South Carolina manhandled No. 6 Kentucky from start to finish on the way to a 79-62 win at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia.
The Gamecocks took the fight to the Wildcats early and were never seriously threatened after halftime.
Former Morehead State guard Talon Cooper led South Carolina (16-3, 4-2 SEC) with 20 points and 5 assists.
Rob Dillingham came off the bench to lead Kentucky with 16 points. Antonio Reeves added 15.
Kentucky (14-4, 4-2) will have to right the ship quickly as they travel to Arkansas for another difficult road game on Saturday.
KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
COLONIAL LIFE ARENA | COLUMBIA, SC
JAN. 23, 2024
ATTENDANCE: 18,000
Final Score: South Carolina 79, No. 6 Kentucky 62
Team Records and Series Notes
Kentucky is 14-4 on the season, 4-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
South Carolina is 16-3 overall, 4-2 in league play.
UK leads the series 54-15, including 21-10 in games played in Columbia.
Next for Kentucky: UK finishes a two-game road swing Saturday at Arkansas. Game time is 6 p.m. ET (5 p.m. CT in Fayetteville) and it will be televised on ESPN.
Team Notes
Kentucky scored a season-low 62 points tonight. The Wildcats entered the game leading the nation at 91.6 points per game.
UK ended streaks of scoring at least 87 points in eight straight games and scoring at least 90 in four straight SEC games.
UK continued its recent stretch of good free-throw shooting, making 8 of 9 for 88.9%.
Player Notes
Rob Dillingham led UK with 16 points, his 15th double-figure game of the season.
Antonio Reeves had 15 points.
He has landed in double figures in every game but one this season.
Tre Mitchell tallied 13 points, making 5 of 8 from the field and both free throws.
It is his 12th double-figure scoring game of the season.
He also led the Wildcats in rebounding with five and had two blocked shots.
Coach John Calipari
Calipari has an 846-257 (76.7%) all-time on-court record, including 401-117 (77.4%) at Kentucky.
Calipari is 330-67 (83.1%) at UK against unranked competition.
Calipari is 16-6 vs. South Carolina.
Calipari is now 397-128 (75.6%) all-time in conference games, including 189-62 (75.3%) in the SEC.
In the First Half
Kentucky started D.J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell and Aaron Bradshaw for the ninth game in a row. UK is 7-2 in this lineup.
Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard were UK’s first substitutions at the 16:52 mark.
Kentucky led 21-16 with 8:33 left, but South Carolina closed the half with a 17-4 run and took a 33-25 lead into intermission.
It is UK’s lowest-scoring half of the season; previous low 33 in the first half vs. UNCW.
Dillingham led the Wildcats with 11 points.
UK is now 1-3 this season when trailing at halftime.
In the Second Half
Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
Kentucky closed within 40-38 but South Carolina went on a 26-8 spurt for the largest lead of the game, 66-46, with six minutes remaining.
Kentucky got within 14 points on two occasions but no closer.
