AUBURN — The tents have been pitched.

It's not the Iron Bowl, and Auburn basketball's matchup with Kentucky on Saturday (5 p.m. CT, ESPN) isn't for the SEC title. But a home contest against the Wildcats will always be a draw on the Plains, especially with Bruce Pearl and John Calipari captaining their respective sides.

Students began lining up for the Auburn-Kentucky bout before the Tigers were even done laying a 40-point smackdown on South Carolina on Wednesday. That's more than 65 hours of holding a spot in line to get in for not only the game, but also the taping of ESPN's "College GameDay" live from Neville Arena.

Auburn (20-5, 9-3 SEC), which is a half game behind Alabama in the conference standings, will look to remain the only team in the SEC with a perfect record at home.

Here's a scouting report on the Wildcats (17-7, 7-4), as well as a prediction for how this one will play out:

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The challenge Kentucky's Antonio Reeves presents Auburn basketball

The SEC's fourth leading scorer at 19.4 points per game, fifth-year wing Antonio Reeves is one of the conference's best and most experienced players. The Wildcats haven't had the type of team success for Reeves to be in the upper echelon on the SEC Player of the Year race — Alabama's Mark Sears, Auburn's Johni Broome and Tennessee's Dalton Knecht appear to be the favorites — but he's still one of the conference's most skilled scorers.

Reeves has a true shooting percentage of 63.3% this season, which is in the 95th percentile nationally and ranks No. 6 in the SEC amongst players 6-foot-7 or shorter, per College Basketball Analytics. His teammate — freshman guard Reed Sheppard — is one of the five players above him with a true shooting mark of 69.7%.

Sheppard has connected on 51.9% of his 3-pointers this season, and he's putting up 4.3 attempts per game.

Change of pace

Auburn had to deal with South Carolina's conference-low pace Wednesday. It'll be a hard 180-degree turn against Kentucky, as the Wildcats have the highest pace in the SEC at 72.2. That's No. 13 nationally.

Kentucky scores 18.2% of its points on fast-break opportunities, which leads the SEC. Many of those transition looks have the chance to come off of blocks, with the Wildcats having the No. 2 block percentage in the country at 16.6%. Opponents, on average, aren't able to get seven consecutive shots up before Kentucky is able to send one back.

Marksmen from the left side

The Wildcats are shooting 46% on shot attempts that come from the left corner, the left wing, the left baseline or the left elbow. They're hitting at a 38.2% rate from those spots on the right side of the floor.

In terms of 3-point shooting, however, Kentucky is most dangerous from either wing. The Wildcats have seen 46.9% of their looks go down from those zones in conference play.

Auburn basketball vs. Kentucky: Score prediction

Auburn 86, Kentucky 82: The Tigers earn a victory, but it's the first one of the season by single digits. Beating Auburn would be huge for the Wildcats, but the Tigers have the benefit of playing in Neville Arena. They seem to be a different team when playing at home, and that team has looked nearly unbeatable.

Richard Silva is the Auburn athletics beat writer for the Montgomery Advertiser. He can be reached via email at rsilva@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rich_silva18.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Auburn basketball vs. Kentucky: Scouting report for SEC bout