Tomorrow afternoon the Cats will face the Gamecocks for the second time this season. Kentucky won the first meeting in Columbia SC 67-58 which accounts for Kentucky's only road victory in conference play. But Kentucky's road woes is another story for later, right now the story is the game tomorrow.
Now Kentucky has been defending it's home court very well, being undefeated at home since the arrival of John Calipari. Tomorrow's game could be dangerous if the "Boys In Blue" aren't ready to play. South Carolina has lost 6 of their last 7 and would love nothing more than to get a win at Rupp. USC is always a tough game for the Cats, and in my mind this game will be no different.
Kentucky's biggest challenge will be containing PG Bruce Ellington. He is a lot like Devan Downey from last years SC team. He can get to the basket, draw fouls, there is also a chance he could get hot from three point range. Now I know he didn't do much in the last meeting between the two teams scoring only 8 points, but this kid is good. The one guy that done some damage for SC last meeting was Sam Muldrow who was the only Gamecock in double figures with 23 points. Muldrow has a great shot blocking ability averaging 3.5 a game and having as many as 10 in a game against Vanderbilt. So that is something to keep an eye on during the game.
Now on paper SC isn't a very good 3pt shooting team, but they do have some guys who can get hot from deep. Since the game is being played in Rupp, go ahead and figure someone on their team will have a career night, and they will be shooting the ball like the Celtics!
Kentucky needs this win to be able To have a chance to finish at least second in the league, and to get a first round bye in the SEC tournament. Depending on what Kentucky team shows up, and if they realize that they have to play to halves of basketball it should be a good game.
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