Kentucky men’s basketball (18-10, 8-6 SEC) beat the South Carolina Gamecocks (12-16, 3-12 SEC) 72-63 on Tuesday night inside of Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.

The Cats entered “The Palmetto State” on a three-game losing streak, most recently falling at Auburn on Feb. 21, while the Gamecocks looked to defend their home-court following a most-recent 97-89 win over Mississippi State on Feb. 21. 

Despite its recent win, South Carolina was still struggling, losing seven games in a row before knocking off the Bulldogs.

Head coach Mark Pope rolled out his usual starting lineup, one that has clicked the most out of all his tried combinations: Otega Oweh, Denzel Aberdeen, Andrija Jelavic, Collin Chandler and Malachi Moreno. 

On South Carolina’s first trip down, Meechie Johnson opened the scoring with a deep 3-point field goal while Oweh turned the ball over on Kentucky’s first offensive attempt. 

Chandler got the scoring started for UK on its second offensive attempt, draining a 3-point field goal, his only one of the half, leveling the score at three early on. 

Through the first three minutes, UK was trailing 9-3, allowing the Gamecocks to hit two more deep balls after Johnson’s opening bucket. 

At the 10-minute mark, UK was trailing 15-11, shooting 6-18 (33.3%) from the field, 1-8 (12.5%) from deep, while also surrendering four turnovers.

However, not long after, Kentucky mounted a 10-0 run over 2:50.

During that stretch, Aberdeen nailed back-to-back triples while Oweh and Mo Dioubate each contributed a made bucket as well. 

UK held South Carolina to just two points over 7:01 and forced it to shoot a grim 6-25 (24%) from the field with 2:05 still remaining in the first half. 

At the break, Kentucky led 28-21, shooting 11-31 (35.5%) from the field and 4-16 (25%) from deep, while winning the rebound battle 26-15 and the assist battle 7-4. 

Aberdeen led UK in first-half points with 11, totaling four rebounds and two assists, while Moreno led the first-half with seven rebounds. 

South Carolina started the final 20 minutes with three made buckets, knotting the game at 28-28 before Jelavic got UK its first second-half bucket with a made 3-pointer. 

At the first media timeout of the second half, Kentucky led 36-32 while Jelavic, at the time, had the most second-half points in the game with five. 

Aberdeen was up to a game-high 14 points at that point as well. 

With 11:56 to go, South Carolina was able to tie up the game again, pushing the score to 41-41 following a made triple from Kobe Knox.

Shortly after, on UK’s following attempt, Dioubate made a layup through contact and got the foul call, pushing Kentucky’s lead to 44-41.

With just under 10 minutes to go, UK led 48-43 after Moreno threw down a slam on Oweh’s missed layup.

However, the Gamecocks’ Elijah Strong responded with a made layup through contact, where he sank the free-throw as well.

South Carolina tied the game 48-48 with 8:28 remaining.

With five minutes remaining in the game, Kentucky held a 55-50 lead, while Dioubate led all UK scorers in second-half points with six. 

The Cats were able to extend their lead to 7 points, holding a 59-52 advantage with 3:30 left to play, but the Gamecocks punched back and clawed within 2 points, trailing 59-57 with 2:31 remaining. 

Kentucky went on a 10-0 run and drew its lead out to 10 points with less than a minute to go, opening up the score to a point where the Gamecocks couldn’t fight back.

Aberdeen finished with a game-high 19 points while Dioubate (12), Jelavic (11) and Chandler (10) were the only other scorers to finish in double-digits.

Dioubate’s 12 points was the first time since UK’s 78-74 win at No. 24 Tennessee on Jan. 17 that he reached double-digits. 

Kentucky will return to action this Saturday, Feb. 28, hosting No. 25 Vanderbilt (21-6, 8-6 SEC). Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. EST and will air live on ESPN.