No. 2 Auburn boosted its campaign to be ranked No. 1 in the next AP Top 25 with an 80-71 win over No. 12 Kentucky in front of a rowdy sold-out “Jungle” crowd at Auburn Arena. Bruce Pearl’s Tigers trailed 33-29 at the half but outscored the Wildcats 51-38 in the second period.

Auburn had 4 players in double digits: Walker Kessler (19 points), KD Johnson (17 points), Jabari Smith (14 points) and Wendell Green Jr. (11 points). Smith also led the Tigers in rebounds with 17. Kellan Grady and Sahvir Wheeler each had 17 points for Kentucky. Oscar Tshiebwe had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.

Auburn had the better shooting percentage from the floor (57-to-50) and shot nearly 3 times as many free throws as Kentucky (29-to-10). The Tigers took advantage of all those trips to the foul line, making 83 percent (24). Auburn turned the ball over 8 times in the first half, but reduced that to just 4 TOs in the second period.

An injury to Kentucky guard TyTy Washington loomed large. It was 25-16 Kentucky at the 8:21 mark of the first half when Washington injured his left ankle after landing on a teammate’s foot. Washington was limited to just 9 minutes in the first half. At halftime, UK announced Washington would not return in the second half.

The Tigers opened the second half strong, with a Johnson layup tying it up 38-38 at the 16:11 mark. Auburn took a 41-40 lead at the 14:50 mark on a Smith free throw. It was AU’s first lead since 7-6 in the early going.

Auburn Arena exploded when a Devan Cambridge dunk made it 45-40 Tigers with 13:58 remaining.

At the 11:28 mark, Wheeler hit the floor after colliding with Kessler, who was setting a screen. He went to the bench after a media timeout and then was walked to the locker room.

Auburn advanced its lead to 10 points (58-48) by the time Wheeler returned with 8:41 remaining. The Tigers opened up a 12-point lead, their largest of the game, at 6:07, going up 64-52. Kentucky battled back, getting it down to 68-64 with 3:20 remaining.

Wheeler had a second hard collision with Kessler late in the second half. Despite the collisions, he manged to play 36 minutes on Saturday.