Know Your Opponents: Midwest Regional

By Bobby Hundley

Auburn (AuburnTigers.com)
Location: Auburn, Ala.
Rankings: No. 13 KenPom, No. 14 AP
Record: 28-9, 11-7 SEC
Bid: Automatic (Defeated Tennessee 84-64 in SEC final)
Path to Kansas City: Beat New Mexico State 78-77, beat Kansas 89-75 (Salt Lake City, Utah)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 3-0 (UNC 62, Auburn 56, March 22, 1985, Birmingham, Ala.)

Auburn enters Friday night's regional semifinal on a 10-game winning streak, tied with Pac-12 champ Oregon for the longest among the 16 teams still alive in the tournament. The Tigers capped a four-game run to close the regular season with a home win over Tennessee then won four games in four days at the SEC tournament in Nashville, capping that run with a blowout victory over the Vols.

After earning a No. 5 seed in the Midwest Region, Bruce Pearl's team held off a game New Mexico State comeback in the first round before routing Kansas two days later. The Kansas game in particular was a perfect example of what Auburn is capable of - led by senior star Bryce Brown, the Tigers made 13 3s and averaged a robust 1.27 points per possession. Brown himself was responsible for seven of those triples, upping his season total to a whopping 127 on 311 attempts (40.8 percent).

Brown and backcourt mate Jared Harper (37.9 3FG% on 243 attempts) both have the ability and the permission to shoot from pretty much anywhere on the floor at anytime. The Tigers' willingness to shoot 3s early in the shot clock goes a long way toward their average possession length of 16.5 seconds, which is shorter than every team in the field but Carolina, Gonzaga and Duke. Auburn is also comfortably the Sweet 16 team that takes the highest percentage of its shots from deep (49.7 percent, eighth-highest overall nationally).

Junior Samir Doughty and sophomore Chuma Okeke lead the Tigers in defensive steal percentage, but the whole team has a nose for the ball. Auburn leads the country in opponent turnover percentage and steal rate and is fifth nationally in block percentage. Those takeaways are crucial, as AU is dead last among the remaining field in keeping its opponents off the offensive glass.

Kentucky (UKAthletics.com)
Location: Lexington, Ky.
Rankings: No. 7 KenPom, No. 7 AP
Record: 29-6, 15-3 SEC
Bid: At-large (Lost to Tennessee 82-78 in SEC semifinal)
Path to Kansas City: Beat Abilene Christian 79-44, beat Wofford 62-56 (Jacksonville, Fla.)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 24-16 (UK 80, UNC 72, Dec. 22, 2018, United Center)

Kentucky, on the other hand, takes a smaller percentage of its shots from beyond 20 feet, nine inches, than any other team still hoping to get to Minneapolis. Freshman Tyler Herro has attempted a team-high 161 3s, and classmate Keldon Johnson is the only other Wildcat to top 100 attempts. Sophomore forward P.J. Washington is actually John Calipari's best outside shooter, though he has only attempted 74 on the year (making 31) and his status is still up in the air for the weekend after suffering a foot sprain in the SEC tournament loss to Tennessee.

With Washington unavailable during the first week, Johnson and grad transfer Reid Travis have picked up the slack for Kentucky. Travis has been especially important considering Washington's rebounding prowess, and the former Stanford player averaged a double-double (16.0 points, 10.0 rebounds) in wins over Abilene Christian and Wofford.

The defensive woes that plagued UK early in the year are a distant memory - the Wildcats rank eighth nationally in KenPom's adjusted defensive efficiency and are seventh in preventing opponents from making 2-point shots. With Washington out, 6-10 freshman E.J. Montgomery and 6-11 sophomore Nick Richards are Kentucky's only true bigs, resulting in some small lineups with 6-8 Travis leading the front line.

In the backcourt, freshman point guard Ashton Hagans has been a steadying influence, starting every game since December. While being the team's best distributor, Hagans is also plenty capable of getting to the rim and to the foul line. Johnson, who has started all but one game this year for the Wildcats, had a game-high 21 points before fouling out in UK's 80-72 win over Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic prior to Christmas.

Houston (UHCougars.com)
Location: Houston, Texas
Rankings: No. 12 KenPom, No. 11 AP
Record: 33-3, 16-2 American
Bid: At-large (Lost to Cincinnati 69-57 in AAC final)
Path to Kansas City: Beat Georgia State 84-55, beat Ohio State 74-59 (Tulsa, Okla.)
Carolina Series History (Last Meeting): Carolina leads 5-1 (UNC 84, UH 76, Dec. 13, 1992, Smith Center)

Houston has largely flown under the radar this season despite winning 33 games and owning the nation's best effective shooting defense, but that could quickly change if the Cougars can make some noise in their first Sweet 16 appearance since 1984. Kelvin Sampson, who is in his fifth season at UH, has turned the program back into a consistent winner and moved it to the top of the AAC.

The Cougars are one of the deepest teams left in the tournament, and 10 players average at least 10 minutes per game. That said, the offense largely revolves around a pair of upperclassmen - senior Corey Davis and junior Armoni Brooks. Both are nearing 300 3-point attempts for the year and both make better than 38 percent from beyond the arc. And despite being just 6-3, Brooks is also the team's leading rebounder.

UH ultimately wins with balanced defense. Unlike Auburn, however, the Cougars aren't particularly prolific in terms of forcing turnovers, and they don't keep teams off the foul line like Kentucky. For Houston, it's about contesting shots all over the court and keeping teams off the offensive glass.

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