No. 1 Kentucky routs Auburn en route to SEC championship game

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Auburn took this David versus Goliath thing a little too seriously Saturday. The Tigers, already heavy underdogs, trotted out a tiny lineup against towering and top-ranked Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference semifinals. Trouble was, they forgot to bring the slingshot.

The giants of college basketball stomped on, into Sunday's championship game, with a 91-67 win over undersized and outmanned Auburn. The Wildcats' 33rd victory in as many tries this season was a mismatch even before 6-foot-7 Cinmeon Bowers and 6-8 Jordon Granger, both starters for the Tigers, were suspended Saturday.

Without them, Auburn (15-20) went stunningly small: 6 feet, 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 and 6-5 in the starting lineup, compared to Kentucky, the tallest team in America: 6-6, 6-6, 6-10, 6-11 and 7 feet. That's a minimum five-inch advantage at every position and a collective 32 inches of uh-oh.

Walk-on Devin Waddell, who'd scored 14 points all season, served as the Tigers' center. The outcome was predictable. The Cats raced out to a 15-4 lead and were already up 20 with 7:15 to go in the first half. That lead grew as large as 28 in the second.

Sophomore point guard Andrew Harrison led the charge early, scoring 12 of his 15 points before the break, and junior 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein feasted on his diminutive opponents down the stretch. He had 18 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and two assists.

Five players scored in double figures for Kentucky: Harrison and his twin, shooting guard Aaron (12), Cauley-Stein, freshman small forward Trey Lyles (12) and rookie guard Devin Booker (12). The Cats shot 56.3 percent, including 7 of 14 from 3-point range, and held Auburn to 33.3 percent.

* Cauley-Stein shakes off a slump. The veteran big man said, after hitting just 2 of 9 shots in Friday's quarterfinal, that coaches have told him his offense has to be a threat if Kentucky is to make a deep postseason run. He took that to heart, clearly.

Defying his size, Cauley-Stein swished mid-range jump shots, drained turn-around jump hooks and, not so unusually, threw down rim-rattling slams that ignited the crowd. He had an offensive rebound and bucket, then thunderous dunk off a lob – through a foul – that all but ended it Saturday.

He stared down his man, then sank the free throw for a 71-44 lead with 10:27 to go. Cauley-Stein made 7 of 9 shots against the Tigers.

Kyle Tucker writes for The Courier-Journal, a Gannett paper.