The Pinkie Previews: Kentucky (19-0, 4-0) at South Carolina (11-8, 2-3)

Following Saturday’s thrashing of the Arkansas Razorbacks, the Kentucky Wildcats now enter their contest against South Carolina as the only undefeated team and the No. 1 team in the country. It marks the first time that the ‘Cats will enter a game as the overall No. 1 team since they lost to Dwyane Wade and Marquette in the 2003 NCAA Midwest Regional Finals.

The Wildcats own a 153-23 all-time mark as the top-ranked team in the country.

South Carolina enters the game with an 11-8 overall record, 2-3 in league play, and losers of three strait. In their last contest at Florida they lost on a last second buzzer beater by Chandler Parsons. The same Parsons that drilled the 75-footer at the horn to down N.C. State a few weeks ago.

Their recent struggles can be directly attributed to their poor shooting. They knocked down only 38.2 percent of their shots at Florida and shot just 32.1 percent against Ole Miss. Overall, in league play they are shooting just 40.3 percent.

When you think of South Carolina, you have to first think Devan Downey. He is averaging a ridiculous 31.6 ppg in league play, which is 12 points a game more than the second best scorer in the conference. He has scored at least 20 points in seven of his last eight games.

Downey stands at just 5’9″, and that’s if he is wearing high heels, but he plays much bigger than that. He is confident with the basketball, has the ability to shoot it from deep, and if you play up on him he can blow right by you. He has unbelievable control with the basketball and uses change of speed to irritate defenders. He plays much bigger than he is because he can contort his body and fade away to get off shots in the lane. He gets off about 22 shots per game, 14 from inside the arc and 8 from deep, and he is also a great finisher at the rim. His finishing ability allows him to draw contact and get to the line often as he is averaging about nine free throw attempts per game.

Simply put, he is a pure scorer and he is going to get his. Defensively, you just want to limit his effectiveness. You do that by forcing him into tough twos. Kentucky does not want to allow Downey to shoot it from deep or get to the rim. Keep him inside the arc and force him to pull up and make tough shots.

Brandis Raley-Ross, a 6’2″ senior guard, is their second best scorer and their best threat from deep. He is averaging 10.1 points per game and is shooting 43-percent from beyond the arc, knocking down a team-high 38 three-pointers.

He is a streaky shooter who, when hot, can help Downey make the Gamecocks’ offense click. When he isn’t feeling it from the perimeter, he sometimes becomes a little bit nonexistent. After scoring in double figures in the first three SEC games, he has only scored seven points combined in the last two games.

The matchup in the backcourt with Downey facing John Wall and Eric Bledsoe is highly anticipated. But, South Carolina is in for a definite disadvantage underneath against DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson. The ‘Cocks were already thin up front, but just six games into the season they lost both Dominique Archie, to a knee injury, and Mike Holmes, to dismissal, which further dismantled their frontline.

In SEC play South Carolina is getting outrebounded by nearly four a game. A stat which should definitely come back to haunt them against a Kentucky team that has one of the deepest and most talented frontlines in the nation.

The lone bright spot for the ‘Cocks underneath has been the play of the 6’9″ junior, Sam Muldrow. Muldrow is averaging 9.2 points per game on the year and really is their only threat at the rim. He won’t go into defenders to get to the bucket but he has nice footwork and his long arms allow him to shoot over them.

He is also a prominent shot blocker, averaging 3.3 per game, which is second to only Mississippi State’s Jarvis Varnado.

Defensively the Gamecocks will mix up their defenses, primarily with man-to-man and 2-3 zone. They aren’t great in either set but they change it up in an attempt to confuse defenses. Look for them to continue the trend against UK and stay in that 2-3 the majority of the game.

All season long South Carolina has struggled in containing talented scorers. Wall, Bledsoe and others should be able find holes in their defense and create.

The strength of the Gamecock attack on defense is their ability to create steals, which again points us right back to Downey who is averaging a league-high 3.6 steals in SEC play. USC is averaging nine steals per game overall.

It is easy to set up a gameplan against South Carolina, defend Devan Downey. Last year Kentucky struggled up top at containing penetration and then when guards got into the lane they didn’t have the bigs necessary to keep the ball out of the basket. Which is why Downey was so effective against them in both games last year.

This year they have both. I still expect Downey to have a big game, simply because of his uncanny knack to score the basketball. But, I think Kentucky will do a good job of forcing him to shoot tough twos, which should limit his effectiveness.

Kentucky 84, South Carolina 75