With his David-versus-Goliath act, South Carolina guard Devan Downey might be the most fun player to watch in the Southeastern Conference. And that was just the problem when Kentucky lost at Columbia last month, UK Coach John Calipari said on the eve of the rematch. His Wildcats watched Downey too much.

Watching Downey led to perhaps the most shocking statistic this SEC season. South Carolina, which goes into Thursday night's rematch ranked 299th nationally in rebound margin, outrebounded the nation's No. 1 rebounding team in an upset.

"Downey is going to take 30 shots, that is what he is going to do," Calipari said Wednesday. "What was happening to us, because he was driving, we were ball watching. When he shot a ball, their man went around and rebounded. That's the issue of the game."

In beating a No. 1 team for the first time in school history, South Carolina outrebounded Kentucky 44-40. The Gamecocks grabbed 20 offensive rebounds, a season-high for a UK opponent. For comparison sake, the opponents in UK's other 11 league games have averaged 12 offensive rebounds.

So the Cats know they must corral Downey, who is the SEC's leading scorer.

"Really and truly, we did a good job last time," said Daniel Orton, who noted Downey's 9-for-29 shooting performance in Columbia. "Taking away the offensive rebounding more than anything else will help."

South Carolina, 14-12 overall and 5-7 in the SEC, has lost four of its last five games. The Gamecocks have won only once on an opponent's court all season. To win at Kentucky (or anywhere else), the Gamecocks must play carefully and maximize their resources, which were diminished by Dominique Archie's season-ending injury and big man Mike Holmes' dismissal.

"The issue for us has been consistency over 40 minutes," said Darrin Horn, the South Carolina coach and Tates Creek High product. "Doing things we need to do to give ourselves a chance to win. ... We have to follow the game plan. We have to do little things really well over a period of 40 minutes. We can't have prolonged stretches when those things don't happen.

"We don't have a huge margin for error."

Against Kentucky in Columbia, South Carolina achieved that kind of efficiency. The Gamecocks slowed the tempo, shortened the game and put the ball in Downey's hands when the shot clock got inside 10 seconds.

"They were more physical," Calipari said. "They played better. They did the late-clock stuff better than we did. ...

"I just watched the tape a second time so I can go into practice scared."

Calipari said he would play it by ear whether to try to speed up South Carolina in Rupp Arena or let his versatile Kentucky team (26-1 overall, 11-1 in the SEC) win another grinding, possession-by-possession game.

"Just depends on the game," the UK coach said. "In most cases, if you want to hold the ball against a good defensive team, you're not going to score a lot. Then it comes down to us offensively making layups, making a few extra jumpers and us making free throws. Then you create a gap. Then they have to make a choice: Are we going to speed this up? Or are we just going to keep going at this pace because we're not winning? We can keep it close, but we're never winning."

UK ranks among the top 10 nationally in field-goal defense (No. 6) and blocks (No. 5). As for the three-point defense, UK's league opponents have made only 28 percent of their attempts, which ranks second.

The trap or press in order to quicken the pace can backfire if the opponent does not turn over the ball.

"Do you really want to give them easy baskets?" Calipari said. "... That's the question you answer when you're coaching. You're trying to play to your team's strengths. I'm not trying to force our will on anybody. We're trying to win the game."

As a bonus, Calipari said he'd like to see improvement in shot selection, execution, sustained play for 40 minutes, bench contributions, free-throw shooting and overall shooting confidence (no hesitating).

But, bottom line, the UK coach wants something he didn't get in Columbia: a victory.

"If we win it on a half-court bank shot, I'll be happy," he said.