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Men's Basketball

Kentucky vs. South Carolina: TV/Streaming Info, Things to Look For

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UK Athletics

After an embarrassing 26-point loss to Alabama on Saturday, Kentucky basketball is not in a good state. The fans are frustrated, the team is not a cohesive unit, and the coaching staff looked bewildered over what happened this past weekend.

Fortunately, the Wildcats will have a ‘pick-me-up’ opportunity at Rupp Arena against South Carolina on Tuesday. The Gamecocks are coming off an embarrassing loss of their own, losing 85-42 to Tennessee at home.

Led by new head coach Lamont Paris, South Carolina is arguably the worst team in the SEC, currently 7-8 overall and 0-2 in the conference. However, they are kept alive by Meechie Johnson and GG Jackson.

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Let’s take a closer look at the matchup.

Limit Offensive Boards

South Carolina ranks towards the bottom of the country in nearly every category. However, there is one area where they have found some success, offensive rebounding.

With an offensive rebounding percentage of 32.7 percent, the Gamecocks rank top 50 in the country. This attack is led primarily by GG Jackson, Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, and Josh Gray, who individually rank toward the top of the SEC in offensive rebounding percentage.

Fortunately, Kentucky has Oscar Tshiebwe, which coincides with the Wildcats being one of the best rebounding teams in the country. Considering that Kentucky has only allowed two teams to get more than ten offensive rebounds – Michigan State and UCLA – South Carolina should not pose the same threat.

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GG Jackson

While South Carolina’s roster is not the most talented, they do have a special talent in GG Jackson. Originally committed to North Carolina as part of the 2023 recruiting class, Jackson made the decision to reclassify and commit to South Carolina, his mother’s alma mater.

Jackson is extremely athletic and can run the floor very well, and while he can play inside, he is not the typical ‘back-to-the-basket’ big. In fact, Jackson is shooting a respectable 32 percent from three and even shot 4 of 9 from deep in a December matchup against Eastern Michigan.

This will force the Kentucky defense to extend their defense, which may not be the best matchup for Oscar Tshiebwe, likely resulting in Jacob Toppin getting the defensive assignment.

The five-star freshman is currently averaging 15.7 points and 7.1 rebounds, both top-ten marks in the SEC. However, he is coming off a scoreless performance against Tennessee where Jackson was benched for his body language and effort.

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Win BIG

After the disheartening loss to Alabama, the fanbase and the team need a dominating win. On paper, this is the easiest game that Kentucky has remaining on the schedule.

As mentioned earlier, South Carolina is coming off losing 85-42 to Tennessee, which is also the first top-50 team the Gamecocks have played. While the Volunteers are playing at a much higher level than Kentucky right now, this is a Wildcat team that has thoroughly beaten bad teams.

Given that this game is at Rupp and the talent advantage, Kentucky should and needs to respond in a big way after being trounced by Alabama.

Kentucky Basketball vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

Time/Date: 7:00 pm ET on Tuesday, January 10th, 2023.
Location: Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
TV Channel: ESPN2
Announcers: Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes
Online Stream: WatchESPNESPN+, SEC Network+ or ESPN app
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens have the UK radio network call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
Replay: SEC Network (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | SC
Team SheetsUK | SC
Stats To Know: UK | SC

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Odds: The odds have yet to be released for this game. ESPN’s matchup predictor gives the Wildcats their best chance to win a game for the remainder of the season at 97.5 percent. Bart Torvik is just marginally less confident in the Cats at 95%.

PredictionsBart Torvik picks the Wildcats to win in blowout fashion 72-55.

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Men's Basketball

Kentucky Basketball Has “Pure Hoopers That Love the Game” According to Former Kentucky Guard

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Tyler Ulis coaching Robert Dillingham during GLOBL Jam.
UK Athletics | Chet White

In recent seasons, Kentucky has struggled to find players to make plays when they need it most. That hasn’t always been the case, some examples of players that had the ability to make a play to secure a win include: Tyler Ulis, Jamal Murray, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and John Wall among others.

Well speaking of some of the players I just mentioned, former Kentucky guard and current student assistant Tyler Ulis recently joined the Sources Say podcast and talked about how great this team can be this upcoming year.

Ulis calls this year’s team “pure hoopers”.

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“They’re basketball players. Hoopers. Pure hoopers, all of them. And they love the game,” Ulis said. “How me and Devin (Booker) were in the gym, me and Zay (Briscoe), me and Jamal (Murray), that’s what these guys are doing. They all want to get better — scared to fail, scared not to make it. That’s what shows they want to be great.”

As what defines a pure hooper, according to Ulis. “Anyone can make a play, anyone can get in the lane, anyone can knock a shot down,” Ulis said. “We have so many options and so much depth, it’s hard not to have fun with this team.”

With the new roster and additions to the coaching staff, the goal is for Kentucky to make a deep run into the NCAA Tournament this year. As for Ulis, he is excited to see what this year’s team can do.

“I can’t say it enough: I’m extremely excited to see how this goes. We’re deep with a lot of players, and they’re skilled.”

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Men's Basketball

Texas Women’s Basketball Takes A Shot at Kentucky Basketball

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entucky Wildcats head coach John Calipari reacts in the first half against the Providence Friars at Greensboro Coliseum.
© John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier this week the Kentucky basketball team caught an unexpected shot. From who? The Texas women’s basketball team. On Tuesday, the Longhorns’ social media team tweeted a video of Drake, a professed Kentucky fan, coming to visit campus and the team.

However the caption is what caught people’s attention, “we don’t have to go to Drake’s house… he comes to ours,” Clearly trying to throw a shot at Kentucky for visiting Drake’s Toronto mansion back in July, during the team’s trip to Canada for GLOBL Jam.

It didn’t take long for the Big Blue Nation to respond, as just 12 minutes later the Tweet’s caption was edited to say “thanks for stopping by🤘”.

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That being said, let’s not act like Drake made a specific trip just to visit the Texas Longhorns, he was in Austin for a stop in his music tour. Not to mention that Drake has attended multiple Kentucky games and events.

Texas will soon be in the SEC, and maybe Drake will be there in Kentucky gear to set the record straight.

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BB Recruiting

Top Kentucky Target Tre Johnson Pushes Decision Date To Spring

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UK Athletics

One of the top players in the class of 2024, Tre Johnson recently made the move to Link Academy in search of high-level competition on a big stage, which is a reason he says is why he will wait until the Spring before making a decision.

The top five guard possesses all of the scoring tools, and is a player that Kentucky really wants. He still has a few visits to take, with Alabama and Arkansas visits coming soon, plus another visit to Kansas, and another visit to Baylor. Johnson previously visited Kentucky back in late January.

Johnson has a final list of Kentucky, Baylor, Texas, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, and pro options. The Wildcats are rumored to be a top-three option long with Baylor and Texas. This delay may give Kentucky a better chance. With that said, he is not in a big rush to decide, as he is more focused on getting acclimated to his new home at Link Academy, as well as improving as a player.

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Tre Johnson is one of the best pure scorers in all of high school basketball, and is certainly being prioritized by multiple top schools. Current intel suggests that Baylor and Kentucky are the top contenders, but with him pushing back his decision, there is more time to tell.

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