South Carolina haunted Kentucky lately, but hasn't won often in Rupp Arena

Kentucky Basketball needs a win. Losers of four of five, the Wildcats need a W in Saturday’s return to Rupp Arena to host last-place South Carolina. South Carolina needs a win, too. Lamont Paris’ group has not found one in SEC play this season, although most games have been close.

If South Carolina needs some optimism heading into Saturday, the Gamecocks should look at the recent history of the series. Kentucky lost its last two games against South Carolina, including a home loss in 2023 as a 19.5-point favorite. The loss was Kentucky’s first in Rupp Arena that season and one of the more disappointing regular season games of the last couple of years of the John Calipari era. It also snapped Kentucky’s 28-game home winning streak.

Meechie Johnson hit six 3-pointers in his career day, 26 points, in the 2023 upset. Johnson added another 14 points a year later in South Carolina’s 17-point win over last year’s Kentucky team in Columbia. Now an Ohio State Buckeye, Johnson is 3-0 against the Wildcats after beating Mark Pope’s current Kentucky team in New York earlier this season.

Last season’s loss to South Carolina was another head-scratcher as Kentucky entered the game ranked sixth in the country, laying several points as a road favorite. The loss was Kentucky’s third in four appearances at South Carolina and the biggest win in Colonial Life Arena since Devan Downey’s 30-point game took down Calipari’s first Kentucky team, ranked No. 1 in the country, in 2010.

Kentucky’s last five games versus South Carolina
2024: South Carolina 79, #6 Kentucky 62 (Columbia, SC)
2023: South Carolina 71, Kentucky 68 (Lexington, KY)
2022: #5 Kentucky 86, South Carolina 76 (Columbia, SC)
2021: Kentucky 92, South Carolina 64 (Lexington, KY)
2020: #10 Kentucky 78, South Carolina 81 (Columbia, SC)

South Carolina’s other two wins in Rupp Arena

South Carolina’s win in 2023 was the first in Lexington since 2009, the last year of Billy Gillispie’s brief tenure as Kentucky’s head coach. Darrin Horn, Walker‘s dad, coached those Gamecocks to a 78-77 win in Rupp Arena, again led by Devan Downey, who combined with Zam Fredrick for 45 points. Patrick Patterson and Jodie Meeks had a collective 48 in the home loss, which ended with Perry Stevenson missing two free throws with a one-point lead and 30 seconds to go before Downey’s decisive bucket on the other end.

Before that, you have to go back to 1997 for another South Carolina win in Rupp, back when B.J. McKie and Larry Davis scored 42 points in the upset of Rick Pitino’s third-ranked Wildcats on Senior Day. Pitino was ejected from the game with .04 seconds on the clock before Kentucky dropped its first Senior Day game in 33 years. That one snapped UK’s 27-game home winning streak.

More on the 1997 loss from the AP story found on Deseret News:

Ron Mercer, who declared last Wednesday that he is turning pro after this season, led the Wildcats with 25 points. He hit an 18-footer off a long rebound to bring Kentucky within 67-66 with 1.8 seconds left. After timeouts by both teams, Anthony Epps tried to draw a charge from McKie on the inbounds play. Pitino then charged out to referee Andre Patilla when a call wasn’t made on the play.

Kentucky’s three home losses to South Carolina
2023: South Carolina 71, Kentucky 68
2009: South Carolina 78, #24 Kentucky 77
1997: #6 South Carolina 72, #3 Kentucky 66 (Senior Day)

On Saturday, the Wildcats need to do what they’ve done 28 other times to the Gamecocks in Rupp: win.