Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: UK vs. South Carolina

Kentucky entered Thursday's game against South Carolina looking to avenge their only loss of the season, and took care of business with an 82-61 win over the Gamecocks.

Thumbs Up

Patrick Patterson- It looks like the big Junior is back to his old self. Patterson didn't put up another double double, but 23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals is just fine by me. From the opening tip, Pat was active all over the floor, and especially in the paint. He had a couple of big time blocks that led to breakaway points for his teammates. If Patterson plays like this the rest of the season, Kentucky gets even harder to defend and defeat.

Darius Miller- Miller played this game very similar to the way Patterson did. He was active all over the floor, blocking two shots and pulling down eight rebounds, four of them on the offensive end. He also scored seven points with one three-pointer. He did a much better job of being aggressive and driving to the hoop, which I think is what Coach Calipari wants him to do.

Early Intensity- The Cats came out of the gate tonight ready to play. You could tell they placed emphasis on this game, perhaps getting their motivation from the revenge factor. They got out to an 11-2 lead after two and a half minutes, led by a three-pointer from Patterson. They were active on the offensive boards and John Wall finished the early spurt with a steal and layup. The intensity early in the game faded at times, but it showed up later in the game when it needed to.

DeMarcus Cousins- At this point, a double double is expected from Cousins, which is remarkable. Against the Gamecocks, Cousins had 19 points and 11 rebounds, his seventeenth double double on the season. I love the way he continues to mature and just go about his business. His hustle to save the ball on the end line and find Patterson for the easy bucket showed me a lot, as did the smile on his face afterward. I think Coach Cal is right that Cousins plays better when he has a smile on his face.

DeAndre Liggins- The sophomore is quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team. What's so great about Liggins is that he doesn't have to score in order to be effective. He had seven points, but his constant hustle, and in particular his defense is a huge asset.

Thumbs Down

Live Ball Turnovers- The Cats only turned the ball over ten times. That's the good news, but they have to stop giving the ball away in situations where the opponent gets an easy breakaway, especially with a guy like Devan Downey that can get the ball up the court as quick as he can. Wall gave the ball away several times, leading to breakaways for the Gamecocks. Eric Bledsoe and Darnell Dodson did the same. Those are easy points for our opponents.

End of 1st Half- The Cats had the ball with about 33 seconds on the game clock and 30 seconds on the shot clock with a 14 point lead. I don't know what the play call was, but I hope it wasn't the three-point attempt by Liggins that we saw. The play call should be to let Wall break down his man and either get fouled or find an open teammate. It wasn't the three-pointer hit by Downey that frustrated me, it was the lack of execution on the offensive end, which led to the Downey three.

Killer Instinct- We've seen this situation all year long. The Cats get up by ten to fifteen points, then let their opponent come back to within five. After Kentucky got up 11-2 early, Carolina got the lead down to two at 23-21. Thankfully, they pulled away late in the second half and made this one look like a blowout, but it should have been a twenty point lead throughout.


It's nice to get revenge against South Carolina and move to 27 and 1 on the season. This game was never really in doubt, and was a pretty easy win in the end. The Cats have three games left in the regular season, starting with a trip to Knoxville on Saturday. This will be the first time Kentucky has only had one full day of rest before a game since their trip to Cancun. I think the Cats will handle that just fine, and wrap up another SEC Championship.