Kentucky Wildcats get sweet redemption with road win, defeat South Carolina Gamecocks

Turns out that the rumours of the Kentucky Wildcat’s death has been greatly exaggerated.  Faced with the prospect of falling two games behind South Carolina in the SEC Eat, the Kentucky Wildcats hung tough on the road and delivered a 67-58 win in the same arena they had lost the previous two games in.

Plagued all season by woes in the front court, Kentucky turned that into a strength in the first half against the Gamecocks.  Playing like a man possessed, Terrence Jones had back to back dunks to give the Wildcats an early 10-5 lead.  Kentucky continued to press South Carolina and turn up the defensive pressure and used 3-pointers by Darius Miller and Brandon Knight to give UK a 26-15 lead with 8:36 left in the half, quieting the normally raucous crowd at the Colonial Life Arena.  The Game cocks could make no inroads the rest of the half and a Darius Miller shot with :04 remaining assured Kentucky a double digit lead at half, 36-26.

The Wildcat defense kept the Gamecocks in a vice in the second half and the trio of Darius Miller, Brandon Knight, and Terrence Jones did all the scoring for UK for the first 8:30 of the half as Kentucky built their lead to 51-35.  A Doron Lamb jumper gave Kentucky their biggest lead at 18 and it appeared that this would be an easy first road SEC win.  DeAndre Liggins defense on freshman Bruce Ellington so frustrated Ellington that he received a technical for throwing the ball at Liggins.  Every time South Carolina would cut the lead, Kentucky would respond.  A Brandon Knight jumper gave Kentucky a seemingly solid 61-45 lead with around 4:00 remaining.

About this time, Kentucky went cold and created some fouls that put the Gamecocks at the line.  Bruce Ellington hit a trey and then Doron Lamb had a bad foul on a bad 3-point shooter, Eric Smith, which out him at the line to convert the three FT’s.  This added a bit of drama to the game and cut the lead to 61-56 but Doron Lamb sank four straight FT’s to quell the comeback bid.  Kentucky had the road win, and it was not nearly as close as the final score indicated.  Kentucky led wire to wire in this on and improved their SEC record to 3-2.

Darius Miller has to be my star of the game.  He had a breakout game with 18 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks.  He displayed a level of confidence that has been lacking through a lot of this season and really took the game over at times.  Terrence Jones was dominant in the paint and had 14 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, … and an assist.  He would have had a couple more but the shots were missed.  Yes, he did pass.  I checked.  Now get off his back.  And last but not least, Brandon Knight led the way with 23 points. and 7 rebounds.  He also helped to keep the Gamecocks at bay by sinking 9-10 FT’s.  It should also be noted that Kentucky hit 82.8% of their FT’s.

All in all, a good win for Kentucky.  They have no Tuesday game so it will be a long week before they are in action again for a rematch against those Georgia Bulldogs.  There were a few areas of concern tonight, but not going to nitpick.  Here’s hoping we get a good week of practice and are prepared to kick some Bulldog butt.

For complete game stats, go here. 

Keep following www.http://wildcatbluenation.com for the best in Kentucky basketball and football news, rumors, and opinions. By Kentucky fans for Kentucky fans