Kentucky’s rare three-game losing streak came to an end on Tuesday night with a sprint to the finish line.
The Wildcats (18-10, 9-6 Southeastern Conference) used a late spurt to overcome struggling South Carolina, 72-63, a win Kentucky desperately needed following losses to Florida, Georgia and Auburn over the past two weeks.
Kentucky coach Mark Pope and his squad were eager to put the three-game slide behind them with now three games remaining in the regular season. Pope admitted the past two weeks had been “emotionally wearing and taxing” on his squad.
“The pressure (at Kentucky) is ever present, which is such a privilege,” Pope said on his postgame radio show. “It's why you want to come play at Kentucky. Nobody wants to go play where it doesn't matter, right? But I do think there's an emotional toll on our guys. I think the past couple games and then the game Saturday, the way it finished … we spent more time trying to purge ourselves and refresh ourselves from the energy of the last 10 days.”
The players, including Mouhamed Dioubate, were relieved to avoid a fourth-straight defeat.
“We had a little adversity, but we fought through it,” Dioubate said. “Shout out to my team again, and Coach, he kept motivating us. Through the tough times throughout this game we fought through it. We've been doing that all year.”
Kentucky never led by double digits until the final minute and was clinging to a 59-57 lead with 2:52 left. After the brief spurt by the hosts, the Wildcats scored 10 unanswered, including a clutch 3-pointer by Collin Chandler to put the Gamecocks away.
“Collin (had) another crucial shot down the stretch to give us some breathing space,” Pope said. “I thought Mo and Brandon Garrison gave us great lifts. All four of our guys off the bench were positive plus-minus tonight. That really is important. The most important (thing) is the guys just kind of hung in there and got a win on the road, which is a big deal for us.”
South Carolina (12-16, 3-12) missed nine of its last 13 shots down the stretch, while Kentucky was successful on four of its last field goal attempts.
Denzel Aberdeen led four players in double figures with 19 points and connected on four of the team’s seven 3-pointers. Aberdeen made back-to-back treys during a 13-0 Kentucky run in the first half, the team’s longest scoring spree since a 12-0 run in a 92-68 win over Mississippi State on Jan. 10.
Pope praised the performance by Aberdeen, who played 37 minutes and didn’t commit a turnover in the backcourt.
“We needed a (big) game from him,” Pope said. “He's been a little quieter the last few games and I thought he carried us tonight, which we needed. We needed him to do it. He rose up and got the job done.”
Dioubate followed Aberdeen with 12 points and added four rebounds. Andrija Jelavic tied a career-high with 11 points, while Chandler had 10 points. Malachi Moreno had eight points and had 11 rebounds.
Coming off a career-high 29-point performance in a 75-74 loss at Auburn, Otega Oweh missed double figures for the first time this season, finishing with eight points. Dating back to last season, Oweh had scored double figures in 30 consecutive games.
Kentucky shot just 39 percent (26-of-66) from the field and made just seven treys on 25 attempts and committed 15 turnovers. South Carolina managed just 13 points off turnovers, while the Wildcats scored 18 points on 12 miscues by the Gamecocks.
The Cats, though, held a whopping 48-28 advantage in rebounding, which proved to be decisive.
Gametracker: Vanderbilt at Kentucky, 1 p.m.CT, Saturday. TV/Radio: ESPN, UK Radio Network on 94.7 The Mix and WiLLiE 102.
Denzel Aberdeen scored 19 to lead Kentucky past South Carolina on Tuesday night. (UK Athletics photo)
