Talking points

Coach John Calipari says his team's potential is scary. South Carolina found out what he meant. Doron Lamb scored eight quick points and UK came out sharp. A 12-3 lead became 21-10 on back-to-back Anthony Davis slams. A brief South Carolina spurt was answered by Terrence Jones, who had 16 first-half points. Carolina showed little life and the UK lead was 52-25 by the half. That included eight dunks, which was one more field goal than South Carolina had. For the Gamecocks, it didn't get any better. They started the second half 1-for-12 from the field.

Telling numbers

■ Jones and Davis combined for nine more points in the first half than South Carolina.

■ Kentucky made eight of its first nine shots. Five were dunks.

■ After making 24 of 27 free throws Tuesday, UK hit 15 of 18 in the first half.

■ If UK had not scored a point in the second half, the game would have been tied. (USC had a late scoring flurry — 16 points in the final 5:49)

■ Doron Lamb scored 18 points. His final shot was his only miss.

Thumbs up

■ The game was almost 12 minutes old before UK turned over the ball, its only one in the first half.

■ It's hard to recall a game when UK had an inside combo that looked as intimidating as Davis and Jones were in the first half (Bowie-Turpin?). They had 34 points, nine rebounds and six blocks in the first 20 minutes.

■ Davis broke the SEC's freshman season shot-blocking record (held by a guy named Shaq).

Thumbs down

■ Here's hoping Lexington native Darrin Horn gets South Carolina turned around, but they didn't show a lot of spirit playing at home against a No. 1 team.