AUBURN, AL — With just under seven minutes remaining Saturday night, it finally happened: Two makes at the free-throw line from forward Mouhamed Dioubate gave Kentucky basketball's bench eight points.
And with that, the Wildcats' reserves had more points (eight) than personal fouls (six).
Auburn's bench wasn't dominant in that department; its group finished with 14 points.
But UK's lack of pop from its non-starters was costly for the second time in as many games, as AU rallied from a halftime deficit to earn a 75-74 victory at Neville Arena.
It made unwanted history for Kentucky (17-10, 8-6 SEC) and coach Mark Pope: Saturday marked the team's third straight loss. It's the first time under Pope, in his second season at his alma mater, that the program has dropped three consecutive contests.
On the other side of the coin, Auburn (15-12, 6-8) snapped a five-game losing streak under first-year coach Steven Pearl.
In UK's most recent game before Saturday — an 86-78 setback to Georgia at Rupp Arena earlier this week — its reserves had been similarly underwhelming. UGA's bench outscored its counterparts by 21 points (29-8).
After that loss, Pope stressed the need to turn to his backups more often, specifically stressing the need for starting senior guards Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen to have a breather from time to time.
For now, Pope has to grapple with a double-edged sword: Giving Oweh, Aberdeen and the rest of the starting five a breather each game is crucial ... but the lineup gives way to a quartet (Dioubate and fellow forwards Brandon Garrison and Trent Noah along with guard Jasper Johnson) that simply isn't providing much in the way of production.
Which Saturday's result reinforced in the most painful way for Pope.
Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky basketball vs Auburn score, UK Wildcats lose in last secodn