That will do it for us tonight at VAVEL USA, we look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday for the game at Tennessee. thanks for joining us!
Player of the game was Willie Cauley-Stein, who scored 14 points and pulled in 7 rebounds. Thornwell for USC quietly did all he could for the Gamecocks while pouring in 20.
UK moves to 25-0 which ties the best start in the long history of UK basketball. They will look to extend that and set the record on Wednesday.
Kentucky will head to Tennessee on Tuesday for their next game, where they are said to have a 96% chance of winning.
UK held South Carolina to 23.6% from the field which is nearly 10% lower than there nation leading mark in that category. The most impressive part of this game was Uk's smothering defense that never let up from the beginning to the end of this game. The offense for the Wildcats also looked much better tonight, and if they continue to show this kind of game, we may see an undefeated team headed into the NCAA tournament.
Calipari is off on a plane to New York to see some of his prior players in the All-Star game festivities.
Post game comments from Cal: "Im honored and humbled, just like I tell my team, its about the team, individual stuff comes after the season." when talking about being nominated for the Hall of Fame.
Finish: UK wins 77-43 with the final score reflecting exactly what the game was, a blowout.
2nd Half (36.0): After another Thornwell basket, Dakari Johnson comes back down the floor to score and register a double-double. UK 77-40
2nd Half (1:01): Dominique Hawkins with a 3 pointer!!
2nd Half (1:55): Thornwell scores his 15th point on a floater over Lee. UK 72-38
2nd Half (2:46): Hawkins misses both free throws, UK still leads 72-36
2nd Half (3:42): Hawkins and Willis have gotten into the game. I know there is a lot of big blue fans out there that is very happy about this!
2nd Half (4:30): Yet another offensive rebound for UK, leads to an assist for Booker to Towns for 2. UK 72-33
2nd Half (5:13): Back to back threes from Andrew Harrison and Booker extends the lead to the largest of the game
2nd Half (6:28): Stein with another dunk from an alley-oop!!! Harrison throws the lob and WCS just climbs up to get it!! UK 67-33
2nd Half (7:12): Headed into the under 8 timeout UK is up 60-33 with no signs of letting up.
2nd Half (7:39): Steele from South Carolina with the floater.
2nd Half (9:03): Ulis to Lee!! The lobs and dunks are flowing tonight!!!
2nd Half (10:!5): Nice drive by Notice, scores to bring the score to 56-27
2nd Half (11:03): Thornwell at the line after drawing the foul, sinks both. UK 56-25
2nd Half (11:23): Lyles steps up to the line and sinks both free throws, giving them the lead 56-23
2nd Half (11:23): Lyles scores on the baseline jumper, then comes back down and draws a foul on the breakaway on the Cats next possession, he is a big time player. He does everything in such a quiet manner, doesnt stick out but plays like a big timer!
2nd Half (13:19): Cauley-Stein showing some versitility tonight, sinks the shot to put the Cats up 52-23
2nd Half (13:50): USC knocks down a 3 to make it 50-23
2nd Half (14:18): Andrew Harrison sinks 2 free throws. 50-20
2nd Half (14:45): Andrew Harrison throws it away. USC tries to come back and attack but UK is not having it. They are in shutdown mode right now.
2nd Half (15:23): Thornwell fouls Booker on the mid range jumper, Booker hits 1-2 from the line. UK 48-20
2nd Half (15:37): Vitale talking about Minningfield dunk, for 6'3" that guy could get up!
2nd Half (15:58): We head into a break with UK up 47-18. At this rate, Frank Martin may or may not need to be sedated.
2nd Half (17:13): Harrison to Willie!! The monster dunk for WCS!! The alley oop was set up in transition and it was a rim rocker!!
2nd Half (18:!4): For the lack of being able to spell the USC power forward's name, I will refer to him as Chat. He has picked up his 4th foul in the paint battling against Dakari Johnson.
