KSR's top takeaways from Kentucky's 23-point win over South Carolina

The start was hard to watch with just six combined points through five minutes with both teams shooting 3-16 from the field overall — the rock fight of all rock fights with no winners. Then the dam broke a bit with Kentucky using an 11-0 run to build its first solid lead of the day at seven points before closing out the half on another 12-1 run to take a 14-point lead at the break.

It wouldn’t get closer than nine points the rest of the way, the Cats taking a 50-41 lead with 10:39 to go and turning it into a 30-16 run to close the game on their way to an 80-57 final score to get back to .500 in the SEC.

How did the Kentucky make it happen? KSR has the top takeaways from Rupp Arena.

Nothing more important than a win

Riding a two-game losing streak and dropping four of the last five, this was a must-win for Kentucky. You don’t get the worst team in the SEC in your home gym as a double-digit favorite every day. In this juggernaut of a league, you have no choice but to find advantages as they come and this was undoubtedly one of them. It didn’t have to be pretty, it didn’t have to be by a ton, but the Wildcats had to finish the game with more points than the Gamecocks.

They’d do just that — and by a lot, fortunately — earning their widest margin of victory in league play with a feel-good 23-point win. It’s the biggest blowout since Kentucky beat Brown by 34 on New Year’s Eve, just what the doctor ordered after hitting a recent wall.

Lamont Butler makes his return

Winning was the top priority, but getting healthy — especially at the point guard position — wasn’t far behind. After missing three straight games with a shoulder injury, Butler finally made his return for the Cats to right the ship in the backcourt after a string of poor defensive outings with turnovers out of control. They could hardly get the ball up the floor at Ole Miss with Butler and Kerr Kriisa both out.

Any dream of a big-time postseason run for Kentucky included Lamont Butler on the floor. That’s what made Mark Pope’s recent comments about his status concerning, saying “we have to figure this out with the guys we have.”

Fortunately, PG1 was back out there the very next game and finished with eight points, three assists, one rebound and one steal in 23 minutes. It wasn’t the best we’ve seen him in blue and white, but it’s never felt better to see him in blue and white.

Jaxson Robinson’s wrist may be an issue

As Butler got removed from the injury report leading up to the game, Robinson was added with a wrist injury, officially listed as a game-time decision before giving it a go. He had a fine all-around performance, finishing with six points, five rebounds and four assists in 20 minutes, but he came off the floor not once, but twice in clear pain, holding his taped right wrist.

He returned with 6:48 to go before being pulled in the blowout, a sign it’s not a serious setback after Pope confirmed his wrist wasn’t fractured leading up to the game, even with “not great mobility.” As long as he can play through it and give it a go vs. Tennessee, we’ll take it. It’s a survive-and-advance mentality for this group when it comes to injuries at this point.

First-half defense sets the tone

Kentucky’s effort in Oxford was inexcusable, especially in the first half. Ole Miss got whatever it wanted with zero pushback to build a 27-point lead — Mark Pope admits he ‘completely destroyed furniture in the locker room’ at the break because of it.

The start was slow due to missed shots with a few gimmes, but you can’t blame the defense. Led by Butler, the Cats played with urgency and flew around to the ball, looking to make sure the worst offense in the SEC stayed at the bottom of the league. The Gamecocks would finish the first half shooting a miserable 23.5 percent from the field, 9.1 percent from three and 33.3 percent at the line, scoring just 19 points — their second-lowest first half of the season.

That would lead to a 57-point day for USC, the fewest points allowed for Kentucky in an SEC home game since Feb. 25, 2023 vs. Auburn (54). Overall, the Cats allowed just 0.81 points per possession, allowing for a 13-spot jump in the KenPom defensive efficiency rankings.

For a team that has been abysmal defensively as of late, they put together their best showing of the season on that end of the floor right on time.

Otega Oweh’s double-digit scoring streak continues

The guy is just inevitable at this point. Going into halftime with just two points, it looked like his double-digit scoring streak was going to end at 22 games. Then he followed that up with 15 points in 16 second-half minutes, shooting 5-7 from the field and 4-4 at the line to give him a team-high 17 points (6-10 FG, 1-2 3PT) on the day while adding four rebounds, two steals and a block.

His streak now sits at 23, the only player in the SEC to hit that mark in every game this season. He entered the day as one of just 13 Division I players to accomplish the feat. We’ll see how many remain going into next week — but we’re certain of one thanks to Oweh.

He leads the team in scoring with 16.0 points per game on 49.6 percent shooting, 33.3 percent from three and 77.0 percent at the line while adding 4.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per contest. Pretty, pretty good.

Brandon Garrison and Koby Brea combine for 25

South Carolina got four total points off the bench — all four coming from a single player, Cam Scott. Kentucky combined for 39 bench points with Garrison (15) and Brea (10) leading the way with 25 between the two.

We’ll start with Garrison, who had his best scoring output of the season and the most since he put 21 on Pope’s BYU squad on Feb. 17 of last year. The sophomore forward was terrific, dunking everything around the rim and even knocking down a three — a finger gun on that one led to a technical foul — while adding two blocks, one rebound and one assist in 20 minutes.

As for Brea, he hit a couple big threes, but his greatest impact was felt elsewhere, adding a career-high six assists, five rebounds and one steal with zero turnovers while Pope raved about his defensive production on the heels of his best week of practice as a Wildcat.

It was a good day for the bench overall — don’t forget five points and five rebounds for Trent Noah, too — but Garrison and Brea were two of the game’s top contributors overall.