If a basketball fan had been paying attention to Nick Richards recently, he or she would have known that the junior Kentucky big man had been playing like an SEC Player of the Year candidate.
In the four games since the Wildcats' loss at South Carolina, including two massive road victories at Arkansas and Texas Tech, Richards averaged 19.25 points on 66.7% shooting, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per outing.
Then he ran into Austin Wiley and Anfernee McLemore.
Auburn's two senior centers helped the Tigers out-muscle Richards and the 'Cats emphatically on the boards, as the home team won the rebounding battle 42-28. Auburn also scored 24 points in the paint to Kentucky's 18.
"Nick Richards has been dominating really lately, and (Wiley) was just physically able to hang in there and to negate some of it," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "And I thought Anfernee McLemore, who gives away a lot of size, hung in there as well."
Wiley in particular was doing whatever he wanted on both ends of the floor in Auburn's 75-66 victory Saturday. Kentucky's head coach said so himself.
"(Austin) Wiley just had a field day on Nick (Richards)," John Calipari said postgame. "Not many people have done that to Nick, but he did."
Richards didn't score a bucket in the first half and was held to seven points on 38% shooting on eight shot attempts, along with seven rebounds. He played all but two minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, Wiley dropped 12 points on 67% shooting along with 10 boards in only 18 minutes played because he racked up early fouls. Pearl was smart with his minutes for Wiley in the second half however, and the senior made the most of them with nine points and seven rebounds after halftime.
"I just tried to stay out of foul trouble," Wiley said of playing in the second half with three fouls. "Coach started [McLemore in the second half], so he came with the energy and I just had to play smart in the second half. So I think I did a good job of that."
Auburn created 17 second-chance points for itself, coincidentally off 17 offensive rebounds — the most by a team against Kentucky in two seasons (2018 SEC Tournament vs. Tennessee). Wiley himself had seven offensive boards, and McLemore had three.
While the physicality on the glass was a major key to victory for success for the Tigers, it was obviously a downfall for the Wildcats.
“The difference was the offensive rebounding,” Calipari said. “And that came down to toughness."
"I feel like that was a big difference in the game," Wiley said. "Like I said before, to reiterate, I try to crash the boards hard every game. I feel like if I do that well, my team’s going to win. I feel like that showed tonight.”
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