Auburn men’s basketball broke a 37-year drought Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers beat Kentucky 94-78, taking down the Wildcats in Rupp Arena for the first time since 1988. The win also clinched at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season title for Auburn.

Auburn started hot and never looked back, hardly looking tested by the 17th-ranked Wildcats.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s SEC-clinching win:

Miles Kelly gets things started

It’s not uncommon for Bruce Pearl and Mike Burgomaster to draw up a 3-point look for Miles Kelly on the first possession of the game.

Kelly is a safe bet to knock one down when he’s wide open in the corner and it never hurts to start the game with a quick 3-point advantage.

Against Kentucky, Kelly got the call on the opening possession again, draining a shot from the corner to give Auburn points in the opening seconds. This time, the early make led to a first-half 3-point barrage sustained the Tigers advantage for most of the afternoon.

Kelly had 17 points in the first half, making five 3s, including five of his first six attempts from beyond the arc. It helped Auburn create a comfortable edge early, eventually leading 49-34 going into halftime.

He finished the game with 30 points, a new season high and six points off his career high that he set at Georgia Tech.

Did it without the star

Johni Broome had one of his worst games of the season against Kentucky.

He finished with nine points on 3-for-9 shooting, and didn’t score his first point until the 2:41 mark of the first half. Broome was never able to establish a rhythm, but it almost didn’t matter.

Auburn still won the game by 16, and it was the backcourt that stepped up for the Tigers. Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara and Tahaad Pettiford scored 44 of Auburn’s 49 points in the first half and the trio finished the game with a combined 73 points.

Kelly led the charge with 30, a season-high, but Pettiford and Baker-Mazara finished with 21 and 22 respectively.

The magnum opus

Auburn’s SEC-clinching win over Kentucky was a performance fitting of the Tigers’ dominant run through the SEC this season.

The Tigers flexed their muscles for a second-straight game, looking similar to the team that beat Ole Miss by 30 points Wednesday night. Auburn’s depth once again shined, as the Tigers got production from everywhere and never looked out of control.

The game started fast for Auburn, a trend in many of the Tigers’ blowout wins this season. Even on a night where Broome, Auburn’s biggest star, wasn’t clicking, the Tigers never seemed to miss a beat.

Kelly, Baker-Mazara and Pettiford were the main stars, and helped Auburn shoot a red hot 46.2% from 3-point range.

Championships are won in March, and the Tigers put together a championship-level performance on the month’s first day to clinch at least a share of the SEC.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m