LEXINGTON, Ky. — Julius Mays had 15 points and four other Kentucky players had at least 10 as the Wildcats blew out South Carolina 77-55 Tuesday night to move within a game of first-place Florida in the SEC.
Kentucky (16-6, 7-2) began the night two games behind Florida before the No. 2 Gators suffered their first conference loss, 80-69 at Arkansas, earlier in the evening.
The Wildcats followed with their fourth consecutive victory and perhaps most complete in conference play as they shot 27 of 44 from the field and out-rebounded the Gamecocks 42-25. Kentucky’s 61 percent shooting was its third-highest effort this season.
Willie Cauley-Stein and Archie Goodwin (Sylvan Hills) each added 13 points, Ryan Harrow had 12 and Nerlens Noel 10 along with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks.
Freshman forward Michael Carrera scored a game-high 18 points with six rebounds for South Carolina (12-10, 2-7), which lost its third in a row and fifth in the past six games.
“We just got out of their way and let them practice their dunking,” Gamecocks Coach Frank Martin said of Kentucky’s offense.
The Gamecocks have found the going rough in the first half of their SEC schedule, with their only league victories coming against LSU and Arkansas. They entered Tuesday having lost four of their past five games, including Saturday’s defeat to Georgia.
Shooting and rebounding have been the obvious culprits for South Carolina in those recent losses. The Gamecocks haven’t shot above 37 percent and have been out-rebounded by a 152-127 margin in the four defeats.
Those numbers toughened South Carolina’s mission at Rupp Arena, where it hasn’t won since 2009. Especially since Kentucky entered the game leading the SEC in defensive rebounds (27.6), second in field goal defense (39 percent) and third in rebounding margin (plus-3.5) in league play.
Noel has been a big part of that, leading the nation in blocks (4.6 per game) and the SEC with 9.8 rebounds in league play.
In Associated Press Top 25 games, Tim Hardaway Jr. brought host Michigan (21-2, 8-2 Big Ten) back by making five consecutive three-pointers in the second half, then blocked a shot by Aaron Craft in the final seconds of overtime to give the third-ranked Wolverines a 76-74 victory over No. 10 Ohio State (17-5, 7-3). ... Kenny Kadji scored 10 points during a span of four possessions to start a second-half surge and No. 8 Miami (18-3, 9-0) remained unbeaten in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 72-50 victory over visiting Boston College (10-12, 2-7). ... Rodney McGruder had 18 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 13 Kansas State (18-4, 7-2 Big 12) to a 68-59 victory over host Texas Tech (9-11, 2-7), extending the Wildcats’ winning streak to three games.
Sports, Pages 23 on 02/06/2013