For 39 minutes and 21 seconds, Auburn was in control. And when the clock hit zero, they had officially secured their first victory at Rupp Arena since 1988. A 94-78 rout over Kentucky—one that had the Wildcats playing catch-up the entire time. Fans expected a fight, and, well, they got moments of it, but the Tigers dominated from the jump. And as he often does, Mark Pope took the blame while tipping his hat to the opponents.

“They’ve done an unbelievable job not just assembling but growing and fitting together the pieces on their team, so congratulations to them,” Pope said as he sat for the post-game press conference. And let’s just say that Auburn played like a No. 1 team should. They walked into Rupp, owned the place, and left no room for doubt.

When asked about Kentucky’s dismal start to the second half, Pope was brutally honest. “It was really unfortunate. It was more a manifestation of the stress we were feeling and feeling sped up because none of them were forced… We were just dribbling the ball out of bounds,” he admitted. 

He didn’t shy away from accountability, “That’s actually—you can give credit to Auburn for that. They got us in a hole, and you can put the blame for that on me…I wasn’t able to get the guys to a place where we could just kind of be present in the execution of the moment.”

And truly, the Wildcats did themselves no favors protecting the ball. The team coughed up the ball 18 times—yes, a season-high—and Auburn turned those giveaways into 21 points. The Tigers, on the other hand, took care of the rock, only committing eight turnovers. 

Coach Pope straight up admitted, “We certainly didn’t ring the bell. Schematically we didn’t. Individually we didn’t. (Defense is) a place where we were very poor tonight.” And the numbers prove that.

Bruce Pearl’s crew shot a blistering 51.8% from the field and 46.2% from beyond the arc. And they did this while their best player, Johni Broome, was held to just nine points. But when you’ve got other guys stepping up, it’s not really a problem. Miles Kelly went off for 30 points on 9-of-14 shooting from deep. Meanwhile, the UK, the best three-point shooting team in the SEC, picked the worst time to go cold. They knocked down just four triples, tying their season-low from December’s loss to Ohio State.

When we talk about individual performances, it took Koby Brea nearly 13 minutes to get their first three to drop. But after that, he had a great game, scoring 21 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and 4-7 from three. Then, another player BBN Nation was counting on, Otega Oweh, struggled to get going due to foul trouble. While the starters did their thing, the bench fell short. Only Brandon Garrison and Collin Chandler managed to put points on the board—just 1 and 4, respectively.

Simply put, Kentucky couldn’t dictate the pace, and Pope chalked that up to their limited lineup options. And that, unfortunately, brings us to Jaxson Robinson.

Mark Pope confirms Jaxson Robinson out for the season

In the midst of Kentucky’s struggles, Pope dropped tough news. Jaxson Robinson is done for the season. The guard will undergo wrist surgery on March 5, officially ending his college career. Pope confirmed the timeline, stating Robinson should be back by late May or early June.

Kentucky’s leading scorer had already missed four straight games in February but tried to push through the pain. He played just 12 minutes against Oklahoma before injuring himself again, making it clear that he couldn’t keep going. “He just wanted so badly to play that he rehabbed it and had an injection to try and make it functional,” the head coach explained. “He was doing okay and then went down in the first half at Oklahoma. There’s just no way he’s going to play.”

The former BYU standout had started 23 games, was averaging 13 points per game for Kentucky this season, and was stepping up at the most crucial moments. Last year, he was the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year at BYU under Pope, where he posted 14.2 points per game. It’s a brutal loss, not just for the Wildcats, but for Robinson himself, who didn’t even get to go out on his own terms.

“It’s unfortunate. Super big loss for us as a team, but more importantly, just thinking about him,” said Brea. “He’s an amazing human being, so I hate to see him go down like that.” Andrew Carr echoed that sentiment, saying, “We all try to be there for him, and we know he would kill and die to be out there with us right now. Everybody knows we need to go out there and do it for him if not for anything else.”

We know that Kentucky has battled injuries all season, especially in the backcourt. Kerr Kriisa has been out since December with a foot injury, and Lamont Butler has also missed time with a shoulder issue. And with Robinson now sidelined for good, things aren’t getting any easier.

Up next is a home game against LSU on Tuesday, which is also UK’s Senior Night. The Tigers have struggled this season, currently sitting near the bottom of the SEC standings. But given Kentucky’s injury woes, you never know. 

Let’s see how Mark Pope & Co. responds!