The Auburn Tigers have been showing a new side to their team, just in time for March. Behind the red hot KT Harrell, Auburn looks to score on the Cats much like they did in their first meeting during conference play. 

During the last meeting, Auburn posted the second most points of the season on the Cats in their only meeting during the regular season. On the other hand, UK posted 110 points, the most of any team in SEC all year. 

The Kentucky Wildcats tied the SEC record for most consecutive wins at 32 after its win against Florida on Friday night. Against the Tigers, UK looks to break that record and push the mark to 33-0 on the season. 

In what has been a “march style” SEC tournament with upsets abound, the 13th seed Auburn has already won three games in three days to put them in the Semi-finals against #1 Kentucky. They are looking to play the part of the upset bid on Saturday by handing the Wildcats their first loss of the season. 

Coach Bruce Pearl said, “The first game was for the fans, the second game was for the players, and the third game was for the program.” We have yet to find out what the fourth game will be dedicated to, but we do know that in a great phycological move, Pearl and his players packed enough clothes to be in Nashville through the championship game. That belief has been what has led them to three straight upsets. 

The Tigers (15-19) have surprised everyone after a six-game skid to finish the regular season. 

Kentucky beat Florida in a 64-49 quarterfinal match on Friday night to avenge the three-game sweep of the Cats in last year's season by sweeping the Gators in three games this year. 

If Kentucky is going to continue its winning ways, it is going to have to find a way to stop Harrell. Harrell scored 15 consecutive points against the LSU Tigers, including a last-second three-pointer to force overtime. He is averaging over 20 points per game over the SEC tournament and proving that he is an elite scorer than can be a game-changer. 

“We knew how good we are even though our record didn’t show it,” Harrell said. “We just knew we had to pick it up defensively. That’s what the problem was all season. And we're just proud of everybody and starving together and staying focused on what we have to do to try to win games. And we're just happy to be moving on.”

The Tigers may be playing their best basketball of the year, but let us not forget whom they will be facing on Saturday. Kentucky shot 64.7 percent in their first meeting, proving that their size and talent could be too much for Tigers to hang with over 40 minutes. 

In their first meeting of the year, six wildcats finished in double figures, including 19 by Karl Anthony-Towns. 

“The reality of it is, we didn’t play with as much energy as Florida played with to start the game,” coach John Calipari said. “I told them at halftime, if that's what we have in store, like that's how were going to do this, were going to have some problems.”

Shooting a very cold 37.5% percent from the field against the Gators, Kentucky showed that it can win despite shooting problems. However, to be successful in the long run and try to cut down the nets in the NCAA tournament, the key will be UK’s energy and its ability to stay focused in each and every game. 

Auburn hasn’t beat Kentucky since Jan. 11, 2000; they will try to change that on Saturday. 

The winner will play the winner of #2 seed Arkansas and #3 Georgia on Sunday for the SEC championship.