Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win at 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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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 86-76 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks in Columbia on Tuesday night:
1. Complacency is not your friend
Here were the Wildcats, ranked fifth in the nation, playing a struggling team with a losing record, rolling right along at Colonial Life Arena, up 39-28 with 2:25 left in the first half. We may add that this double-digit lead was being accomplished with both Oscar Tshiebwe and TyTy Washington sitting out a good chunk of the first half because of foul trouble.
Easy-peasy, right? Wrong.
Boom, just like that, the game was tied at 43. South Carolina hit the floor running in the second half and when South Carolina forward Keyshawn Bryant scored in the paint with 16:05 remaining, the game was level and the Gamecock faithful were rocking.
“You got to realize,” UK Coach John Calipari said afterward, “these dudes are playing Kentucky and they get after it.”
In other words: Time for a wake-up call.
Suddenly interested again, Kentucky went on a 7-0 run. After a couple of South Carolina baskets snapped the streak, the Cats launched another one, ripping off eight straight points to snatch a 58-47 lead with 11:37 remaining. By the time Damion Mintz drilled a three-pointer with 7:50 remaining on the clock, the visitors were in command 70-56, having outscored the Gamecocks 27-13 since the scoreboard read 43-43.
Said Keion Brooks: “We weathered the storm.”
2. What happened to the glass-eaters?
Until very recently, Kentucky was the best rebounding team in the country. Offensive rebounds. Defensive rebounds. Loose-ball rebounds. Take your pick. With Tshiebwe reaching double digits night after night after night, the Cats appeared almost guaranteed to bash their opponents on the boards.
Then Vanderbilt outrebounded Kentucky 37-30 at Rupp Arena last week. (Yes, Vanderbilt.) Then Alabama somehow edged the Cats 47-44 on the glass in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. By halftime Tuesday we had ourselves a trend, with South Carolina holding a 21-19 rebounding advantage over their visitors from the north.
What in the name of box-outs is going on here?
“In the huddles I told them we could talk all we want, but if you’re not going to rebound, if you’re not going to keep them off the glass, we’re not going to win,” Calipari said.
Though it lost the game, South Carolina ended up winning the boards 41-40. The Gamecocks grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to 32 defensive rebounds for the Wildcats. But Kentucky did put up a better fight in the second half, especially Tshiebwe, who had his own double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds) over the final 20 minutes.
To the untrained eye: Unable to outrun or out-skill the Cats, teams are now trying to bully Calipari’s troops. Vanderbilt tried it with some success last week. South Carolina didn’t have to change its blueprint. Frank Martin’s teams are always going to make you play through the bumps.
We’ll see what happens from this point forward, but the guess here is opponents aren’t going to give up on the smashmouth strategy. As Calipari says, the Cats are going to have to hit back.
3. Another road game, another injury
Sahvir Wheeler’s neck took the worst of a blindside screen at LSU on Jan. 4. TyTy Washington landed on Oscar Thsiebwe’s leg at Auburn, injuring his ankle in the process. Then Tuesday, just after he had scored eight straight points, Jacob Toppin appeared to have turned an ankle in the first half against South Carolina. The junior forward limped to the locker room but did not return for the second half.
Is this some sort of curse?
“When we got back to the locker room after the game, he seems like he was in good spirits, seemed fine,” Brooks said. “Going to take him some time to get well.”
As is customarily the case, Calipari did not have a postgame update on Toppin’s condition.
Not having Toppin on the floor no doubt curtailed the Cats’ rebounding efforts. (See No. 2 takeaway.) And Toppin was poppin’ before he was forced to leave. Tough games await — Florida at Rupp on Saturday; Tennessee in Knoxville on Tuesday. The hope is his return will be sooner rather than later.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 10:37 PM.
