Kentucky’s New Number One Ranking Short Lived Against South Carolina, 26 January 2010

The Kentucky Wildcats came into South Carolina ranked number one in the country for the first time since the 2003-2004 season.  The South Carolina Gamecocks came into the game having a mediocre season with a record of 11 wins, 8 losses and 2 wins, 3 losses in the Southeastern Conference.  The game started at a fast pace, which favored Kentucky, but it quickly slowed.  The first half was plagued with turnovers, including 3 apiece from John Wall, Eric Bledsoe, and DeMarcus Cousins of Kentucky.  DeMarcus Cousins (UK) was the only threat on offense from the Cats, scoring 10 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in the first half.  The next leading scorers of the half for the Cats were John Wall, Darnell Dodson, and Patrick Patterson with 5 points each.  South Carolina’s Devan Downey led the way for SC, scoring 13 of their 26 points in the first half.  Kentucky had a slight lead at half-time with a score of 29-26.

The second half started slow and to South Carolina’s advantage.  The Kentucky Wildcats could not find an answer for Devan Downey, who was a one-man team throughout the whole basketball game.   The game was close throughout the second half and DeMarcus Cousins (UK) kept Kentucky in the game throughout with John Wall picking up the slack in the end, but, the Wildcats could not stop Devan Downey.  Devan Downey (SC) finished the game with 30 points, almost half of SC’s total points for the game.  The Wildcats kept the game close to the end, but could not pull off the win on the road.  The final score of the basketball game was 68-62 in favor of the South Carolina Gamecocks. 

Top Performers for Kentucky were:
DeMarcus Cousins - 27 points, 12 rebounds, 3 blocks (3 turnovers)
John Wall - 19 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal (4 turnovers)
Patrick Patterson - 5 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks
Darnell Dodson - 5 points, 2 rebounds, 2 steals
Eric Bledsoe - 4 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds (5 turnovers)
Daniel Orton - 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal

Without the play of DeMarcus Cousins for Kentucky, South Carolina might have blown UK out.  Besides Cousins and Wall (late in the game), no one else decided to show up for Kentucky on offense, after assuming the number one ranking in the nation just yesterday.  Maybe it was all too much for the players, dealing with the Haiti relief efforts, to gaining the number one ranking, or maybe it was just inexperience that finally rared it’s ugly head.  Either way, Kentucky finally lost today, but not all is lost.  No one should have expected the Wildcats to go undefeated on the season and a loss mid-season really doesn’t mean anything.  The Cats will get back in practice, figure out where they went wrong and get their heads together.  This WILL STILL BE a strong team to beat when March rolls around.

Kentucky’s next game is at home against the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday, 30 January 2010, at 4:00 p.m. (EST).

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