Coming off its first Southeastern Conference win in three years, the Kentucky football team is beginning to generate an aura of excitement not seen around these parts in years. But with said recent success comes mounting challenges.The stakes for the 3-1 (1-1 SEC) Wildcats only ratchet up from here, beginning with a visit from South Carolina on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. on SEC Network.The Gamecocks (3-2, 2-2 SEC) have played one of the toughest schedules in the country, with a win over No. 13 Georgia in Week 3 as proof of the talent of Steve Spurrier’s team.Mark Stoops is fully embracing, but still wary of, the challenges that go along with trying to win two straight games in the nation’s toughest conference.As happy he was with his team — especially his defense — in delivering his first SEC win as a head coach over Vanderbilt last Saturday, he’s looking to improve on multiple fronts.”We’re far from where we want to be, but we are drastically improved on fundamentally how to play football,” Stoops said. “I think we need to continue to work on that.”Playing fundamental football was a major theme of Stoops’ Monday lunchtime press conference, where he previewed Saturday’s matchup with the Gamecocks.”A big part of (Kentucky’s defensive improvement this season) is just fundamentally playing better,” Stoops said. “That’s what I’ve always prided myself on is teaching the guys how to play. … Our team is starting to get that at times, but it comes down to being a fundamental football team on both sides of the ball and on special teams.  “We just need to continue to improve and worry about ourselves and get better at what we’re trying to do.”One area the Wildcats will look to improve is on offense.While UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown had plenty to be happy about — namely a 13-play, 99-yard touchdown drive to open the game, a 66-yard scoring drive to end the half and 201 passing yards for quarterback Patrick Towles — a game in which UK’s defense allowed its fewest yards in a SEC game since 1996 was still closer than it may have needed to be.The Wildcats put 17 points on the board in total, which it should be said was enough to win by double digits, but UK’s head coach was eager to point out areas where his team can improve.”We got behind the chains with certain things, you know,” Stoops said. “Whether it be a fumble or a penalty and just silly things, just got behind the chains, and we missed some shots. We had our opportunities, and we just missed them slightly. … So we’ve just got to be more precise and execute better.”Stoops would also like his team to play sharper in front of the home fans, who have been coming out in bigger numbers of late and will have a chance of seeing UK go 4-0 at Commonwealth Stadium for the first time since 2008 on Saturday. A season-high 56,940 members of Big Blue Nation watched last Saturday’s win, and UK will look to repay the favor with a strong showing this week in the season’s first night game, and a blackout to boot.”We’re trying to play as best we can every week, no matter where it is,” Stoops said. “You heard me talk about it a couple weeks ago. Sometimes we’re playing some of our better football on the road at times. We’ve got to get back to playing the best we can here.”