Kentucky vs South Carolina....A Preview

Lwcat
WT Administrator
Kentucky vs South Carolina 1/31/09
Saturday at 3PM
Raycom, ESPN Full Court

South Carolina

Location-Columbia, SC
Enrollment-27,065
Arena-18,000

Coach-Darrin Horn
Career Record-111-48 (69.8%) in 5 seasons
Career Record at South Carolina-This is his first season at SC

2007-08 Record-14-18
2007-08 SEC Record-5-11 (5th-East)

2008-09 Record-15-4
2008-09 SEC Record-4-2

South Carolina 89 Jacksonville State 76
South Carolina 86 Winthrop 63
South Carolina 75 USC Upstate 53
South Carolina 85 Gardner-Webb 70
Charleston 82 South Carolina 80
South Carolina 84 Princeton 58
South Carolina 72 Furman 48
South Carolina 90 North Carolina Central 43
South Carolina 80 Citadel 66
South Carolina 75 Presbyterian 56
Clemson 98 South Carolina 87
South Carolina 85 Baylor 84
South Carolina 78 Wofford 61
South Carolina 68 Auburn 56
LSU 85 South Carolina 68
Tennessee 82 South Carolina 79
South Carolina 70 Florida 69
South Carolina 82 Mississippi 71
South Carolina 86 Vanderbilt 76

SC STATS

Scoring-79.9
FG%-46.4%
3 Point FG%-38.2%
FT%-63.9%
Rebounds-36.3
Assists-11.6
TO’s-13.6
Steals-9.9
Blocks-4.2

UK STATS

Scoring-78.5
FG%-49.6%
3 Point FG%-34.7%
FT%-79.0%
Rebounds-38.8
Assists-17.0
TO’s-18.0
Steals-6.5
Blocks-7.3

Probable Starting Lineup

Dominique Archie-F-6’7” Jr……….PPG-11.5
Mike Holmes-F-6’7” Soph…………PPG-11.0
Sam Muldrow-C-6’9” Soph………..PPG-5.0
Devan Downey-G-5’9” Jr…………..PPG-19.6
Zam Fredrick-G-6’0” Sr……………PPG-15.6

Other Key Players

Brandis Raley-Ross-G-6’2” Jr……..PPG-6.8
Austin Steed-F-6’8” Soph………….PPG-4.8
Evaldas Baniulis-F-6’7” Jr…………PPG-7.7

Darrin Horn, after leading Western, Ky to the 2nd round in the NCAA, replaced Dave Odom as South Carolina coach for this season. In August, Horn took the Gamecocks to the Czach Republic, Slovakia and Austria for a four game basketball tour. Coach Horn pointed to the trip as being very important in terms of the practice time, understanding the new system and spending time with the team. Importantly, the Gamecocks return 4 starters and 7 letterman. South Carolina is led by their 2 terrific guards….Downey and Fredrick….who are the two top scorers. Downey is one of the very best players in the SEC….averaging 19.6 PPG…..and shooting a solid 47.2% from the field. Downey also leads the team in assists and steals. South Carolina has 4 players who average in double figures and 10 players who average 5 points or more. In addition, the Gamecocks are a good 3 point shooting team hitting 38.2%.....in fact, Baniulis has hit 35-66 3 pointers for a smoking hot 53%. Coach Horn loves to push the ball…..play uptempo….and Horn and Fredrick are quick guards who love this kind of play. South Carolina averages 80 PPG and get scoring from a number of different players which make them hard to defend. South Carolina comes into Rupp Arena with a 3 game SEC winning streak and Coach Horn and the Gamecocks will a very tough opponent for UK.

Kentucky comes back to friendly Rupp Arena after playing a disappointing lackluster game in losing to Ole Miss. The Cats were simply outplayed by Ole Miss in all facets of the game. Bottom line…..UK needs to regroup and dedicate itself to playing hard nose defense….something that was sorely lacking in Oxford. In South Carolina, UK faces a quick good shooting parameter team that is very good at penetrating and dishing off for 3 point shots. It will be critical for the Cats to significantly improve their poor parameter defense or it could be a long night. Coach Gillispie was obviously not pleased with the number of 3 pointers launched by the Cats in the Ole Miss game….particularly 7 such shots from Liggins who is not shooting even 20% from long range. UK must find a way to get Meeks free for more shots….and must find away to get more scoring opportunities for Patterson. In addition, Gillispie must soon get some consistent scoring from another backcourt player to help take the pressure off of Meeks. Miller and Porter appear to be the best backcourt shooters aside from Meeks, but they have been too indecisive on the offensive end….too often hesitating to take open shots or passing up open shots. Another possibility is to give Slone some minutes to see if he can find the range from long distance. Also, Billy might consider giving more minutes to Harrellson and see if he can add some offensive punch. Without other players scoring, it allows opponents to easily devise a defense to minimize scoring from Meeks and Patterson….while allowing other UK players, who have not demonstrated much offense, to take the shots.

The margin of error for this UK team is small and they must understand that without consistent tough aggressive defense, the Cats could easily lose to a number of remaining SEC teams. The Ole Miss game is a prime example of what happens when you don’t show up for a game and play good defense! UK is now two thirds through this season and unfortunately this team still has some major issues. The PG position is still a problem as Liggins has continued to struggle with poor decision making and too many mistakes while Porter has provided very little help offensively and is simply not a true PG. Miller is improving, especially defensively, but has not been able to deliver the hoped for offense thus far. Galloway, for unknown reasons, has seen very little time in games and has not had the impact that UK fans expected. Harrellson, with offensive potential, has seen his court time diminish greatly…apparently due to his defense. TO’s have remained a problem all year, although UK did only have 10 TO’s in the Ole Miss game. A lack of consistency on defense, especially parameter defense remains a major problem as does finding additional scorers to help Meeks and Patterson. How much success the Cats are able to achieve in the remaining SEC games, the SEC tourney and the NCAA will depend on how successful UK is in overcoming these various issues or problems.

The Gamecocks are the first of three home games….followed by Miss. St. and Florida. It is critical that the Cats win at Rupp Arena, but it won’t be easy. It is hoped that the loss at Ole Miss was a wake up call for these Cats and they will come to play Saturday with a smothering hardnose defense. I see the South Carolina game as a very tough contest, but playing at Rupp Arena should be enough to help the Cats earn a hard fought victory. GO CATS!