2nd Half (19:14): The best UK lineup is when Ulis and Andrew Harrison are both on the floor. UK 45-18
2nd Half (20:00): UK brings the ball up the floor. It is the white platoon along with Andrew Harrison.
Halftime: If you are part of the BBN, the best Valentine's Day present is a UK blowout!! #BBN
Halftime: Say what you want about Dick Vitale, that man does everything he can to bring excitment to the game. He is passionate and has a great heart for the basketball community.
Halftime: If you didnt see it earlier, the kid from SMU sunk the State Farm halftime shot for $18,000. What do you think that money will be spent on??
Halftime: Hoping that we can see some time for Hawkins and Willis in the second half. With a large margin, I am not sure why they cant get a few meaningful minutes to showcase their skills.
Halftime: The keys for South Carolina to make this game respectable is for their two big players, Notice and Thornwell, need to go off. Also, they need to pack the paint and pray that UK cant hit a shot. Even then, I dont think it will be enough. With the defense UK played that half, if they can duplicate, they might not need to score in the second half to win.
Halftime: UK outscored South Carolina 24-4 in the paint. If USC wants to get back in this game, that stat is going to have to flip in the second half, and I just dont see that happening. Kentucky looks like an NBA team out there against the Gamecocks tonight.
Halftime: Coach Calipari at half says "we are really guarding, like our guard play, we are playing good basketball." UK leads at half 43-18
1st Half (40.0): MARCUS LEE!! Tyler Ulis recovers a loose ball and throws it up to the rim, and Lee dunks it over the whole defense. UK 43-18
1st Half (1:13): Go Big Blue chants erupt in Lexington!
1st Half (1:47): Cauley-Stein with a baseline jumper to get the crowd on their feet in Rupp Arena! UK 41-14
1st Half (2:49): Aaron Harrison with another and 1. UK 39-14
1st Half (3:12): Moving screen on Dakari Johnson gives USC the ball and they capitalize with a 3 on the end. UK 36-14
1st Half (3:45): This team is showing its real potential tonight. If this teams plays at this level on both ends of the floor during any game, against any team, they will win. It does not matter the opponent or how good they are playing. When UK is playing at 90% of its potential, the game is over before it begins.
1st Half (3:45): We are at the next media timeout. UK is up 25
1st Half (4:14): Marcus Lee hustling down the floor to beat USC's Johnson to the spot and drawing the charge for the Cats
1st Half (4:53): Dakari Johnson at the line, sinks both, continuing to show improvement at the line. He wants to be in during the late games.
1st Half (5:09): Thornwell gets into the paint and scores on a floater. UK 34-11
1st Half (5:40): Devin Booker from the corner for 3!! The Cats seemingly cant miss from the field!!
1st Half (5:52) Uk's defense continues to shut down South Carolina, Andrew Harrison forcing a 5 second call.
1st Half (6:06): Trey Lyles continues to show his NBA ready skillset. Very impressed kwith this young mans game.
1st Half (6:38): Lyles with a beautiful one-step into the middle of the lane and sinks the jumper. 30-9
1st Half (7:23): Willie elevates over the defense for a layup, 28-9
1st Half (7:40): Thornwell at the line sinks 1-2. UK 26-9
1st Half (7:53): Julius Randle and James Young are both in the house tonight!
1st Half (7:53): Vitale is making some decent points, but cant seem to find much to talk about other than how perfect UK is executing.
1st Half (7:58): The UK defense fell asleep on that play, Led to a Henry dunk for South Carolina.
1st Half (8:20): Aaron Harrison attacking hard and makes a circus layup for the And 1! Sinks the free throw to put the Cats up 26-6
1st Half (8:31): WCS was just out guarding the point guard and didnt look out of position at all. SO Impressive!
1st Half (9:26): Tyler Ulis with the high IQ assist to Aaron Harrison for the THREE!!! 23-6
1st Half (10:55): UK gets a beautiful offensive look for Dakari Johnson. UK 20-6
1st Half (11:10): The white platoon brings so much energy to the game and their defensive intensity doesnt drop off one bit.
