Kentucky Basketball closes out South Carolina: 4 things to know and postgame cheers

Every night is a battle in the Southeastern Conference, and tonight was no different when Kentucky Basketball took the floor against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

While Kentucky was expected to win, South Carolina didn’t go down without a fight. The two traded blows from the first tip until late in the second half when the Wildcats managed to pull away and win, 72-63.

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It was a quiet night for Otega Oweh, who had been hot all season long. Instead, Mark Pope’s team was led by veterans Denzel Aberdeen and Mohamed Dioubate, along with a pleasantly surprising performance by Andrija Jelavic.

Here are four things to know following Kentucky’s season-saving win at South Carolina.

Pope Avoids Disaster

Coming into tonight’s game, Kentucky had lost three consecutive games, starting with a close loss at Florida, followed by a stunning home loss to Georgia, and then this past Saturday’s heartbreaker at Auburn. The three-game losing streak nearly sucked all of the air out of this season, but thankfully, the Wildcats came through in a must-win situation.

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While some fans may very well call this season somewhat of a disaster, Pope and his team winning on Tuesday night avoided a four-game losing streak and will hopefully fuel a late run before the SEC Tournament begins in a couple of weeks.

Cats Start Strong

Kentucky has had a not-so-great habit of having poor starts to games this season, especially on the road or at a neutral site. That trend has led to several bad defeats and caused Kentucky to now have to fight for its NCAA Tournament bid.

While the Wildcats came out in the first few minutes and were ice cold, they rallied midway through the first half to take a lead into the locker room at halftime. Denzel Aberdeen’s 11 first-half points played a major role in a run to take the lead and offset a four-point first half from Otega Oweh.

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Publish date : 2026-02-25 02:04:00

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