No. 14 Kentucky seems to bounce against the fight with South Carolina – Field Level Media

A promising start becomes a rough patch and threatens to derail No. 14 Kentucks, leaving coach Mark Pope and his players to look for answers as they head to the Southeast Conference Graphics House.

The pope is an optimistic twist, and Wildcats (15-7, 4-5 sec) hopes to find some solutions on Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Kiev, where they will host South Carolina (10-12, 0-9), The just a hassle -free team in the conference play this season.

Kentucky launched a conference game with three wins in four games – all against ranked teams, as Wildcats knocked Florida, Mississippi and Texas A&M. From this quick start, however, Kentucky traveled 1-4 in five games, including a loss of 98-84 at No. 25 Ole Miss on Tuesday.

“I’m glad I will do this with these guys and we will go to find answers,” Pope said. “We will have incredible success as we go, but this is certainly a difficult space for us right now.”

Wildcats have allowed 90 points for the fourth time in SEC Games, but unlike their 106-100 win over Florida or 102-97 alabama loss, Kentucky did not have enough consistent insult to maintain the pace.

Wildcats scored at least 80 points for the 14th time this season, as Otega Oue, who scored 24 points, exceeded 20 points for the third time in five games. Kentucky play without Lamont Butler (shoulder injury) for the third direct match, although the guards of the points are involved in contactless practice on Thursday and may be able to play on Saturday.

If Butler is unable to go, Wildcats hope to see another strong display by Amari Williams, who produced a triple-double of 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists against Ole Miss.

No matter what the composition looks like, Wildcats hoped to avoid repression from Tuesday when they gave up 23 half -time and allowed 54.7 percent shooting after giving up 55.2 percent against Arkansas.

This was the third time on SEC Play that Wildcats allowed his opponent to shoot at least 50 percent. However, unlike his victory over Florida, Kentucky fell apart by shooting 38.7 percent in the opening half before shooting 63 percent in the second half.

“We are currently going through a difficult stretch,” Pope said.

None of the SEC team is experiencing more time than South Carolina, which has five losses at the conference with five points or less. The latter was a 76-72 failure at home against 13 Texas A&M on Saturday, during which Gamecocks recorded the most points in a conference game this season.

Four of South Carolina’s nearby losses are against ranked teams, including three of the last four. Gamecocks fell with one point against Florida on January 22, followed by a five-point failure against No. 14 in Mississippi three days later and then the loss of four points against Texas A&M.

“My goal is always when you look up and it’s time, in this way or another you are right there with the ability to make a few plays and win the game,” said South Carolina Lamont Paris coach. “We did it again today. We found ourselves in this situation and then we just struggled to make these plays. “

South Carolina hopes for the third right to productively displayed by Colin Murray Boles. Boils average 20 points in the last two games, while shooting 18 for 27 of the field.

“This is a very internal thing. We just have to understand it, and take it, “Murray Boils said of the losing series. “We will have to understand it in some way because the clock is ticking.”

-The field level of field