Cats shut down Gamecocks in Columbia, 58-43

By: LARRY VAUGHT

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Just when it looked like South Carolina might be poised for another stunning upset of Kentucky like it had in 2010 and 2014, UK once again turned to its defense.

After the Gamecocks went on a 7-0 spurt to take a 24-23 lead with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left in the first half, the Kentucky defense took over in Saturday’s 58-43 win — UK’s 19th straight win this season.

South Carolina went more than nine minutes without a field goal and had just four in the final 24:31. In the second half, South Carolina was just 4-for-23 from the field.

“They are not the only team not to make shots against Kentucky,” said ESPN analyst Dick Vitale after the game. “There is a reason for that. Kentucky has size, athleticism, talent. It’s going to take a special game to beat them.”

South Carolina didn’t have that because UK’s defense would not allow it.

“It just goes with the team concept of shutting teams out,” freshman guard Devin Booker, who led UK with 18 points on 6-forr-9 shoting, said. “It’s easy with bigs like Willie (Cauley-Stein) back there. We try to apply pressure and if guards go by, we are fine because of our bigs. Their bigs definitely contributed to us missing shots. We had a lot of floaters and bunnies around the rim but tough shooting over top of them when all you see is their hands.”

South Carolina sophomore guard Sindarius Thornwell said it was hard when shots are not falling, but credited UK’s defense.

“Their bigs when you drive into the lane, you can’t see passes out or if you can they are so long if you pass it they are long enough to defelct or big enough to get out on the catch,” Thornwell said.

“Kentucky is good, real good defensively,” South Carolina coach Frank Martin said.

Kentucky’s defense was responsible for the 11-0 run that closed the first half after South Carolina had taken the lead and all the points came at the rim or foul line.

“Basically we locked down on defense for about six straight possessions,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said.

— Tyler Ulis got a steal, made a nice hesitation move and put in the layup. He had six points, six assists and three steals in the game.

— Dakari Johnson got a steal, fed Booker and he converted two free throws after getting fouled at the rim.

— Booker scored again on the fast break.

— Trey Lyles took a pass from Ulis and dunked.

— Johnson made one of two free throws.

— Ulis got fouled as UK was holding for the final shot and converted both foul shots.

“That run hurt us a lot. It would have been good if we could have built momentum, but that run hurt our confidence and put us in a hole,” Thornwell admitted.

“We started attacking their defense on the first or second pass and you’ve got no chance. They created that 10-point gap and it just stayed there the whole game,” Martin said. “What happens with Kentucky if you don’t score early, you better not attack it after the first or second pass. Their defense is so good and so athletic, they attack you.”

Kentucky won despite getting just three offensive rebounds — South Carolina had 18 — and was just 6-for-14 from the field in the second half. But Kentucky did hit 11 of 12 free throws the second half and with the way the defense played, that was more than enough to beat South Carolina.

“Everybody just did their jobs,” Ulis said.

That included Marcus Lee coming off the bench to get four blocked shots. Or Aaron  Harrison getting 13 points, four rebounds and thre steals.

“We ended up shooting 46 percent and the greatest thing is we had just eight turnovers,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “It shows you can play us physical and we can still do stuff we are trying to do.”

Calipari said that South Carolina just fought harder than UK on the boards to outrebound the nation’s biggest team 40-28.

“They were going to fight harder than we were going to fight,” Calipari said. “I kind of conceded that. The thing you teams do is accept being blocked out. If you accept that, then you get three offensive rebounds.”

But this was not an unhappy Calipari. Remember a year ago he got ejected here when his team lost. Back in 2010 then No. 1 UK got a congratulatory call from the president while in South Carolina and then lost.

Other than going to a zone defense briefly in the second half, including a second time when an assistant coach convinced him to do that and the South Carolina hit a 3-pointer, Calipari was more than pleased with the defense that caused South Carolina to miss 41 of 53 shots.

“We are not a team that will trick anybody. That’s not what we do. Tricky is not what we do here,” Calipari said. “Other than that (3 against the zone), we defended and made it hard on them.”

That has been a familiar feeling for UK opponents this season and one Vitale says is not likely to change.

“Remember Kentucky is only going to get better as they keep playing. That should be the scary thing for teams playing Kentucky,” Vitale said. “I’m not saying they can’t lose, but people seem to forget that John will have these kids getting better and they will be better in March, too. If you want to beat them, you better really have a special game.”

And South Carolina certainly couldn’t have that against UK’s defense.