Big Blue Preview: Kentucky at South Carolina
After falling at Auburn on Saturday night, Kentucky hits the road again, visiting Columbia to face South Carolina on Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET, SEC Network).
The Cats got a career-high 29 points from Otega Oweh on Saturday, but saw a late lead slip away in a 75-74 loss to the Tigers. Kentucky is now 17-10 overall this season, including an 8-6 record in Southeastern Conference play.
Oweh has moved into 54th place on Kentucky’s career scoring list with 1,065 points in two seasons in Lexington. He needs five points to pass Dirk Minniefield for 53rd, and nine points to pass Rex Chapman for 52nd.
This season, Oweh leads UK, averaging 17.8 points per game. Denzel Aberdeen is second, scoring 12.7 points per outing, while Collin Chandler scores 10.0 points per contest.
South Carolina (12-15, 3-11) snapped a seven-game losing streak by beating Mississippi State 97-89 on Saturday. The Gamecocks made 12 of 24 from behind the arc and had five players in double figures in the game.
Meechie Johnson, who scored 26 points against Kentucky in 2023, leads the Gamecocks in scoring, averaging 17.1 points per game. Mike Sharavjamts is second on the team, averaging 11.1 points per game, and grabs a team-best 5.4 rebounds per game.
Kentucky leads the all-time series with South Carolina 55-15, including a 21-10 mark in Columbia. The Cats pounded the Gamecocks 80-57 last season behind 17 points from Oweh and 15 from Brandon Garrison. That win snapped a two-game losing streak to South Carolina, who beat UK in 2023 and 2024.
Know Your Opponent: South Carolina
Kentucky visits South Carolina on Tuesday night.
• Kentucky leads the all-time series, 55-15, and is 21-10 in Columbia
• UK downed the Gamecocks, 80-57, as season ago. Otega Oweh led the way for the Cats with 17 points and Brandon Garrison chipped in with 15 points
• Joe Crawford has the UK scoring record in the series with 35 points in 2008. The highest scoring game in the series came in 1979 with UK prevailing by a 126-81 score
• South Carolina is 12-15 overall and 3-11 against league foes
• The Gamecocks are coming off of a 97-89 win over Mississippi State on Saturday. The 97 points were the most points the team had scored all season long
• Meechie Johnson paces the offense at 17.1 points per game, while Mike Sharavjamts leads on the boards with 5.4 per outing
• The Gamecocks’ Kobe Knox is the younger brother of former UK standout Kevin Knox. Kevin Knox averaged 15.6 points per game and was tabbed the SEC Freshman of the Year in 2017-18 in his lone season with the Cats. He went on to be drafted No. 7 overall by the New York Knicks
Last Time Out
Kentucky dropped a heartbreaker, 75-74, on the road at Auburn. It marked the third straight loss for the Cats, the longest streak in Mark Pope’s tenure:
• UK’s 17 offensive rebounds were its most against an SEC opponent this season and the second most for the Wildcats on the year
• Kentucky won the overall rebounding battle, 38-33. The Cats are 13-4 on the season when outrebounding the opponent
• The Wildcats held Auburn to 40 percent shooting and just 26 percent from beyond the arc. It is the first time Kentucky has lost this season when holding an opponent under 30 percent from 3-point range, moving its record to 9-1 in such games
• UK limited Auburn’s leading scorer, Keyshawn Hall to just 10 points on 3-of-15 shooting. He was averaging 21.0 points per game coming into the contest
• The loss was the first for Kentucky this season when leading at halftime, moving the Cats’ record to 11-1 in such games this year. UK is 32-2 under Mark Pope when leading at the intermission
• Otega Oweh scored career high of 29 points. He is the first Kentucky player to score 25 or more points in two consecutive games since Antonio Reeves in December of 2023 and the first to score at least 28 points in consecutive SEC games since Oscar Tshiebwe on Jan. 8 and 11, 2022
• Oweh is the first Wildcat to score at least 29 points at Auburn since Jim Master on Feb. 3, 1982
