It sits there in the back of their minds, gnawing, nudging, poking and most of all reminding. That South Carolina loss one month ago is still very much there in the back of the players’ minds, one subtle reminder of how close they were to perfection.Thursday night at 9 in Rupp Arena, the UK men’s basketball team will have its shot at redemption in a classic revenge game. Last time these two teams met, South Carolina let the air out of a No. 1 ranking, a 19-0 start and a call from President Barack Obama. To make matters worse, the Gamecocks made the most of their opportunity and rubbed every grain of salt in the open wound of the Cats. First there was the on-court celebration, where hundreds, maybe even thousands, of South Carolina students rushed the court and partied the night away. (One would have thought they would have tired from dancing to “Sandstorm,” the techno song that blared in Colonial Life Arena Arena over and over and over again. But I digress.)  Then came the student who called into a radio station and claimed freshman DeMarcus Cousins threw two punches at him during the postgame bum rush. If that wasn’t enough, South Carolina guard Brandis Raley-Ross took a shot at freshman guard John Wall after that game by saying that he didn’t “buy into all that hype.” The South Carolina student government followed with a smack letter to the UK student government that pointed out the Cats had lost three straight to USC in men’s basketball and challenged UK to play in Columbia, S.C., “anytime in any sport.” Basically, South Carolina milked the win for everything it was worth, and now the Cats want to make them pay for it.”Of course we want to beat them because they beat us before,” freshman forward Daniel Orton said. “Also, we want to beat them so we still have that good record. You want to beat everybody you play. It’s probably not like every other game, but we’re going to try to keep it that way.”Trash talk aside, the loss would have probably stuck in the players’ craw no matter what happened postgame because it ended the (unrealistic) dreams of going undefeated. But does that mean revenge will play a part in Thursday’s rematch?”I would have to say it is because of the fact that they beat us before and we want to get them back more than anything,” Orton said.Coaches are never one to play the revenge game, and head coach John Calipari is certainly no different. When broached about a chance for payback, Calipari took the opportunity to insist that his team is only looking to see if it improved from the first meeting. “They played us great last time,” Calipari said. “They shortened the game, they made tough shots at the end of the clock and they got 20 offensive rebounds. They were more physical than us, they played harder than we played, they did late-clock stuff better than we did. Our shot selection and toughness around the basket, we probably missed five layups, most of them because we got bumped a little bit. You have got to give them credit for what they did. When I watched the game, they deserved to win.”Two disturbing trends stuck out in the loss at South Carolina: One, Devan Downey’s ability to create shots and score points (30 of them) and the Gamecocks’ decisive edge on the offensive boards (20 offensive rebounds).No fan base will be happier to see Downey graduate than UK’s. Appropriately labeled a Cat killer, Downey is 3-2 vs. UK teams in his career. He’s averaging 21.4 points per game against UK, including a game-winner in Rupp Arena last year. The Cats had no answer for the wily 5-foot-9 guard in the first meeting, but Orton doesn’t anticipate any major defensive switches to shut him down.”Really and truly we did a good job last time,” Orton said. “He was 9-for-29. He made like, I want to say three or four of those shots there at the end. The whole game we did a really good job. If anything else, down there we really couldn’t even touch him, to tell you the truth. Everything we did to him was a foul. I think maybe we’ll have a little bit of leeway this time.”Calipari is under the impression that no matter who or how UK tries to defend him, he’s going to get his share of shots and points. Six games of 30 or more points this season can attest to that.The key, Calipari feels, will be limiting Downey to one and done, something UK failed to do the first time around when the Gamecocks posted 22 second-chance points. The Cats, a bit uncharacteristically for the season, stood around and watched as Downey ran around, through and over the defense.”What was happening to us, because he was driving, we were ball watching,” Calipari said. “When he shot a ball, their man went around and rebounded. That’s the issue of the game. But the other guys hurt us. Guys made shots and different players made tough shots at a tough time in the game.”Injuries have finally caught up to South Carolina as the Gamecocks have lost three straight and four of their last five. Downey’s shooting percentage (12-for-42 in last five contests) has also dipped as more and more players key on him. Still, Calipari isn’t taking them lightly. After all, this is the same team that stood in the Cats’ pursuit of perfection.”I’m going to tell you, they could beat us,” Calipari said. “They are good enough to beat us; they have already beaten us once. They play hard, they play really physical. Did they win last year in this building? So, they aren’t intimidated by this building. They could easily come in and beat us. We’re not walking in this game and I’m certainly not saying, ‘This is a W.’ If we win it on a half court bank shot, I’ll be happy; it will be a hard game for us.”