Kentucky Bounces Back With 80-57 Win Over South Carolina

VIDEO: Kentucky coach Mark Pope discusses his team's 80-57 victory over South Carolina Saturday afternoon at Rupp Arena.

By Hayden Kennedy 

KySportsStyle.com Magazine

The 14th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats, after a tough period of back-to-back losses, including four out of their last five games, bounced back with a resounding 80-57 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. 

Leading the charge for UK were Brandon Garrison and Otega Oweh. Garrison finished with a season-high of 15 points on 7 of 8 field goal shooting, including a three-pointers: this marks Garrison’s fourth double-figure game on the season. Oweh finished with a game-high17 points, 15 of which came in the second half, on 6 of 10 shooting from the field and 1 of 2 from three.

Oweh has proven himself to be one of the most consistent players in the entire nation, scoring in double figures for 23 consecutive games. He is one of 13 Division I players to achieve this feat and the only player in the SEC to do so. 

Kentucky’s defense showed improvement, only giving up 57 points, the lowest an SEC team has scored against UK.

“I thought our guys were really focused for the most part," said coach Mark Pope of his team's defensive effort. "We had some lapses and we can get much better. They bought into being a little bit more disruptive and a little bit more aggressive at the point of attack.  Our rotations were okay-ish in a growing process. I thought our bigs were pretty diligent in their assignments; they had complicated assignments tonight.  Their job description was pretty lengthy tonight, and I thought they were terrific.”

Lamont Butler returned for the Wildcats after missing three games due to injury. He would finish with eight points, along with one rebound and three assists. 

Oweh was glad to see Butler back on the floor.   The point guard played 23 minutes with eight points and three assists.

“Oh, it was huge, like just his presence helps us out so much, offensively, defensively," said Oweh. "I mean I’ve asked him every single day since he’s been out if he was playing, so I’m just glad he got to suit up today.”

Kentucky now stands at 16-7 overall while being 5-5 in conference play.  South Carolina drops to 10-13 overall, 0-10 in SEC.

The Wildcats will stay home to play the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday night. The 7 p.m. ET contest will be shown on ESPN.  

Hayden Kennedy, a recent UK graduate, is a contributing writer from Lexington.

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