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Kentucky Wildcats: 3 Thoughts on Win against South Carolina

By Courtney Smith

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Great offensive effort from the Wildcats

The Kentucky Wildcats (25-0, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) are now tied with the 1953-54 ‘Cats team for their best start to a single season with a throttling 77-43 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks (12-12, 3-9 SEC) on Saturday afternoon. On the same day, coach John Calipari was nominated to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.

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No. 1 Kentucky started its demolition to South Carolina in the first half and Karl Anthony-Towns started the massacre, scoring the Wildcats’ first six points. Trey Lyles, Andrew Harrison, and Willie Cauley-Stein scored the team’s next set of points. After Devin Booker’s mid-range jumper, Kentucky was up 18-3 with 11:52 left in the first half.

Before the Gamecocks could get to double figures on the scoreboard, the Wildcats keep scoring and couldn’t miss. Aaron Harrison knocked down a 3-pointer then Booker drained his first of two 3-pointers at the 5:41 mark to give Kentucky a 34-9 lead.

In the first half, the Wildcats shot 56.7 percent (17-of-30) from the field and 40 percent (2-of-5) from deep. South Carolina’s defense couldn’t stop Kentucky’s paced offense, which finished the game 27-of-54 from the field. Inside Rupp Arena, the fans rose to their feet every time Cauley-Stein went up for the alley-oop, with a bulk of the assists coming from one of the Harrisons and Tyler Ulis. Late in the second half, Marcus Lee got in on the circus.

The Wildcats kept momentum on their side in the second half and continued to let loose with the alley-oops with Cauley Stein catching one as soon as he got back into game at the 17:15 mark. Cauley-Stein finished with 14 points and seven rebounds.

Aaron Harrison added 11 and Dakari Johnson had 10. Nine different players for Kentucky ended up in the scoring column. It was Thanksgiving for the Wildcats, who are reaching closer and closer to an undefeated season.

Gamecocks continue their writhing shooting performance

South Carolina came into the game shooting a woeful 26.8 percent from the field and continued its unbalanced shooting performance against Kentucky, going 13-for-55. The Gamecocks lacked effort in the second meeting, coming out in the first 10 minutes missing wide open shots. Yes, the shots were wide open with no defender around. In the first meeting, South Carolina gave the fans some sort of excitement, leading 24-23 following a 3-pointer from Sindarius Thornwell, but no excitement took place in Lexington, KY. Coach Frank Martin is now 1-4 against the Wildcats and couldn’t do anything but look on as his team couldn’t put together a decent offensive performance.

The Gamecocks’ 14-for-17 effort from the free throw line was the best they had to show their fan base in attendance.

Sindarius Thornwell and Duane Notice a no show for South Carolina

The two guys who have been depended upon all season long were a no show inside Rupp Arena. Duane Notice finished with six points on 2-of-12 shooting. Thornwell added a game-high 20 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Thornwell mainly got his points from the charity stripe, going 9-for-11. The only way South Carolina was going to make this one interesting was to have its top two leading scorers set the tone early for the blemished offense, which didn’t happen.

Maybe things would have been different if this game was held inside Colonial Life Arena, but road games against quality teams are more impressive, but the Gamecocks didn’t seem to realize that.

Next: 2015 NBA Draft Profile: Karl-Anthony Towns

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