LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky was able to win its 9th straight game, including 8 in a row in the SEC. Here are some other individual and team notes following the win over South Carolina Tuesday night.
Final Score: No. 5 Kentucky 76, South Carolina 48
Team Records and Series Notes
· Kentucky is now 19-3 overall and 8-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
o Kentucky has won nine in a row, longest since a 14-game win streak in 2016-17.
o Kentucky has won eight consecutive SEC games, longest since an eight-game league streak in 2016-17.
· South Carolina is 11-11 overall, 6-3 in the SEC.
· Kentucky leads the series 52-12, including 28-2 in Lexington.
· Next for Kentucky: the Wildcats play at Mississippi State on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET (noon CT in Starkville) and it will be televised on CBS.
In the First Half
· Kentucky started Ashton Hagans, Tyler Herro, Keldon Johnson, PJ Washington and Reid Travis for the 15th time this season. UK is now 12-3 with that lineup.
· Kentucky was trailing 17-13 when Coach John Calipari inserted substitutes, EJ Washington, Nick Richards, Immanuel Quickley and Jemarl Baker at the 11:45 mark. The Wildcats promptly went on a 7-0 run for a 20-17 lead.
· Trailing 24-22, the UK defense had a three-minute scoreless stretch and the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run, grabbing the lead for good at 32-24.
· All totaled, UK finished the half on a 17-4 run to take a 39-28 lead into intermission.
In the Second Half
· UK began the second half with the starting lineup.
· Ahead 39-32, Kentucky held South Carolina without a field goal for almost six minutes, and the Wildcats 9-1 run rushed the lead to 48-33.
· Kentucky continued to pull away, leading by as many as 29 points at 69-40.
· Over the last 18:50, UK outscored South Carolina 37-16.
Team Notes
· South Carolina scored 48 points. UK is 166-7 under Coach John Calipari when keeping the opponent to 63 points or less, including 14-0 this season.
o UK has held six straight opponents to 63 or less, first time that has happened since November 2015.
· UK is 71-0 under Calipari when keeping the opponent to 55 or fewer points, including 7-0 this season.
o UK has held three straight opponents to 55 or less, first time that has happened since January 2015.
· South Carolina shot only 35.8 percent from the field. UK is 175-15 (.921) under Calipari when keeping the opponent at 40 percent or less, including 10-0 this season.
o UK has held seven of the last eight opponents under 40 percent.
· Kentucky dominated the rebounding 50-27. The +23 margin is UK’s largest of the season in SEC play and third-largest of the season.
o UK actually outrebounded South Carolina 21-18 on Wildcat missed shots and UK won second-chance points 18-7.
· UK had 11 steals tonight and the Wildcats are 9-0 this season when having at least seven thefts.
· During the current nine-game win streak UK has …
o Held the opponents to 58 points per game
o Limited the opponents to 37.3 percent from the field
o Limited the opponents to 31.2 percent from 3-point range
· UK improved to 252-5 (.981) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any point in the game.
· UK has won 16 in a row at Rupp Arena, including 13-0 this season.
Player Notes
· EJ Washington had his best game as a Wildcat, notching his first career double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs.
· PJ Washington finished with 20 points and five rebounds.
· It is his sixth 20-point game of the season and he has seven straight games in double figures.
· Tyler Herro had 11 points and added three rebounds.
· Reid Travis neared a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds. He also had a season-high three steals.
· Ashton Hagans tallied two points, four assists and three steals.
· Hagans has 16 consecutive games with at least three assists. He’s led the team in assists 17 times this season.
· Nick Richards had four points, four rebounds and a steals in 11 minutes.
· UK is 9-0 this season when Richards scores at least four points.
Calipari
· Calipari is now 294-67 at UK.
· He is now three wins away from tying Joe B. Hall for the second-most victories by a UK head coach in program history.
· Calipari has a 739-207 all-time on-court record.
· UK is 238-40 vs. unranked competition under Calipari.
