Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down--UK vs. South Carolina

Kentucky traveled to South Carolina Tuesday as the only undefeated team in the nation and as the new number one team in the nation, but they left with a one in the loss column as the Gamecocks beat the Cats 68-62.

Thumbs Up

DeMarcus Cousins- Cousins has clearly become the go to guy on this team. He scored four early points for Kentucky on beautiful baseline spin moves. He finished the game with 27 points and 12 rebounds and had the most impact on this game for Kentucky.

John Wall- Wall seemed to pick moments throughout the game to make his mark. Perhaps he should have picked more of them because when he asserted himself he typically got to the rim and made something happen. He had 19 points and four rebounds, and you could tell he wanted to make the big shot down the stretch. He did that on one trip with the bucket and the foul in the lane. The knock on him this game was only two assists. Wall needs to be creating more than Eric Bledsoe.

Three-Point Attempts- I think this team is better when they consistently feed the ball down low instead of jacking up a bunch of three's. Tonight they attempted twelve three's, hitting only three of them. I suppose if they were making more then they would attempt more, but as a general rule I like it when they take twelve or less three's per game.


Thumbs Down

Missed Bunnies- In the past couple of years it seemed the Cats missed a bunch of short shots in the paint, but that was because they didn't have the manpower or quality big men. That's not an excuse anymore, and the epidemic spread across the entire team. Cousins, Wall, Patrick Patterson, Darnell Dodson, Bledsoe...you name a player, and they probably missed an easy basket. It started early in the game with Wall and Cousins, but the miss by Bledsoe on the drive, and Dodson on the break away broke the backs of the Cats. Also, it should not be possible for the South Carolina big guys to block as many shots as they did. Cousins has got to get up higher and put his shots up with more force than he does.

Rebounding- Devan Downey did his part in terms of scoring and getting to the rim, but it was the lack of defensive rebounding that absolutely killed the Cats. The official statistics say the Gamecocks had 16 offensive rebounds, but it sure seemed like more. Time after time, a Gamecock big man had a wide open weak side rebound for an easy bucket.

Patrick Patterson- Where are you at big man? Patterson put up only five points against South Carolina, and attempted only four shots. Patterson may not mind deferring to the freshman, but I sure do. He has to step up and take control of the team and lead the way.

Eric Bledsoe- Bledsoe is talented, but if there is one guy that could lose a game by himself, it would be him. He didn't lose this one by himself, but he must make better decisions. He is very lackadaisical at times with his ball handling. He didn't go up strong to the basket several times tonight, creating missed shots and easy rebounds for USC. Bledsoe had five turnovers, including a crucial one late in the game on an important possession when he threw it straight into the hands of the defender. As I mentioned earlier, Wall needs to be the one controlling the offense early in the possession, instead of Bledsoe driving into the lane with nowhere to go.

Three Spot- The small forward position has been a question mark all year. Against Arkansas, we saw what Darius Miller could produce for the Cats, but tonight was a prime example of what happens when the three spot doesn't produce. Miller was tentative and didn't score in 14 minutes. Dodson came in and hit a three, then got a steal for a breakaway dunk, but he missed his next four 3-point attempts, along with the previously mentioned wide open layup. DeAndre Liggins provided energy off the bench, but not much else as he didn't score.

All in all, this game had to be somewhat expected. Everything seemed to be too perfect in Big Blue Nation, and so now we all come back down to reality. Devan Downey is good, but this is just another example of a guy hitting one circus shot after another against the Cats. Downey attempted 29 of his teams 64 shots, and hit only nine of them. In my opinion, the defense on him was not all that bad, but he just hit the shots in the end that he had to hit for his team to win. I will give him his due for that.

Kentucky will try to pick up win number 20 on Saturday against Vanderbilt, who now leads the SEC Eastern division at 4-0. The Commodores play Tennessee tomorrow before traveling to Rupp Arena.