LEXINGTON, Ky. -- For all the success that Kentucky has found against highly ranked opponents this season, the Wildcats learned on Saturday that the Auburn Tigers may be a different animal.

Despite getting only nine points from national player of the year candidate Johni Broome, No. 1 Auburn was never truly challenged by No. 17 Kentucky in a dominant 94-78 win at Rupp Arena.

Senior guard Miles Kelly took up the slack for Broome's rare "off game," pumping in 30 points on a 9-for-14 shooting day from the 3-point arc.

"I just came out feeling it," Kelly said. "... The Rupp rims, I love them. They felt good, and every time I shot the ball, I thought it was going in, and my teammates did a great job finding it.”

Kelly was far from a one-man show. The Tigers also got 22 points from senior wing Chad Baker-Mazara and 21 points from freshman guard Tahaad Pettiford. The Tigers shot 52% from the field and knocked down 12 of 26 shots from the arc.

"There have been times I’ve brought really good teams in here, and we have gotten spanked," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "... So, I wanted to bring a team in, and I wanted to play good basketball."

Mission accomplished.

Auburn (27-2, 15-1 SEC) won for only the third time in 54 trips to Lexington, broke a 20-game losing skid at Rupp Arena dating back to 1988, and made it even more memorable by clinching a share of the league's regular-season championship.

"Auburn played great basketball tonight," Kentucky head coach Mark Pope said. "They've been playing great basketball all season long. Bruce has done an unbelievable job, not just assembling, but growing and fitting together the pieces on their team. So, congratulations to them.

"We are pretty disappointed with our performance."

Kentucky (19-10, 8-8 SEC) never found its rhythm against the Tigers' long and athletic defense. The Cats trailed 49-34 at halftime and never got closer than 14 points in the final 10 minutes of play.

The Cats committed a season-high 18 turnovers and had a season-worst 4-for-17 shooting day from the 3-point line.

While the Auburn guards had an incredible shooting performance, UK's largely struggled. Coming off his 28-point effort on Wednesday night against Oklahoma, Otega Oweh managed just four points and got only three shots up against the Tigers. Lamont Butler scored 15 points, but those came on a 4-for-13 shooting day.

Koby Brea led the Cats with 21 points, while Andrew Carr added 20. Amari Williams chipped in with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 14 rebounds to go along with seven assists.

Kentucky played without grad senior wing Jaxson Robinson, who will have surgery on Wednesday to repair damaged ligaments in his right wrist, ending his season and career with the Cats.

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In this "Rapid Recap" feature, we touch on some quick-hitters from the UK loss...

KEY MOMENT:

Kentucky never looked like it was prepared to compete on this day. The Wildcats' body language was lacking from the opening tip, and Auburn led for all but 19 seconds of play. UK found itself down 10 after only 5:21.

GAME BALL:

Miles Kelly, Auburn - The senior guard hasn't gotten as much attention as some of his teammates this season, but he showed why he is as dangerous as anyone in an Auburn uniform, going 9-of-14 from the 3-point arc en route to a 30-point effort.

BY THE NUMBERS:

3rd - Time in program history that the Wildcats have had two players score 20-plus points in the same game (Koby Brea, Andrew Carr) against an AP No. 1 team. The other two were Jamal Mashburn and Sean Woods vs Duke in 1992 and Cliff Hagan and Bobby Watson vs St. John's in 1951.

8-17 - Kentucky's all-time record against AP No. 1 teams.

18 - Season-high for turnovers by the Wildcats, leading to 21 points for Auburn.

29-5 - Auburn advantage in bench scoring.

38-23 - UK rebounding advantage. It marked only the fourth time the Cats have lost this season while winning the battle on the glass.

1988 - The last year that Auburn won a game at Rupp Arena. The Tigers had lost 20 straight games in Lexington.

QUOTABLE:

"Taking the 3 ball away from Kentucky is important. Coach Pope runs the best five-out anywhere in college basketball and we run some five-out, too. And because we ran some, we know how to defend it, and we did a great job defending it." -- Auburn head coach Bruce pearl

UP NEXT:

Kentucky returns to action on Tuesday at Rupp Arena against LSU on Senior Night. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2. The Tigers (14-14, 3-12 SEC) are playing today at Mississippi State.