Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009

USC erupts, routs Kentucky for SEC East lead

Devan Downey thought something incredible like this could happen. When it did, it was hard to contain the joy.

So after yet another 3-pointer, after yet another pair of blocks by his teammates, the South Carolina guard ran the length of the court. He smiled, waved his arms at the crowd and soaked it all in:

Sole possession of first place in the SEC East and a probable NCAA tournament berth.

And it was all thanks to an unexpectedly easy 77-59 victory against Kentucky.

“You’re up 20 against Kentucky, who was legendary, supposedly everybody in the SEC is playing catch up to that program,” Downey said. “So it’s always fun to get a game like this, in this fashion.”

In by far its biggest game of the season, USC had its best performance of the year. USC and Kentucky entered this game tied for first place in the SEC East.

Now the top spot belongs to the Gamecocks.

South Carolina (20-6, 9-4) is in control of its fate in the division with three games to go. That was all it wanted to achieve in this highly-anticipated matchup, but the way it happened was stunning.

USC led by 18 at the half, and the game was never closer.

It was South Carolina’s largest margin of victory against Kentucky and the second sweep of the Wildcats — the other coming in 1997.

Downey out-shone Kentucky’s Jodie Meeks, the probable SEC player of the year, who was held to 18 points and sat for large portions of the second half after the game was decided. But Downey’s 21 point, seven-steal performance was overshadowed by something else unexpected: The Gamecocks big men.

USC set a single-game record for blocked shots and was two away from the most ever by an SEC team. Seven of the rejections were by sophomore center Sam Muldrow, who was challenged to play better by coach Darrin Horn before the game.

“He got dunked on two or three times at Kentucky,” Horn said. “I told him I thought he was better than that, in so many words, not for print. I thought he was capable of more, he needed to step up and show that they couldn’t do that to him.”

The game started with USC trading 3-pointers for layups, which would have sufficed. Then the blocks took away Kentucky’s layups, and the game became a runaway.

The result left Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie repeating several times that “the world isn’t ending.”

“I hope it doesn’t,” Gillispie added. “We got whipped. Give Carolina credit for how well they played.”

The Gamecocks outhustled their opponents, getting to loose balls and offensive rebounds. They led by as many as 28 midway through the second half.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player respond the way (Muldrow) did,” Horn said. “He showed over a period of a whole game some of the flashes that we’ve seen and what we as a staff thought he was capable of. I thought our bigs were the difference in the game.”

The second-half sequence that gave USC its biggest lead symbolized the game: Muldrow, then Mike Holmes each blocked Kentucky shots on the defensive end, then Downey capitalized with a spot-up 3-pointer.

“I loved it. It seemed like every time (Kentucky) threw it down low, we were starting a fast break with it,” Downey said. “If we play like that from here on out we can be a very special team.”

Reach Emerson at (803) 771-8676.

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