South Carolina MBB drops late-game battle with Kentucky. What we learned

It hasn’t been an easy season for South Carolina men’s basketball. The Gamecocks are on the verge of a second-straight year without an NCAA Tournament bid and are once again near the bottom of the SEC with a 3-11 conference record.

But after the Gamecocks picked up that third conference win against Mississippi State on Saturday, snapping a seven-game losing streak in the process, USC felt as thought it still had some big wins left in the tank.

“We could be a really, really, really good team to close out this season, and pull off some really big wins. And we’re very confident in that,” USC forward Elijah Strong said.

It wasn’t long until the next opportunity, as USC took on Kentucky on Tuesday night at Colonial Life Arena. With a 2-1 record against the Wildcats under Paris and Kentucky coming off of three straight losses, it wouldn’t be a gimme for Mark Pope’s squad.

USC fought to the end, showing its high expectations for the remainder of the year might not be a farce, but ultimately couldn’t pull ahead late and let the win slip from its grasp as Kentucky took a 72-63 victory.

“When the dust all settled, we had put ourselves in a position to win the game,” USC coach Lamont Paris said. “Every play counts the same, but as we know, when you get in those scenarios, it seems like they matter more at that time. So we didn’t make those plays, but we did a lot of good things.”

Hot streak doesn’t last

In the middle of a year in which USC (12-16, 3-12 SEC) has shot 31% from 3-point range — good for second-worst in the SEC — Paris said USC’s 50% 3-point shooting against Mississippi State on Saturday was more reflective of the team he saw in the preseason.

Whether you believe that or not, it’s no question USC’s Paris-era best 97 points against the Bulldogs is a performance USC would like to repeat. It looked like it might be possible in the opening minutes against Kentucky (18-10, 9-6 SEC).

“Today, we had a couple plays that we wanted to specifically look at. We did the same thing in the second half,” Paris said. “Now in other games, we’ve done the same things and had a terrible start ... so it’s not that, but maybe it’s a little bit of that.”

The Gamecocks began Tuesday’s game shooting 40% on their first 10 shots and made four of their first six 3-pointers. USC held its largest lead of the game, 12-5, within the first five minutes of play. The hot streak ended right about there.

USC made just two field goals in the final 10 minutes of the half. Fortunately for the Gamecocks, Kentucky could only muster 11 made shots to USC’s seven and shot 25% from beyond the arc. The Wildcats led 28-21 at halftime.

Meechie Johnson’s Kentucky finale

Sixth-year guard and USC leading scorer Meechie Johnson has always had a knack for playing well against Kentucky. Johnson is 2-0 against the Wildcats in his career and averages 20 points per game when facing them. He last took down the Wildcats with USC in 2024, a 17-point victory at home against a then-No. 6 ranked Kentucky team.

In what’s likely his last-ever showdown with Kentucky, Johnson played well but didn’t do quite enough to carry his team to victory. He finished with 18 points and shot 5-for-12 from the floor. Strong and Mike Sharavjamts were the only other USC players to score double-digit points.

“I gotta do better down the stretch,” Johnson said.

Never went away

USC came out for the second half as if it had never gone cold in the first. The Gamecocks made seven of their first 10 shots to bring the score back within two. From there, the Gamecocks battled relentlessly to keep up, never taking the lead but never letting the deficit grow past single digits.

It wouldn’t be enough, as the Gamecocks couldn’t keep up their offensive prowess for an entire half. USC made three of its final 10 field goal attempts in the game and let its chances of winning slip away, while the Wildcats finished making four of their last five attempts to secure the win.

A big reason Kentucky was able to sustain its offense longer than USC was because of the Wildcats’ work on the glass. Kentucky out-rebounded USC 48-28 and scored 14 points off of rebounds alone.

“You got to be more determined to get the ball,” Johnson said. “It’s just will to get it done, honestly.”

South Carolina men’s basketball remaining schedule

• Saturday: at Georgia, 3:30 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Tuesday, March 3: vs. Tennessee, 6 p.m. (SEC Network)
• Saturday, March 7: at Ole Miss, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)

This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 9:00 PM.