South Carolina had one of their toughest losses of the year last night in a 76-48 loss at Kentucky.

The key to this game was that South Carolina couldn’t rebound, being out-rebounded 50-27. Whenever a team has more rebounds than you have points, that isn’t a good sign. Both teams did okay with shooting, but South Carolina only hit 35.7 percent of their free throws.

Freshman AJ Lawson was the top player for South Carolina as he put up 12 points and four rebounds. Senior Tre Campbell also finished with 12 points. Freshman Keyshawn Bryant is usually the momentum swinger alongside Chris Silva, but neither of them could get anything going. Bryant finished with six points and four rebounds, but also finished with five of South Carolina’s 19 turnovers.

Silva only played 15 minutes and had four points because he picked up four fouls in those 15 minutes. Whenever Silva stays out of foul trouble, the Gamecocks succeed more. For a physical player like Silva, staying out of foul trouble is hard.

Another issue was that Hassani Gravett couldn’t get anything going. He’s the clutch player of the team and he was anything but clutch last night. He finished with two points and three turnovers.

Although South Carolina didn’t play their best, Kentucky deserves a lot of credit as they are definitely a top five team in the country.

The Gamecocks will look to bounce back against Arkansas on Saturday in Columbia.