Auburn gymnastics coach Jeff Thompson came away a bit puzzled, but certainly optimistic after Friday’s rout of Kentucky.

The Tigers’ score of 196.475 was just one-tenth shy of their season-best and it was more than plenty to top Kentucky’s 192.55, but there were definite areas that could have been better, Thompson said.

“I felt like our performance was really good, but it wasn’t great,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t within a tenth of our best performance, but the girls are excited to come out and be off by just a little bit and know that we have that much room for improvement.”

Still, Thompson, in his 10th year at Auburn, realized that not long ago Auburn labored through seasons similar to what Kentucky (2-6, 0-6 SEC) has gone through this year.

The Tigers have come a long way, but have plenty of improving to do before the March 21 SEC Championships.

“Two years ago, we would have killed for a 196,” Thompson said. “Now we’re like ‘Well, we weren’t that great.’”

Rest assured, the post-meet celebration won’t last long.

Auburn travels to Alabama next week in hopes of avenging its 25 thousandths-of-a-point loss early in the season and snapping its 95-meet losing streak to the Crimson Tide.

“Every meet that we’ve had, we’ve always found something to critique, always found something that we can make better for the next meet,” senior Lindsey Puckett said. “I know that we’re a 197 team if we get our heads on straight.”

After Auburn opened the meet on vault, it appeared it would be flirting with that magical number the rest of the meet.

Puckett matched a career-best 9.95 — second-best in team history — to lead the Tigers to a season-best 49.275.

The tally put the Tigers more than two points in front, as the Wildcats fell six times on the uneven bars. The falls, some of which were awkward face-plants and all of which induced groans from the 2,810 in attendance, may have gotten in the Tigers’ heads just a little bit, Thompson said.

“We knew it was going to be one of two teams that showed up,” Thompson said. “Unfortunately for Kentucky, it was the one that fell that showed up.”

Krissy Voss had the only Auburn fall of the night (beam), but the Tigers didn’t come close to matching season-bests in the rest of Friday’s events.

Auburn hit its third-lowest score of the season on the uneven bars with a 48.925 and followed with a 49.075 on the beam.

The Tigers finished the meet with its now-routine 49.2 on the floor exercise, as Puckett matched a career-best, which she set last week, with a 9.925 to close out the meet.

Auburn has yet to hit 49-plus on all four events at the same meet this season.

“When we went on floor, the girls just kind of kicked it on cruise and made sure they stayed on their feet,” Thompson said. “I guess the bright spot is that there is so much room for improvement with Alabama next week and SECs in three weeks.

“This is a team that can achieve things that have never happened.”

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