Ninth-ranked Kentucky hosts No. 25 South Carolina Saturday in a midseason conference matchup to decide first place in the SEC?s Eastern Division. The Gamecocks (19-3, 6-2 SEC) come into Rupp Arena with a half-game lead over UK (15-3, 5-2 SEC).
The Wildcats return home after playing four of their last five on the road, most recently a stirring, 68-65, come-from-behind win over No. 21 Florida in Gainesville. Kentucky trailed by eight with 2:57 before scoring the game?s final 11 points. Cliff Hawkins? layup off a steal with 1:14 remaining provided the go ahead points for UK.
In a special pregame ceremony, Kentucky celebrates the 50-year reunion of its 1954 squad that finished the season undefeated and ranked No. 1 and featured All-Americans Cliff Hagan and Frank Ramsey. Despite it?s perfect regular season, the 1954 team declined a spot in the NCAA Tournament because of a rule that declared graduate students – such as UK starters Hagan, Ramsey and Lou Tsioropoulos – ineligible for postseason play.
The South Carolina Gamecocks
A much-improved South Carolina squad is currently atop the SEC East with a 6-2 league mark. USC has won six of its last seven games, including a 90-82 overtime home decision against Alabama on Wednesday.
Carlos Powell leads USC with 13.8 ppg and 6.7 rpg, while Josh Gonner is the only other player in double figures with 12.1 ppg. Mike Boynton dishes out 4.0 assists per game to lead the Gamecocks.
Coach Dave Odom is in his thirds season at South Carolina and holds a 53-35 record at USC. In his 18th year as a head coach, Odom is 340-208, including a 240-132 record in 12 seasons at Wake Forest.
Series History
This marks the 37th meeting between the two teams with UK holding a 31-5 overall advantage. Kentucky has won 14 of the last 15 meetings, dating back to the 1997 season. UK had owned a 12-game win streak against the Gamecocks before USC defeated the Cats in the quarterfinals of the 2002 SEC Tournament.
The game is the 28th in the series since South Carolina joined the conference in 1992. UK owns a 23-4 record against the Gamecocks since that time.
UK is 16-1 all-time against USC in Lexington. The only Wildcat home loss came on Mar. 2, 1997, a Senior Day defeat in Rupp Arena.
Dave Odom is in his third season at the helm of the Carolina program, but coached against UK twice while at Wake Forest. Overall, he?s 1-6 against the Cats, including a 1-4 record at USC. Previously at Wake, he suffered losses to UK in the 1993 NCAA Southeast Region semifinals, 103-69, and in the 1996 Midwest Region Finals, 83-63.
Tubby Smith, a former Gamecock assistant coach (1986-89), is 17-3 against South Carolina and has lost only one game to the Gamecocks while at UK, a 70-57 defeat in the 2002 SEC Tournament. He?s 14-1 against USC while at Kentucky.
UK-USC Connections
UK assistant Scott Rigot served as a graduate assistant (1986-87) and assistant coach (1987-90) at South Carolina. It was there Tubby Smith met Rigot while both served as assistants on George Felton?s staff.
