6:57 to play, Mouhamed Dioubate’s two free throws finally pushed the UK bench past its foul total, but the group never found a rhythm. Auburn’s backups weren’t spectacular—16 points as a unit—but Freeman’s lone bucket couldn’t have come at a better time for the home crowd.

The Wildcats’ second-unit woes mirrored Tuesday’s 86-78 loss to Georgia, when UK reserves were outscored 29-8. Pope had pledged to lighten the load on starting guards Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen, yet the quartet of Dioubate, Brandon Garrison, Trent Noah and Jasper Johnson offered little relief.

Oweh did everything he could, pouring in a career-best 29 points, but a late offensive foul on Collin Chandler with 14 seconds left and Kentucky up 74-73 shifted momentum. Pope, restricted from critiquing officials, still alluded to a “1-on-8” battle his star guard faced.

“We’re coming to compete,” Pope said. “We’re a little short-handed right now, but we have control over winning and losing. I thought the guys put together a great effort tonight and we didn’t get the win. So now we go to work on Tuesday and go get the win.”

Kentucky will try to halt its longest losing streak since the 2020-21 season when it returns to action next week.