Kentucky basketball ends three-game losing skid with ugly win at South Carolina
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- Kentucky snapped a three-game skid with a 72-63 road win at South Carolina.
- Wildcats shot 39.4%, tied season high with 15 turnovers, outrebounded 48-28.
- Denzel Aberdeen led with 19; Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt Saturday.
It wasn’t pretty, but the Kentucky Wildcats got their desired result Tuesday night.
That result — a UK basketball win — was a long time coming. And the Cats took their time clinching it against the worst team in the SEC.
Kentucky escaped with a 72-63 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks, the lowest-rated team in the conference. The game was played in a Colonial Life Arena that was less than 50% capacity, and the number of UK fans in the building rivaled those wearing the home colors, with multiple “Go Big Blue!” chants breaking out throughout the night.
It still didn’t come easily for Mark Pope’s team, which struggled with poor shooting and turnover issues before finally putting the Gamecocks away to snap a three-game losing streak.
The Cats improved to 18-10 overall and 9-6 in the SEC with just three games remaining in the regular season. South Carolina fell to 12-16 overall and 3-12 in league play.
The game was tied at 48 past the midway point of the second half — forcing Pope to call a timeout with 8:17 left — but started to turn from there.
Otega Oweh scored out of that timeout to give UK a 50-48 lead, and the Cats never trailed again. They went on a 9-2 run after Pope’s timeout to build a 57-50 advantage — matching their biggest lead of the second half to that point — and were up 59-52 at the final TV timeout.
It turned back toward South Carolina from there. The Gamecocks scored five quick points out of that final TV timeout to cut UK’s lead to 59-57 with 2:43 remaining, forcing Pope to stop the game again.
Malachi Moreno hit a layup a few seconds later, Mouhamed Dioubate blocked a shot on the other end, and Collin Chandler buried a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession.
That put Kentucky up 64-57 with under two minutes left, bringing out another “Go Big Blue!” chant.
UK shot 26 for 66 (39.4%) from the field and went 7 for 25 (28.0%) from 3-point range. The Wildcats tied their season high with 15 turnovers. They did outrebound South Carolina 48-28, winning second-chance points 14-4.
Denzel Aberdeen led Kentucky with 19 points, five assists and zero turnovers. Dioubate scored 12 points. Andrija Jelavic added 11 points, and Chandler scored 10. Moreno had eight points and 11 rebounds.
Oweh scored eight points, failing to hit double figures for the first time this season.
South Carolina, which entered the game ranked 15th in the SEC in 3-point shooting (31.0%), went 4 for 6 from long range in the first five minutes, taking a 12-7 lead into the first TV timeout.
Meanwhile, Kentucky started 1 for 8 from the field, with seven consecutive missed shots after Chandler hit a 3-pointer on the Wildcats’ first attempt of the night. The Wildcats also began the game 1 for 9 from 3-point range — missing eight straight 3s after Chandler’s early make — before Aberdeen hit one to give UK its first lead, 16-15, with 8:20 left in the first half.
That sparked one of those “Go Big Blue!” chants from the UK fans in the sparsely populated crowd.
On the next trip down the floor, Aberdeen hit another 3-pointer to put the Cats ahead 19-15.
That sparked a timeout by South Carolina coach Lamont Paris.
Aberdeen made another 3-pointer about a minute later, capping a 13-0 run for Kentucky.
South Carolina missed nine consecutive shots and went nearly eight minutes without a made field goal amid UK’s flurry.
The Gamecocks ultimately shot 3 for 21 over the final 15 minutes of the first half — and missed their last 10 3-point attempts of the period — though they were down only 28-21 at the break. UK also shot poorly in the first half — 11 for 31 from the floor and 4 for 16 from the perimeter — and the Cats committed nine turnovers in the first 20 minutes.
Kentucky will return home this weekend for a rematch with Vanderbilt on Saturday in Rupp Arena. The Commodores defeated UK 80-55 in Nashville on Jan. 27, and they’ll take a 21-6 record (8-6 in the SEC) into their home game against Georgia on Wednesday night.
The UK-Vandy game is set for 2 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN.
Final stats: Kentucky 72, South Carolina 63
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 8:58 PM.
