UK Athletics Photo by Hannah Phillips
Watch for Shane Shackleford's column which will be posted soon.
Postgame Notes by UK Athletics
Final Score: No. 5 Kentucky 76, South Carolina 48
Team Records and Series Notes
Kentucky is now 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
Kentucky has won nine in a row, longest since a 14-game win streak in 2016-17.
Kentucky has won eight consecutive SEC games, longest since an eight-game league streak in 2016-17.
South Carolina is 11-11 overall, 6-3 in the SEC.
Kentucky leads the series 52-12, including 28-2 in Lexington.
Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats play at Mississippi State on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT in Starkville) and it will be televised on CBS.
In the First Half
Kentucky started Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Reid Travis for the 15th time this season. UK is now 12-3 with that lineup.
Kentucky was trailing 17-13 when Coach John Calipari inserted substitutes, EJ Montgomery (pictured), Nick Richards, Immanuel Quickley and Jemarl Baker at the 11:45 mark. The Wildcats promptly went on a 7-0 run for a 20-17 lead.
Trailing 24-22, the UK defense had a three-minute scoreless stretch and the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run, grabbing the lead for good at 32-24.
All totaled, UK finished the half on a 17-4 run to take a 39-28 lead into intermission.
In the Second Half
UK began the second half with the starting lineup.
Ahead 39-32, Kentucky held South Carolina without a field goal for almost six minutes, and the Wildcats 9-1 run rushed the lead to 48-33.
Kentucky continued to pull away, leading by as many as 29 points at 69-40.
Over the last 18:50, UK outscored South Carolina 37-16.
Team Notes
South Carolina scored 48 points. UK is 166-7 under Coach John Calipari when keeping the opponent to 63 points or less, including 14-0 this season.
UK has held six straight opponents to 63 or less, first time that has happened since November 2015.
UK is 71-0 under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 55 or fewer points, including 7-0 this season.
UK has held three straight opponents to 55 or less, first time that has happened since January 2015.
South Carolina shot only 35.8 percent from the field. UK is 175-15 (.921) under Calipari when keeping the opponent at 40 percent or less, including 10-0 this season.
UK has held seven of the last eight opponents under 40 percent.
Kentucky dominated the rebounding 50-27. The +23 margin is UK’s largest of the season in SEC play and third-largest of the season.
UK actually outrebounded South Carolina 21-18 on Wildcat missed shots and UK won second-chance points 18-7.
UK had 11 steals tonight and the Wildcats are 9-0 this season when having at least seven thefts.
During the current nine-game win streak UK has …
Held the opponents to 58 points per game
Limited the opponents to 37.3 percent from the field
Limited the opponents to 31.2 percent from 3-point range
UK improved to 252-5 (.981) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any point in the game.
UK has won 16 in a row at Rupp Arena, including 13-0 this season.
Player Notes
EJ Montgomery had his best game as a Wildcat, notching his first career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs.
PJ Washington finished with 20 points and five rebounds.
It is his sixth 20-point game of the season and he has seven straight games in double figures.
Tyler Herro had 11 points and added three rebounds.
Reid Travis neared a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. He also had a season-high three steals.
Ashton Hagans tallied two points, four assists and three steals.
Hagans has 16 consecutive games with at least three assists. He’s led the team in assists 17 times this season.
Nick Richards had four points, four rebounds and a steals in 11 minutes.
UK is 9-0 this season when Richards scores at least four points.
Coach John Calipari
Calipari is now 294-67 at UK.
He is now three wins away from tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories by a UK head coach in program history.
Calipari has a 739-207 all-time on-court record.
UK is 238-40 vs. unranked competition under Calipari.