No. 14 Kentucky men’s basketball picked up an at-times sloppy bounce-back win over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon, winning 80-57.
While the loss dropped Carolina to 0-10 in the SEC, the win was still significant for UK as it snapped a two-game losing streak, four of the last five, and saw the return of starting point guard Lamont Butler.
Having a prime “get-right” game on their home floor, the Cats marched out a starting lineup of Jaxson Robinson, who had been a game-time decision, Butler, who returned for the first time since Jan. 25, Otega Oweh, Amari Williams and Ansley Almonor. Andrew Carr remained outside of the starting lineup.
Despite the return of Butler and the health of Robinson, the Cats got off to an abysmal start to the night, shooting just 1-11 from the field after nearly five minutes of play. Luckily for Mark Pope’s Cats, the Gamecocks were equally uninterested in playing good basketball, relying on a goaltend called against Oweh to lead, no joke, 4-2.
With Pope’s additions of Brandon Garrison, Carr, Trent Noah and Koby Brea into the game, Kentucky continued to struggle but slowly found a groove, taking the lead for the first and final time just before the under-12 media timeout with the score at 13-11.
Back-to-back three balls would see South Carolina Head Coach Lamont Paris call a timeout just minutes later with the score at 19-11.
As the Cats truly found their scoring groove in the first half, South Carolina found, the hard way, why it was 0-9 in SEC play going into the contest.
With the Wildcats erupting for a 12-1 run to close the first half, the score stood at 33-19 Cats. A 14-point gap.
The 19 points scored by the Gamecocks marked the lowest figure the Cats have held an opponent to in any half this season, only standing nine points more than the Gonzaga Bulldogs did in overtime in Seattle. College basketball overtime is five minutes, a regulation half is 20.
That’s not to say the Cats set the world on fire. While 33 points doesn’t crack the top three lowest scoring figures for UK in a half — the Wildcats have scored exactly 30 thrice and a season-low 27 in half one at Vanderbilt — it was a far cry from the offensive excellence the team had shown prior.
Returning to the floor for the second half, Kentucky started okay before allowing a 6-0 Gamecock run that forced a premature timeout.
With Kentucky legend and former Kentucky Colonel Jimmy Day Conner coming out to be the “Y” in the Kentucky spell-out, an unlikely hero emerged for the Cats as it was Garrison who became the first to crack double digits and lead the squad with 15 points three-quarters through the contest. Garrison even nailed an uncommon 3-pointer.
UK continued to handle its business, not truly pulling away, but suppressing the Gamecocks, regaining the 14-point advantage with just under eight minutes remaining.
From there, the Wildcats found their ability to pull away, extending the lead to 20 and getting it as high as 23 before another Gamecock timeout.
In the end, UK was able to coast to an easy victory over the worst team in the conference with one of the best looming on Tuesday. Even Travis Perry and Collin Chandler joined the fun late in the contest.
With the victory, Kentucky will return to action on Tuesday, Feb. 11, at 7 p.m. ET in a rematch against the No. 4 Tennessee Volunteers. Tipoff against the Vols is scheduled to air live on ESPN.
