{"id":183640,"date":"2023-01-11T14:06:12","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T14:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kentucky-basketball-hits-new-low-with-loss-to-south-carolina\/"},"modified":"2023-01-11T14:06:12","modified_gmt":"2023-01-11T14:06:12","slug":"kentucky-basketball-hits-new-low-with-loss-to-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kentucky-basketball-hits-new-low-with-loss-to-south-carolina\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky basketball hits new low with loss to South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Game day: South Carolina 71, Kentucky 68<\/h3>\n

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Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and South Carolina in Rupp Arena.\n <\/p>\n

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A game that was expected to serve as a confidence-booster for a reeling Kentucky basketball team coming off its worst loss of the season instead took a turn toward the unthinkable. <\/p>\n

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South Carolina defeated UK 71-68 on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena, an unfathomable result for a Wildcats team that walked onto their home court as 19.5-point favorites.<\/p>\n

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The visitors controlled the entire game.<\/p>\n

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The Gamecocks jumped out to a 21-6 lead in the early going of the first half and led Kentucky by 10 points \u2014 a 42-32 score \u2014 at halftime. <\/p>\n

South Carolina, it must be noted, is the Southeastern Conference’s lowest-ranked team and one of the worst power-conference squads in all of college basketball.<\/p>\n

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Coming into Tuesday night’s game, the Gamecocks were No. 214 nationally in the KenPom ratings, No. 263 nationally in the NCAA’s NET rankings, and No. 272 nationally in the Torvik ratings. Their offense is considered to be weaker than their defense \u2014 which is not considered to be strong, by any means \u2014 yet South Carolina was able to shoot 56.7 percent against the Cats in the first half, 48.2 percent for the game.<\/p>\n

The Gamecocks were averaging 64.3 points per game and shooting 39.6 percent from the floor before Tuesday night. Three days before coming to Lexington, they lost a home game to Tennessee 85-42. Against Kentucky’s defense, they had matched their point total for that entire game by halftime.<\/p>\n

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\"SouthCarolinaUK.jpg\" <\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>
South Carolina’s GG Jackson celebrates after making a three-pointer against Kentucky on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. Silas Walker swalker@herald-leader.com<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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Kentucky, which has a 1-5 record in games away from Rupp Arena, plays at No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon, by the way. The Wildcats’ last road trip \u2014 Saturday in Tuscaloosa \u2014 ended in a 78-52 loss to Alabama, the third-widest losing margin during John Calipari’s 14-year tenure.<\/p>\n

South Carolina junior guard Meechie Johnson finished with 26 points Tuesday night, scoring 16 of those and going 4-for-5 from three-point range in the first half. Johnson came into the game averaging 12.2 points per game and shooting 30.7 percent from deep.<\/p>\n

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Oscar Tshiebwe led Kentucky with 19 points and 12 rebounds. But there weren’t many positive takeaways for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

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When South Carolina jumped out to a 13-2 lead less than five minutes into the game, Calipari called timeout. There was a smattering of boos from the Rupp Arena crowd. When the final horn sounded to signal the end of the first half, there was another round.<\/p>\n

One fan in Rupp held up a sign that said \u201cPlease Go To Texas,\u201d a reference to the Longhorns’ head coaching vacancy and the speculation that Calipari might be a top candidate to fill it.<\/p>\n

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Freshman star Cason Wallace left the Wildcats bench at one point during the first half. UK announced at halftime that he was questionable to return with a lower back injury. He wasn’t seen again.<\/p>\n

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Junior forward Jacob Toppin sat out Tuesday’ game with a shoulder injury in the second half of the loss to Alabama over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Adou Thiero and Ugonna Onyenso did not play at all.<\/p>\n

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CJ Fredrick did make his return for UK \u2014 after missing three games with a finger injury \u2014 and finished with 14 points. His three-pointer with 51 seconds left cut South Carolina’s lead to 69-68, but that’s as close as the Cats would get.<\/p>\n

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Kentucky fell to 10-6 on the season and now has a 1-3 record in the Southeastern Conference. <\/p>\n

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The Wildcats had won 28 consecutive games in Rupp Arena going into Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

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This story was originally published January 10, 2023 9:01 PM.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\n Ben Roberts is the University of Kentucky men’s basketball beat writer for the Lexington Herald-Leader. He has previously specialized in UK basketball recruiting coverage and created and maintained the Next Cats blog. He is a Franklin County native and first joined the Herald-Leader in 2006.<\/span>
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