No. 6 Kentucky suffers a surprising loss at South Carolina. And it wasn’t close.
Kentucky got a rude awakening on the road Tuesday night.
Three days after an electric win over Georgia in Rupp Arena, the No. 6-ranked Wildcats were run out of the gym in their third road trip of the SEC basketball schedule, losing 79-62 at South Carolina.
UK came into the game with the nation’s No. 1 offense, leading the country with 91.6 points per game. The Cats scored only 25 points by halftime and continued to struggle offensively in the second half.
Kentucky’s previous low in the scoring column this season was 73 points in an upset loss to UNC Wilmington on Dec. 2. The Wildcats (14-4, 4-2 SEC) had scored at least 80 points in their other 16 games before Tuesday night. They had won eight of nine games since that UNC Wilmington upset heading into this one. The lone defeat in that stretch was an overtime loss at Texas A&M earlier this month. UK is now 1-2 in SEC road games this season, with a trip to Arkansas coming up Saturday.
Rob Dillingham was the only Kentucky player with more than four points at halftime. He had scored 11 by the break and finished with a team-high 16 points.
Antonio Reeves came out hot in the second half — hitting his first three shots and scoring seven points in less than three minutes after the break — following a 1-for-7 shooting performance in the first half. Reeves finished with 15 points.
Tre Mitchell added 13 points after scoring just three in the first half.
In the second game of his college basketball career, Zvonimir Ivisic tallied three points, two rebounds and two blocks in 10 minutes and didn’t get the open looks he saw against Georgia on Saturday, when he made his first four shot attempts and finished with 13 points in his UK debut. His only field goal Tuesday came on a dunk with 8:59 left and Kentucky losing by 15 points.
Kentucky star Reed Sheppard played a season-low 14 minutes, finishing with three points on 1-for-4 shooting with two turnovers and no assists.
UK trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half. The Cats managed only seven assists on 25 made baskets and shot 40.3% from the floor.
South Carolina (16-3, 4-2 SEC) has been one of the biggest surprises in high-major college basketball this season. The Gamecocks were picked to finish last in the SEC, but they started with a 13-1 record and came into Tuesday night’s game at No. 63 in the KenPom ratings. The latest ESPN Bracketology projections, which were released Tuesday morning, had South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament.
Lamont Paris, now in his second season as the Gamecocks’ coach, went 11-21 overall and 4-14 in his first campaign, but that record included a 71-68 victory over Kentucky in Rupp Arena, making Paris 2-0 against the Wildcats.
UK was playing without sophomore guard Adou Thiero, one of the team’s most physical players. He sat out for the seventh consecutive game with a back issue and has not played since the Wildcats’ victory at Louisville on Dec. 21.
John Calipari now has a 5-5 record in Colonial Life Arena in 15 seasons as Kentucky’s coach, and the Cats have lost four of their last seven games in the building.
Kentucky’s next game
The Wildcats will be back on the road this weekend, an away date with Arkansas at Bud Walton Arena. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be shown on ESPN.
The Razorbacks were picked to finish third in the SEC during the preseason — one spot ahead of Kentucky — but they’ve struggled mightily, especially in recent weeks. Arkansas (10-8, 1-4 SEC) has already lost four games in conference play, all by double digits, with last weekend’s 77-64 loss to South Carolina in Fayetteville marking the latest defeat. The Hogs’ only win in the SEC was a 78-77 home victory over Texas A&M last week that necessitated a buzzer-beating shot by Tramon Mark to close out the win. Before that, Arkansas blew a 20-point lead and fell behind the Aggies in the final seconds.
The Razorbacks started Tuesday at No. 101 in the KenPom ratings — putting them 12th in the SEC, ahead of only Missouri and Vanderbilt — and they’ll play at Ole Miss on Wednesday night.
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