"Our intensity was real good tonight," said Turner. "Most of us got pumped up in the locker room before and knew we had to come out and give them our best effort. We came out and gave it everything we had and did a good job of containing them on defense."
The Wildcats avoided South Carolina in the SEC Tournament after Georgia and current Kentucky coach Tubby Smith beat the Gamecocks in the semifinals. The Wildcats improved to 11-1 all-time at Rupp Arena against South Carolina.
"Georgia beat them twice last year and Coach Smith knew the ingredients to do that," noted Mohammed. "They have great guard play and he told us what to expect on the pick-and-roll. We had to stop the play to be effective."
Allen Edwards chipped in nine points and 12 assists for Kentucky, which became the first Division I school to reach 1,700 wins. Kentucky leads the series, 18-4.
B.J. McKie scored 24 points and Melvin Watson and Herbert Lee Davis added 12 apiece for South Carolina (10-3, 2-2), which allowed a season high in points.
The Wildcats came out fast, hitting their first seven shots en route to a 17-5 lead. But Sheppard was called for a technical foul with 15:52 to play and that settled South Carolina. Two free throws by McKie triggered a 13-2 burst that drew the Gamecocks within 19-18 with 12:53 to go.
Kentucky stormed into control with a 15-2 run. Evans capped the run by burying a pair of 3-pointers around a 13-footer by Watson, staking Kentucky to a 38-23 lead with 4:47 remaining in the first half. A 10-3 run, capped by a 20-footer by Turner, gave Kentucky a 58-38 lead with 12:42 remaining in the game. The Gamecocks pulled within 78-66 with 2:45 to play on a tip-in by Stack, but the Wildcats reeled off nine straight points.
"We scouted them well," said Davis. "We knew they would crash the boards and shoot threes. They did. Tonight, they did everything the scouting report said."
(6) KENTUCKY 91, (17) South Carolina 70
SOUTH CAROLINA (70)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Gallman 20 2-5 3-5 5-7 0 2 7
Grant 25 0-3 0-0 0-7 1 0 0
Stack 28 4-6 2-3 1-3 0 1 11
McKie 32 7-16 7-7 1-1 4 3 24
Watson 32 5-13 2-2 0-2 3 4 12
Williams 18 2-6 0-0 0-2 0 2 4
Davis 25 5-11 1-2 1-2 1 0 12
Johnson 15 0-0 0-0 0-4 1 1 0
Nix 4 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 2 0
Ross 1 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 25-61 15-19 8-29 10 15 70
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Percentages: FG-.410, FT-.789. 3-Point Goals:
5-20, .250 (Grant 0-2, Stack 1-1, McKie 3-7,
Watson 0-2, Davis 1-7, Ross 0-1). Team rebounds:
4. Blocked shots: 4 (Stack 2, Gallman, Johnson).
Turnovers: 10 (McKie 5, Stack 2, Grant, Watson,
Williams). Steals: 2 (McKie, Watson).
KENTUCKY (91)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Edwards 35 1-3 6-7 2-4 12 1 9
Padgett 35 4-11 2-2 2-7 0 3 11
Mohammed 27 6-9 0-2 1-8 0 1 12
Turner 32 5-9 4-4 0-2 4 3 15
Sheppard 21 6-11 0-1 0-3 5 2 16
Mills 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 1 3
Magloire 10 2-4 0-0 0-2 1 1 4
Evans 22 4-7 1-1 2-5 0 0 11
Smith 8 3-3 0-0 0-0 2 2 8
Bradley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Masiello 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Hogan 1 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
Anthony 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
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TOTALS 200 33-61 13-17 7-31 25 14 91
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Percentages: FG-.541, FT-.765. 3-Point Goals:
12-22, .545 (Edwards 1-2, Padgett 1-3, Turner
1-2, Sheppard 4-8, Mills 1-1, Evans 2-3, Smith
2-2, Hogan 0-1). Team rebounds: 4. Blocked shots:
8 (Mohammed 3, Magloire 3, Turner 2). Turnovers:
7 (Mohammed 2, Padgett 2, Edwards, Sheppard,
Turner). Steals: 8 (Edwards 2, Mohammed 2, Smith
2, Masiello, Sheppard).
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South Carolina 30 40 - 70
Kentucky 43 48 - 91
__________________________________
Technical fouls: South Carolina 1 (Bench).
Kentucky 1 (Sheppard). A: 24,241. Officials:
Andre Patillo, Frankie Bourdeaux, Phil Robinson.