The No. 1 Auburn Tigers had their starting point guard Denver Jones for just eight minutes in a 94-78 win over the Kentucky Wildcats.
The No. 1 Auburn Tigers beat the No. 17 Kentucky Wildcats 94-78 on Saturday afternoon, but they did it for the most part without starting point guard Denver Jones.
Jones left the court after just eight minutes with an injury, but head coach Bruce Pearl was encouraged from the report after game.
Denver Jones only plays 11 minutes,” said Pearl. “He’s our starting point guard, He’s our best offender. And he just can’t go. Good news. It was X-ray’d, bone bruise. So he’s going to recover from it, but he’s a tough kid. I was really worried that he had a bone break or something.”
Auburn hadn’t won in Rupp Arena since 1988, and doing so without their starting point guard speaks to the talent, depth, and readiness of Pearl’s No. 1 team.
It was the guards who ran the show for the Tigers and not player of the year candidate Johni Broome, who had nine points on just nine shots.
The Tigers run a three-guard system and starters Chad Baker-Mazar and Miles Kelly picked up the slack, scoring 22 and 30 respectively. Freshman phenom Tahaad Pettiford played extra minutes (33) in Jones’s absence and had 21 off the bench.
Kelly was especially deadly from beyond the arc. He was 9 of 14 (64.3%) from three on Saturday.
“We knew we knew we were going to have to make shots against Kentucky,” said Pearl of his guards being involved from the outside. “Why? Because if you get in there and you throw some stuff up and they block shots and they get you in transition, that’s when the Wildcats are really good.
The Tigers won’t have to rush Jones back into the lineup. They’ve proven they can win without him, but more importantly, they clinched the SEC Championship on Saturday with their win at Rupp. They have two regular-season games remaining against Texas A&M and Alabama, but they’re playing for which No. 1 seed they get at this point.
The Auburn Tigers are stacking up an impressive resume as the calendar flips to March. They’ve won without Johni Broome. They’ve won at Rupp arena. They’ve won the toughest conference in the country with two games to spare. They’ve beaten four of the nine other teams in the top 10. They’ve won inside with Broome and outside with shooting. They’ve won shootouts, and they’ve grinded out wins with defense.
They simply win.
This team will ultimately be judged by their NCAA Tournament performance, but the 2024/25 Auburn Tigers have put together the best four months of basketball in team history.