Kentucky Wildcats vs South Carolina Gamecocks Postgame Notes
By Brian True
KENTUCKY POSTGAME NOTES
No. 1/1 Kentucky at South Carolina
Colonial Life Arena – Jan. 24, 2015
Attendance: 18,000
FINAL SCORE: No. 1 Kentucky 58 – South Carolina 43
Team Records and Series Notes
- Kentucky is 19-0, 6-0 in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina is 10-8, 1-5 in the SEC.
- UK leads the all-time series with South Carolina, 48-11, including a 19-7 mark in games played in Columbia.
- Kentucky coach John Calipari has a 10-2 all-time record vs. South Carolina.
- Calipari has a 616-177 overall record and a 171-37 mark at Kentucky.
- UK has a 193-27 all-time record as the nation’s No. 1 team, winning 37 of the last 39 games as the AP’s top-ranked team.
- Calipari has an 81-9 all-time record as the No. 1 team in the nation, including a 40-4 mark at Kentucky.
- Kentucky will return to action on Thursday, traveling to Missouri for a 9 p.m. ET tip-off, with the game televised live on ESPN. The game will also be broadcast live on the UK Radio Network, with Tom Leach and Mike Pratt voicing the action.
Team Notes
- With a 19-0 start, UK has tied the 2009-10 team for the third-best start in UK history.
- UK’s 19-0 start is the best under coach John Calipari.
- With 2,159 wins, Kentucky is the all-time wins leader in college basketball.
- UK has a league-best 929-262 all-time mark in SEC play.
- After Devin Booker’s 3-pointer to give UK a 9-8 lead early in the first half, Kentucky extended its streak of games with a 3-pointer to 919 consecutive, the second-longest streak in the nation.
- UK improved to 14-0 when holding a halftime lead.
- The nation’s leader in blocks and blocks per game, Kentucky swatted nine shots and have had at least three blocked shots in each game this season.
- Kentucky is now 52-0 under Calipari when holding its opponent under 55 points, including 14 wins in 2014-15.
- Kentucky held South Carolina to 23-percent shooting from the field and have held 10 opponents under 30 percent shooting on the year.
- UK had more blocks and steals (17) than South Carolina had field goals (12).
- It marked the eighth time in 2014-15 UK has had more blocks and steals than the opponent had field goals and the first time since a win over UCLA.
- South Carolina had just five assists, marking the 15th time this season UK has held its opponent to under 10 assists.
- Kentucky has held its opponent to under 55 points in 14 of 19 games, the most in school history in the shot-clock era (since 1985-86).
- UK held South Carolina to just four field goals in the second half.
- The Wildcats held the Gamecocks without a field goal from the 4:31 mark in the first half to the 15:12 mark in the second half.
- UK also held South Carolina to a 6:16 field-goal drought that ended with a SC 3-pointer with 6:07 left in the game.
Individual Notes
- Freshman guard Devin Booker charted a game-high 18 points, his fifth game with at least 18 points.
- Booker is 22 for 33 over his last nine games from 3-point range.
- Booker has led UK in scoring a team-best seven times.
- Sophomore guard Aaron Harrison totaled 13 points, adding four rebounds and a season-high tying three steals.
- Aaron Harrison has made 24 3-pointers over his last nine games and has had a 3-pointer in 11 consecutive games.
- Junior forward Wille Cauley-Stein played in his team-leading 85th career game.
- A member of the Midseason Wooden Award watch list, Cauley-Stein had two steals to become the first player in Kentucky history with 200 or more blocks and 100 or more steals.
- Freshman guard Tyler Ulis had a team-best six assists in just 20 minutes, his most assists since dishing out seven in a win over Ole Miss.
- Ulis added six points, three rebounds and a steal.
- Ulis has a 63-17 assist-turnover ratio in his collegiate debut.
- Freshman forward Trey Lyles made his seventh start of the year.
- Lyles had seven points and two rebounds, adding an assist and a steal.
- Sophomore center Dakari Johnson led UK with six rebounds and has had at least three rebounds in nine consecutive games.
- Sophomore forward Marcus Lee tied his career high with four blocks, in just 13 minutes.