Carolina Hands Kentucky First Loss, Welcomes Calipari To The SEC

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The big story in Kentucky yesterday was South Carolina’s Devan Downey saying that whenever he steps on a court, he feels as though he’s the best point guard on the floor.

The Lexington Herald-Leader took that rather common thought (name me a player who doesn’t feel that way) and turned it into this headline: “Downey says he’s better than Wall.”

Well next summer John Wall will be the first player taken in the NBA draft.  He’s an amazing talent.  But last night, when they stepped on the court, Downey DID get the best of Wall.

South Carolina 68, #1 Kentucky 62.

Wall played 38 minutes, scored 19 points, grabbed four rebounds, recorded two assists and had one steal.

Downey — playing with less talent around him — also played 38 minutes, but he poured in 30 points (going 10 of 11 from the free throw line) with five rebounds, three assists and two steals.



Being that the #1 team in the country just lost its first game, we’ll have some massive coverage of the upset right here in just a few minutes.

But before we start bringing you coverage from around the country, let me just say this: Welcome to the SEC, John Calipari.

Undefeated seasons are a reality in Conference USA.  And UK’s incredible 19-0 start was a thing of beauty that attracted the nation’s spotlight back to Wildcat basketball.

But in the grand scheme of things, the Cats are just five games into a 16-game league schedule.  From that view, it really didn’t take UK very long to drop a conference game.  And while they’re clearly the class of the league, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone if they drop one or two more SEC contests before the season ends.

Going on the road in the Southeastern Conference is a lot more difficult than going on the road in C-USA.  I’m guessing Calipari already knew that.  Now his players do, too.  And that might be the best thing for them.




South Carolina coverage

1.  Here’s the game story from Columbia’s The State.

2.  Ron Morris writes that Downey has now permanently stamped his name in the annals of Gamecock basketball.

3.  Here’s video from the postgame comments of Darrin Horn and Calipari.

4.  Downey took note that President Barack Obama told UK’s team earlier in the day that they “should be all right” in Columbia.  But (jokingly) he said he was too scared to say anything bad about the Prez.

5.  “This is a huge win for our program, obviously, for a lot of reasons,” said Horn.  “Everyone in Gamecock nation deserves a win like this.”

6.  Gene Sapakoff of The Charleston Post & Courier reminds everyone that Horn is a Lexington-native who has now started his career 3-0 against the Cats.


Kentucky coverage

7.  Here’s the game story from The Lexington Herald-Leader.

8.  John Clay writes that for UK, “it was that kind of night.”

9.  As flashy as Kentucky’s freshmen were at times, their inexperience was apparent down the stretch.

10.  Here are the observations from one UK fan/blogger.  (And yes, he sounds very much like a disappointed fan.)


National coverage

11.  Andy Katz of ESPN believes last night’s win could be a season-changer for USC.

12.  UK’s #1 ranking will probably be a one-week thing.

13.  ESPN’s Pat Forde provides his snap judgements on the game.

14.  And ESPN’s Dana O’Neil writes that folks will closely monitor how Kentucky responds to its first loss.

15.  Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com writes that UK’s loss proves that no one team will dominate the season.  (I’d say 19-1 is still pretty close to dominating.)

16.  President Obama told Kentucky’s team via phone (to thank them for their Haitian relief telethon): “… there is a tendency once you get to be #1 to start letting down a little bit.  So you guys stay focused.”  The Cats should have listened.

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