1st Half (11:10): We have reached another break and UK leads the Gamecocks 18-6.
1st Half (11:17): Henry for USC banks in a 3-pointer. At this point they will take it any way it will go in the basket.
1st Half (12:!2): Marcus Lee with a big block on the defensive end. Booker with the jumper on the other end. UK 18-3
1st Half (12:55): This UK defense is looking like the one from out of conference. Absolutely shutting down the Gamecocks.
1st Half (13:45): Thornwell takes it right at Towns and Cauley-Stein, draws a foul, hits 1-2 at the line, UK up 12-3
1st Half (14:19): WOAH! Andrew Harrison throwing a full court pass ahead to Willie Cauley-Stein for the breakaway dunk!!! 10-2 Cats
1st Half (15:46): UK showing their size is possibly too much to handle for the Gamecocks. Trey Lyles pulls down an offensive board and puts one back to put UK up 8-2.
1st Half (15:59): First break in the action. So far, Towns is making all the noise on the court. Kentucky is also playing very good defense, as South Carolina struggles to find a rhythm on the offensive end. UK leads 6-2.
1st Half (17:10): Towns continues to show improvement with a running jump hook with the left hand. He has six points, UK up 6-2.
1st Half (18:25): Towns sinks two free throws, UK up 4-0.
1st Half (19:50 Left): Towns with a monsterous dunk to start the game on the right foot for the Cats.
1st Half (20:00 Min Left): Here we go! Tip off is attained by Kentucky.
Trey Lyles makes his return to the starting lineup for the first time since January 24th. Along with the Harrisons, Cauley-Stein and Towns.
John Wall's mother is in attendance tonight in Rupp Arena, first time since her son went to the NBA.
Top 25 watch: #23 Ohio State falls to Michigan State in Lansing. Big win for Tom Izzo's bunch.
Top 25 watch from around the country. Both North Carolina and Kansas trail in the final minutes of their games. Looks like tonight could be a big night for upsets.
It was announced tonight that John Calipari is a finalist for College Basketball Hall of Fame. After carrying an official career record of 579-175 and an on court record of 621-177, including the 2012 National Championship, he is more than worthy of the honor.
With just under 30 minutes before tip off, the Cats are shooting around, getting ready for the game. Luckily, Trey Lyles has already been spotted tonight, so we dont have to worry about #wherestrey.
Wooden Watch: Willie Cauley-Stein was named a Top 20 Finalist for the award that will be given out at the end of this basketball season. Cauley-Stein suffers from the lack of minutes, but if you look at effeciency, his numbers are some of the best in the game. It seems he is a long shot for this award, but National Defensive Player of the Year seems very likely.
Who to watch for this game from South Carolina, Notice and Thornwell. They are the two leading scorers for the Gamecocks and have the biggest chance of going off for a career game in Rupp Arena. If Kentucky can contain these two scorers, it will greatly help their chances to stay undefeated.
What can we expect from the game tonight? After a lopsided victory on South Carolina's home court, I would put my money on Kentucky coming out and doing the same again tonight in Rupp Arena. As we have seen over the years though, Rupp Arena brings out the best in teams, and it could very well happen tonight with Frank Martin at the helm.
Welcome everyone! My pick for today's player of the game is Karl Anthony-Towns. KAT has been playing at a high level over the last several games and I only look for him to improve further in this game against a smaller front court in South Carolina. Who is your pick for player of the game?
The Gamecocks will try to spoil the undefeated party for UK again this year against the Wildcat faithful in Rupp Arena. Keep it right here at VAVEL USA for the next few hours as we lead you through the game, on this Live Kentucky Wildcats - South Carolina Gamecocks
Coming in, South Carolina is 1-11 all time against the number 1 ranked team in the nation. The only win, against the Wildcats in 2010, when John Wall and company took their first loss of the season.
