“He’s a brilliant offensive coach. And he’s got a dangerous team because of the way they shoot the basketball,” Bruce Pearl said before the Tigers’ clash against the Wildcats on Saturday. Even though the Auburn Tigers are sitting at the top, they are never THE favorite to win against the Kentucky Wildcats. And who better than HC Pearl, who has never won against the Wildcats at Rupp Arena in his last 11 years with the Tigers? Even after being the no. 1 ranked team this season, Pearl did not sound confident when asked about facing 17th-ranked Kentucky.“They run the most advanced five-out system in our game today… They know the game,” Pearl said. “They have an expectation to beat you. They’re always very, very talented.”

Talk about the historic dominance!

To put things in perspective, the Tigers, in fact, had not won a dime at Lexington in the last 37 years. But this time, Pearl arrived in Kentucky with a clear mission to end their drought before heading to March Madness. History always favored the Wildcats against the Tigers. But Bruce said NOT THIS TIME as the Tigers finally won at Rupp Arena. Mark Pope’s Wildcats had no answer to the Tigers’ offense, as they fell to them (94-78) which ultimately led to Auburn being crowned as the SEC Regular season title. This indeed is a special win as the last time Auburn won in Rupp Arena, the 21st century hadn’t even arrived. But while the night belonged to Pearl’s squad, the highly-anticipated clash didn’t come without controversy—one that’s left a bitter taste for the Wildcats and their fans.

In a much-awaited match-up against the No.1 ranked Auburn Tigers, the Kentucky Wildcats were ready for a showdown at the Rupp Arena. However, with an unexpected turn of events, the clash was delayed. The game, which was supposed to start at noon, was further delayed that even after an hour the game didn’t escalate much, failing to reach half-time.

While the audience was looking forward to a historic game, the power outage played the villain in Lexington. National broadcaster Matt Jones revealed, “I am told there was a major technical issue outside of Rupp Arena by the ABC TV truck and it lost all power. Trying to find backup power now but not sure it will happen before the end.” While the power was restored by the backup generator, it was already too late to call for an outrage.

Frustrated by the inconvenience, fans called out the poor experience from the historic game, which was supposed to start at noon. “It is now 1:10 p.m. and the game is not yet at halftime. Hopefully, hockey fans won’t mind their game coming on during the first intermission,” they said.

With fans already enraged at the delay, the game stepped it up a notch. Truly making it one for the ages. Adding more fuel to the fire, the officiating was also a major concern as well in this game, with fans taking over, trolling the officials as one calls it “As the most poorly officiated game in Kentucky history.”

While the reasons for this are still unknown, the end of this game did end up in Auburn’s favor, even despite that it didn’t stop people from calling out on the referees. “Auburn is just better than Kentucky and that’s fine. But the officiating in this half has been shocking.” Another fan shared.

While it was noticeable that the referees were favorable towards Kentucky, one fan pointed out a rather interesting stat which made it all the more believable. “But Kentucky has made more free throws than Auburn has taken. It seems like it would be different if the refs were on Auburn’s side,” he said.

The Wildcats made 38 free throws in the match out of which only 28 were recorded while on the other end, Auburn only made 31 free throws but their turnover was 24 points making their Free throw percentage higher than Kentucky’s, averaging at 77.4%. It didn’t matter to Auburn even if the refs weren’t on their side. They were there to play with only one aim and the result?

Even despite all the officiating blow-outs, Kentucky lost to Auburn at the Rupp Arena after 37 years. It was a proud moment for Bruce Pearl as he overcame all the past mishaps and rewrote history.

Miles Kelly: the hero for the Tigers

While everyone looked forward to Johni Broome putting on a show, it was Miles Kelly who came out of the syllabus. Kelly scored a total of 30 points, supported by Tahaad Pettiford who scored 21 points. Johni’s presence was enormous on the court, however, the center didn’t contribute much as his other teammates were on a spree.

While for Kentucky, everyone did give their best in this game, it wasn’t just enough. Amari Williams was the standout player for Kentucky recording a double-double with 13 points 13 rebounds and 7 assists. Lamont Butler also contributed with 15 points, but there were too many defensive flaws which led Auburn to take such a huge lead.

Mark Pope has to find a way out soon in order to make winning a consistent habit for him or else it’ll be over for Kentucky before the NCAA tournament even starts. However, things, on the other hand, are all under control with Bruce Pearl the Helm, Auburn is safely sailing to a deep NCAA tournament run and eyeing the title.