Scouting the Gamecocks

Kentucky players huddle up as head coach John Calipari walks back to the bench during the game against Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky. Kentucky won with a final score of 71-63. Photo by Jordan Prather | Staff

Madison Dennis

The Kentucky Wildcats are set to face the South Carolina Gamecocks on Tuesday evening. Kentucky leads the all-time series, 51-12.

Head Coach: Frank Martin (7th season at South Carolina)

Record: 11-10 overall, 6-2 in SEC

Likely Starters:

#4 Tre Campbell: Graduate Student, 6-0. 6.1 PPG and 1.9 AST.

#00 A.J. Lawson: Freshman Guard, 6-6. 13.2 PPG and 4.3 RBS.

#24 Keyshawn Bryant: Freshman Forward, 6-6. 9.1 PPG and 3.6 RBS.

#21 Maik Kotsar: Junior Forward, 6-11. 8.4 PPG and 5.2 RBS.

#30 Chris Silva: Senior Forward, 6-9. 14.1 PPG and 7.0 RBS

South Carolina Threats:

Standout senior Chris Silva has two or more blocks in 12 games this season. He leads the team with a 65.1 field goal percentage, and he became the first Gamecock ever to have 500 career free throws and 700 career rebounds in South Carolina history.

“He presents a major challenge for us. He’s very physical, gets fouled a ton, has a great sense you know of number one creating fouls, drawing fouls,” assistant coach Joel Justus said on Monday.

“I think whenever you’re playing a team South Carolina, you’ve got to be prepared for the physicality and their playing fast on offense, they make you work before you get the ball on offense,” Justus said.

On Paper

Kentucky

Category

South Carolina

79.2

Scoring Average

75.2

65.9

Opponent Scoring Average

74.0

+13.3

Scoring Margin

+1.2

.481

Field Goal Percentage

.432

.407

Opponent Field Goal Percentage

.421

.752

3-Point Field Goal Percentage

.328

.688

Opponent 3-Point Field Goal Percentage

.354

6.2

3-Point Field Goals Made PG

6.9

17.3

3-Point Field Goal Attempts PG

20.9

.752

Free Throw Percentage

.708

.688

Opponent Free Throw Percentage

.737

38.7

Rebounding Average

36.8

29.4

Opponent Rebound Average

36.2

+9.3

Rebounding Margin

+0.6

13.2

Turnovers Average

13.9

14.5

Opponent Turnover Average

15.3

14.4

Assists Average

12.8

5.3

Blocks Average

4.7

6.7

Steals Average

6.1

The Wildcats and Gamecocks will square off Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Rupp Arena. The game will be broadcast on SEC network.