First Scouting Report: At South Carolina, UK will seek to avenge an embarrassing loss
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 8 Kentucky (14-3, 4-1 SEC) will face South Carolina (15-3, 3-2 SEC) on Tuesday, Jan. 23, at Colonial Life Arena (seating capacity 18,000) in Columbia, S.C.
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by the SEC Network.
Behind 18 points and nine rebounds from B.J. Mack, South Carolina won at Arkansas 77-64 Saturday.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with South Carolina 54-14 — but the Gamecocks have taken three of the past six meetings.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 13-5 vs. South Carolina.
Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris is 1-0 vs. UK.
Most recent meeting
South Carolina guard Meechie Johnson hit 9 of 16 shots, 6 of 10 3-pointers, and scored 26 points with six assists to lead the Gamecocks — a 19 1/2-point underdog — to a 71-68 upset of Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Jan. 10, 2023.
Shooting a pedestrian 31.1% on 3-point tries entering the game, South Carolina made 11 of 20 treys against Kentucky.
The Gamecocks’ shocking win snapped a 28-game Wildcats win streak at Rupp Arena.
Oscar Tshiebwe led the Wildcats with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
In the game prior to facing UK, South Carolina had lost at home to Tennessee 85-42. The Gamecocks would go on to finish their season at 11-21.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 17, South Carolina No. 71.
In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 17 and South Carolina No. 73.
Know your foe
1. Entering play Saturday, South Carolina was 5-3 versus power conference foes (the football Power Five plus the Big East).
Based off the NCAA NET rankings, the Gamecocks’ best win is over No. 33 Mississippi State. South Carolina has also beaten No. 59 Virginia Tech, won at No. 116 Missouri, and beaten No. 157 Notre Dame and No. 311 DePaul.
The three losses to power conference opponents for coach Lamont Paris’ team are to No. 5 Alabama, at No. 40 Clemson and to No. 79 Georgia.
2. Meechie Johnson, the star (see above) of South Carolina’s upset of Kentucky at Rupp Arena last season, is the Gamecocks’ top player this season.
A transfer from Ohio State, the 6-foot-2, 184-pound junior entered play Saturday averaging a career-high 17.3 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and one steal a game. Before Saturday, the native of Cleveland, Ohio, was making 51% on two-point field goal attempts, 36.1% on treys and 43.8% of his shots overall. From the foul line, Johnson was making 82.3%.
In South Carolina’s first four SEC games, Johnson averaged 16 points and made 20 of 47 shots and 10 of 27 3-pointers.
3. For college basketball fans in Kentucky, there are two familiar faces starting for South Carolina.
Entering play Saturday, former Vanderbilt forward Myles Stute was averaging 9.9 points and 3.9 rebounds for South Carolina. The 6-6, 209-pound forward played against UK eight times during his three seasons at Vandy, averaging 4.6 points and 3.5 rebounds against the Wildcats.
Stute’s history against the Cats epitomizes “up and down.” In his first game against Kentucky in 2020-21, Stute hit 4 of 9 3-pointers and had 16 points and six rebounds. In the 2022 SEC Tournament meeting between UK and Vandy, Stute hit three treys and had 11 points and six boards.
However, Stute also went scoreless in three of the eight games he played against Kentucky for Vanderbilt.
Meanwhile, running the point for South Carolina — and doing so quite effectively — is Ta’Lon Cooper. The 6-4, 200-pound super-senior played his first three college seasons for Preston Spradlin at Morehead State and was a key player on the Eagles’ 2020-21 NCAA Tournament team.
For his “free COVID year”of eligibility, Cooper, a native of Roebuck, South Carolina, has returned to his home state after playing for Minnesota last year.
Going into Saturday’s game at Arkansas, Cooper was averaging 9.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and had 72 assists against only 19 turnovers. Cooper was shooting 55% on 2-point tries, 38.6% on treys and 47.7% overall, while also making 72.7% of his free-throw attempts.
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