VIDEO: Clemson Downs No. 4 Kentucky 70-66

Kentucky coach Mark Pope in a postgame press conference following his team's loss to Clemson Tuesday night.

By Jamie H. Vaught

Fourth-ranked Kentucky suffered its first loss of the season Tuesday night as the Wildcats dropped to host Clemson 70-66 at Littlejohn Coliseum in South Carolina. UK is now 7-1, while Clemson improved to 8-1.

UK, which was ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring with an average of 96.7 points, only hit 66 points against the aggressive Tigers, marking the lowest scoring output of the season. The Wildcats only connect 38.1 percent of their shots, including 7 of 27 three-pointers, in an exciting contest that saw four ties and 13 lead changes.

Kentucky held Clemson to 36.9 percent shooting (24 of 65). For the season, the Cats have held seven of their eight opponents under 40 percent shooting.

In the rebounding department, both teams were dead even with 44 total rebounds each, 29 on the defensive end and 15 offensive boards (see the box score below).

Kentucky's Otega Oweh, the team's top scorer with an average of 16 points, had a game-high 17 points and a season high seven rebounds. Lamont Butler added 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting along with five assists.

Overall this season, the Wildcats currently have five players averaging 10 points or more. Amari Williams leads UK in rebounds with 10.1 average while hitting an average of 9.9 points.

Clemson, which was predicted to finish fourth in the18-team ACC, was led by Ian Schieffelin, who had a double double with 11 points and career-high 20 rebounds.

Coach Mark Pope is now 194-109 as a head coach, including 7-1 at Kentucky.

The Wildcats' next game is Saturday night when they visit No. 7 Gonzaga in Seattle. The 10 p.m. ET game will be shown on ESPN.   

Box Score