Notes: Marcus Lee gives UK a counter to Gamecocks inside

With Alex Poythress sidelined and facing arguably the Southeastern Conference’s most physical team, Kentucky needed one of its “bigs” to play well. Marcus Lee was that “big.”

Lee posted his first double-double since Nov. 30 to help Kentucky beat South Carolina 89-62 Saturday. He scored 11 points (first double-digit total since Jan. 5) and grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds. The latter tied Poythress (13 against Eastern Kentucky) for the most rebounds grabbed by a UK player this season.

“So proud of him,” assistant coach Kenny Payne said. “He played well. Eleven and 13 says it all.”

Point guard Tyler Ulis welcomed Lee’s contribution.

“It’s great,” he said. “I feel like it just starts with him rebounding.”

Without mentioning Lee by name, South Carolina Coach Frank Martin said UK’s “bigs” played well.

“They had a presence in the paint,” he said. “We didn’t.”

Lee and Ulis collaborated on a play early in the second half that seemed to snuff out the possibility of a South Carolina comeback. As Ulis ran downcourt in transition, he sensed a defender closing fast. Instead of shooting a layup, he tossed the ball off the backboard so that the trailing Lee could dunk the rebound.

“He saved me on that backboard lob … ,” Ulis said. “I thought it was going to be a turnover.”

The play was not an improvisation.

“We were kind of playing around with that all week,” Lee said. “And we were talking about that right before it happened.”

Three-point shooting

UK made 11 of 25 shots from three-point range. That marked the third straight game in which the Cats have made 10 or more three-pointers.

“I just think the guys are getting comfortable,” Payne said. “Coach (John Calipari) is giving them more freedom to play offensively, and they’re getting in rhythm.”

Kentucky made 12 of 20 three-point shots in beating Florida on Feb. 6 and 10 of 21 in beating Georgia on Tuesday.

The last time a UK team made 10 or more three-point shots in three straight games was the 1994 SEC Tournament.

In three straight days, the Cats made 12 of 31 against Mississippi State, 16 of 36 against Arkansas and 12 of 28 against Florida.

Separation Saturday

Kentucky’s victory over South Carolina came on what ESPN analyst Sean Farnham had called “Separation Saturday.”

Kentucky moved into at least a share of first place in the Southeastern Conference. UK improved to 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the SEC.

South Carolina, which lost its first home game this season, dropped to 21-4 overall and 8-4 in the league.

LSU beat Texas A&M to share first place with Kentucky.

Cal ejection

Leftover reactions to referee Doug Sirmons ejecting Calipari with 17:34 left in the first half.

“It was a shock,” Ulis said. “It was crazy. I’d never seen anything like that.”

Added Lee: “Seeing coach fight for you changes your whole mentality. When you see him with all that energy, it kind of picks you up.”

Payne said UK’s victory despite Calipari’s absence reflected Calipari’s coaching to action.

Calipari apologized to the players at halftime.

Martin saw differences in Calipari’s two ejections here. The other came in 2014.

“Two years ago, it was like he was coaching against his kid brother … ,” the South Carolina coach said. “Just get ready to throw us around a little bit, then he gets in a fistfight and he lost it for a second there. …”

As for the most recent ejection, Martin said, “Cal is as competitive a coach as I’ve been around. I don’t know what ticked him off. I really think he was on edge.”

To the point

When asked if this was Kentucky’s best performance of the season, Ulis simply said, “Definitely.”

Post-LSU funk?

South Carolina was coming off an emotional victory over LSU on Wednesday. Martin did not rule out the possibility of a hangover from that game adversely affecting his team.

“Might have,” he said. “Here’s the thing. We’ve never been in this situation before. We obviously didn’t handle it real well. Coaches. Players. The whole deal.

“Could that (victory over LSU) have had something to do with that? Maybe. Could we have been a little tired today? Maybe.”

South Carolina beat Texas A&M two days after the Aggies played at Vanderbilt, Martin said. “One of those scheduling wins for us,” he said.

But, Martin added, he did not mean to devalue UK’s victory.

“If we lost by eight, nine, 10 (points), and we fought-fought-fought, then I might say we just didn’t have the extra umph,” he said. “We just got pulverized today. We just got beat in every category.”

This story was originally published February 13, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Notes: Marcus Lee gives UK a counter to Gamecocks inside."