Written by Jerry Tipton at Kentucky.com
The season-long talk of fighting, clawing and competing can be put to rest. Kentucky showed plenty in handing South Carolina an embarrassing 89-62 defeat Saturday.
Besides routing a South Carolina team riding a wealth of can-do enthusiasm that was years in the making, Kentucky blew away the perception that it had a flaw that had resulted in losses in six of the last eight road games.
The victory benefited Kentucky in a tangible as well as symbolic way. On what ESPN analyst Sean Farnham had called “Separation Saturday,” UK moved into at least a share of first place in the Southeastern Conference. The Cats’ records improved to 19-6 overall and 9-3 in the SEC.
South Carolina, which lost its first home game this season, dropped to 21-4 overall and 8-4 in the league.
When not thinking of the upcoming presidential primaries, South Carolinians might have pondered if the Gamecocks suffered from a hangover from Wednesday’s emotional home victory over LSU.
“We have to stay connected with what we’ve done to help us be in a place where we’re able to compete with elite teams,” Coach Frank Martin said before the game.
That didn’t happen.
An ejection of UK Coach John Calipari set the tone for a rough, tough competition.
The game was barely two minutes old when Calipari objected to, in this case, a non-call. From his dive-into-the-pool arm motion, it appeared the UK coach believed Michael Carrera went over the back of a Wildcat to get an offensive rebound.
Referee Doug Sirmons ran from across the court to slap Calipari with a technical foul. This only served to further enrage an already aggrieved Calipari.
Sirmons responded with a second technical foul, which meant an automatic ejection. After several in the UK party held him back, Calipari departed with 17:34 left.
Carrera only made one of four technical free throws, leaving Kentucky ahead, 5-3.
Kentucky had reason to watch Carrera carefully. Calipari had called him the guts of South Carolina’s team.
Carrera, who posted a double-double Saturday (25 points, 10 rebounds), showed plenty of guts in scoring 22 points against Tennessee earlier this season. He played despite a bloody nose and needing stitches.
“He’s a guy coming up with loose balls and taking charges and getting rebounds for us,” Martin said after the game. “Nobody else would.”
