Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 86-76 win over South Carolina
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Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 86, South Carolina 76
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday night’s game between Kentucky and South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.
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Five things you need to know from the No. 5 Kentucky Wildcats’ 86-76 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in an SEC men’s basketball game at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C.:
1. TyTy Washington is Kentucky’s go-to guy. When South Carolina completed a multi-half, 15-4 run to tie the game 43-43 with 16:04 left, it was Washington, UK’s standout freshman guard, who rode to the rescue.
The 6-foot-3, 197-pound product of Phoenix launched a 5-0 UK run, scoring the first three himself on a bucket and a foul shot, then assisting on an alley-oop dunk by Keion Brooks.
With South Carolina persistently “hanging around” and pulling within 70-61 with only 5:13 left in the game, Washington again calmed any nervousness by draining a 15-foot jumper, then scoring on a floater in the lane to push the Wildcats’ advantage back to double digits (74-63) with 4:07 left.
Even on a veteran team that boasts remarkable offensive balance (six players in double figures vs. South Carolina), it is the freshman Washington who has the ability and moxie to make plays under pressure when they are needed.
Washington scored 12 of his 14 points after halftime.
“Down the stretch, my teammates were telling me ‘You’re the guy, just keep shooting,’” Washington told Mike Pratt on the UK Radio Network postgame show.
2. Rebounding worries? For the third straight game, Kentucky was beaten on the boards.
Even with Oscar Tshiebwe turning in his now expected points-rebounds double-double (18 and 14), South Carolina won the battle on the glass 41-40.
Even more alarming, the Gamecocks destroyed UK on the offensive glass, holding a 22-8 advantage on offensive rebounds.
The resulting 17 second-chance points helped South Carolina stay in a game in which the Gamecocks were struggling to make shots (31 of 82).
Kentucky was also outrebounded 37-30 by Vanderbilt last Wednesday and 47-44 at Alabama on Saturday night.
If you are looking ahead to March Madness, Kentucky appears to have some vulnerability to big, physical front lines.
3. Sahvir’s shot. In the five games from Tennessee through Kansas, Kentucky point guard Sahvir Wheeler made 28 of 47 shots, five of nine three-pointers.
That makes what’s happened with Wheeler’s shot since perplexing.
The 5-9, 180-pound transfer from Georgia has now gone three straight games without making a field goal.
For a player with the dynamic Wheeler’s ability to beat defenders off the dribble, such a scoring drought is not that easy to conceive.
Yet Wheeler went 0-for-8 on field goals in the 77-70 win over Vanderbilt last week; he went 0-for-4 in UK’s 66-55 victory at Alabama on Saturday; he was 0-for-5 in the victory over South Carolina.
On Tuesday night, Wheeler hit four of six free throws and finished with four points, four rebounds, 11 assists — and five turnovers.
To make a deep run in March, UK needs Wheeler to shoot it well enough to make defenders have to come out on him.
4. Kentucky survives its “haunted house.” Part of the reason it never felt like Kentucky had Tuesday night’s game under control is UK’s past in Colonial Life Arena — a venue that has been the source of ample John Calipari-era torment.
Under Calipari, UK has fallen to South Carolina in Colonial Life Arena four times — 2009-10, 2013-14, 2017-18 and 2019-20.
Twice, Calipari had been ejected from games in Columbia (although Kentucky subsequently won after Calipari got the heave-ho in 2015-16).
So even if UK’s play Tuesday night left some concerns, Kentucky winning in Columbia is nothing to be taken for granted.
5. UK gains on KU. With its victory, Kentucky (20-4) gained a game on Kansas (19-4) in the all-time men’s college basketball victories race.
UK entered the 2021-22 season with a four-game advantage, 2,327 to 2,323, over KU.
With Kansas having lost Monday night at Texas, the up-to-date standings are now: 1. Kentucky 2,347; 2. Kansas 2,342.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 9:25 PM.
