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By: LARRY VAUGHT
Before last season started, then South Carolina freshman Sindarius Thornwell predicted that his team was “coming in to win” when it played Kentucky — and the Gamecocks did beat visiting UK thanks in part to 14 points from Thornwell.
It also South Carolina's first win over Kentucky since beating the No. 1 Wildcats 68-62 in January of 2010 in UK coach John Calapari's first game against the Gamecocks.
Now No. 1 Kentucky is headed back to Columbia, S.C., for a game Saturday afternoon and Thornwell said at the Southeastern Conference Media Days in October that again he was not worried about UK’s ranking or surplus of McDonald’s All-Americans.
“I don’t really pay any attention to rankings. I didn’t even know that Kentucky was rated No. 1. I am not a guy that thinks about that type of stuff,” said Thornwell. “When we play them if they are ranked No. 1 or not, we are going to play them the same way we did last year and try to beat them just like we did last year. It doesn’t matter to me where they are ranked. That means nothing.”
Thornwell, a sophomore who averaged 13.4 points per game last year and is scoring 10.7 points per game this season, knows many of the current UK players from AAU summer play and all-star games. He joked with twins Aaron and Andrew Harrison at SEC Media Days about how they had to be stunned when they lost at South Carolina as freshmen.
But he’s not intimidated by the Wildcats.
“It doesn’t matter who they have or where they are ranked. You play them the same. We still play to go out and beat them or whoever else like Florida. It doesn’t matter where they are at, we still plan to beat Kentucky,” Thornwell said.
He says the “crazy” atmosphere UK faced in Columbia last year will be the same Saturday.
“I think that is going to be like that every year when Kentucky comes. But it doesn’t really bother us. It is big to have crowd support, but we still have to go play regardless,” Thornwell said.
South Carolina coach Frank Martin, who called UK the “best team in the country” this year, said the win over Kentucky last year was the kind a program uses to build success.
“Anytime you can figure out a way to defeat one of the top programs in the country year in and year out and especially when they’re in your own league ... and I think that gave our guys confidence,” Martin said. “We’d been close a whole lot toward the end of last year when we got that win. I think it gave us confidence, I think it gave our fans confidence and I think it’s no surprise that we’re fourth in the league in attendance, that our fans are buying into our players and our team and hopefully it’s something we continue to build on.”
Thornwell admits he was a bit surprised that UK might the national championship game last year after losing at South Carolina so late in the season.
“I would have probably said there is always a chance and they were a good team with a couple of pros and a good coach, so anything could happen,” Thornwell said. “All they had to do was come together and play together, but at the time I would have been like, ‘Whoa. Hold up. I don’t know about that one.’ But they got it together at the right time and that was all they needed to show how good they really were.
“I think that game was big for us and them. It helped us with our confidence and they had to recognize they were not where they thought they were. They had a reality check basically and they got their stuff together and had a successful run in the tournament. So I guess we helped them.”
“They are all good players and are again this year. They did everything that everybody expected out of them last season and even I thought they would do better at some point.”
Thornwell’s success as a freshman let him know that he would be a target of more SEC defenses this year.
“It motivates you to work harder knowing you had good freshman season and guys are going to come after you the next season. You have to work that much harder and be more prepared for the defense. Got to have a mindset to be better, and I do. I think I got better mentally and I am in better shape and more prepared for everything but I am sure they are too based on all I have seen and heard,” Thornwell said. “We have a better inside presence. Our bigs are better. We are more mature sophomores and know what it takes to win games when you play somebody like Kentucky.”
Martin says Thornwell has “grown tremendously” as a player. He’s gone from taking 18-19 shots per game to far less this year.
“He is playing with better players around him. He is learning to be more efficient offensively even though we need him to be aggressive offensively. He has been good defensively,” Martin said.
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