But, if South Carolina is going to escape with a victory, it's going to need more than Thornwell, it's going to need Duane Notice to show up and do his part as well. As the second leading scorer on this team, Notice was shutdown completely in the last meeting, not scoring one field goal in the entire contest. They are going to need a solid game out of both of them to have a prayer in Lexington.
If there is one player that you can expect to make an impact for the Gamecocks in Lexington on Saturday, it's Sindarius Thornwell. “A win always boosts your confidence. Right now, good vibes, everybody’s feeling good about themselves,” he said about the current progress of his team. Last game against the Cats, he scored 14 points, with six rebounds and five assist. He is currently South Carolina’s leading scorer, averaging 11.5 point per game, and has been showing consistency over the last eight games, where he has scored in double figures in each. This is a young man that could have a Super Bowl kind of night in Rupp Arena.
Despite the talent Martin has on his roster, South Carolina (12-11, 3-8 SEC) has not been able to put together a very successful campaign thus far in the SEC. Shooting a league low 36.5% and only putting an average of 59.4 points per contest. They did find success last Tuesday against Missouri, who is another up and coming program in the SEC.
Devin Booker led the Wildcats in scoring in the matchup from earlier in this season, scoring 18 points. His teammate Aaron Harrison poured in 13 points as the teams second leading score. This year, Booker has shown consistency in his scoring abilities, seemingly putting up double figures with minimal effort and even more minimal minutes. As for Aaron Harrison, he continues to be streaky as ever, but when he is hot, he is a one man wrecking crew.
The last time these two teams faced off in Rupp Arena was Feb 5, 2013, when Kentucky routed South Carolina 75-55. One thing we can all agree on though, is the Frank Martin has gotten this team looking better and better and this Kentucky team is nothing like the one from last season.
Out of the last 8 times these two teams have faced off, Kentucky has come away with the victory 7 times, but that won’t keep this young South Carolina team from coming in here and giving the young Cats everything that they have.
The Cats also showed one of its most impressive weapons on offense, the run. It seems like every game the Wildcats hammer away at their opponents until, out of nowhere, they pull together an impressive of stops and scores and they create the separation. They did that behind a 14-0 run last game, and will look to do the same in Lexington this afternoon.
The Wildcats came in and took control of the game defensively, showing why this team is on pace to be a historically significant team, posting numbers that some people deem, “ridiculous”. They held South Carolina to only 43 points in their victory, holding the Gamecocks to a mere 22.6% percent from the field. A mark that hasn’t happened to South Carolina since the 1196-97 season. They also forced the Gamecocks into 12 turnovers before the final buzzer sounded with the score reading 58-43.
Calipari has been doing all that he can to take the pressure off these players; from taking them to the movies, to sending out tweets through Twitter that blow up the “Twittersphere”. If you are not up to date with what I am talking about, #whereistrey, was the story of the entire day leading up to the game against the Tigers of LSU. In his pre-game conference, Cal admitted that it was a stupid prank but he is willing to do anything to try to relieve some of the stress and pressure that comes along with being the nation’s number 1, undefeated team.
During its pursuit of perfection, Kentucky (24-0, 11-0 SEC) has had some tough test. Being taken to overtime by Ole Miss in Rupp Arena and then the next game at Texas A&M, being pushed to the brink in double overtime. The SEC has been relentless with t-shirt nights and sell out crowds, doing all that it can to crush the dreams of a perfect season. The Wildcats last game went down the wire in Baton Rouge, when they lost a 15 point lead in a hurry, and were a buzzer beater shot away from taking their first blemish on the year.
The 1953-54 Cats hold the previous mark at 25-0, which was the end of their season. That team declined an NCAA Tournament birth, but this one will be the favorite in the same post season event.
Kentucky coach John Calipari is working in overdrive you keep his players focused as they head down the stretch of the SEC regular season. Tonight, the Wildcats have a chance to tie the best start in school history.
Hello, everyone, and welcome to VAVEL USA's live of Kentucky - South Carolina, a massive SEC basketball matchup between two budding rivals. I'm Nate Smith and I'll be your host through the event. Stay with us throughout!