Live updates: South Carolina Gamecocks at Kentucky Wildcats college basketball

Hoping to climb back on track, Kentucky men’s basketball plays host to South Carolina at Rupp Arena on Saturday.

ESPN2 has the noon start.

Ben Roberts, Cameron Drummond, Ryan Hermens and yours truly will be at Rupp. You can follow Ben’s updates on Bluesky at @benrobertshl. You can follow the rest of us on X/Twitter at @ryanhermens, @cdrummond97 and @johnclayiv.

At 0-9, South Carolina is the SEC’s only winless team in conference play. The Gamecocks are 10-12 overall. They are 77th in KenPom’s adjusted overall efficiency rankings. They rank 131st in adjusted offensive efficiency and 46th in adjusted defensive efficiency. Coach Lamont Paris’ team is 89th in the NCAA NET rankings. The Gamecocks are 0-10 in Quad 1 games.

Collin Murray-Boyles leads the team in scoring at 15.5 points per game and rebounding at 8.8 per game. Murray-Boyles scored 25 points in South Carolina’s 66-63 loss to No. 1 Auburn on Jan. 11. Jamarii Thomas leads the Gamecocks in assists at 3.3 per game.

South Carolina men’s basketball roster

South Carolina men’s basketball schedule

Scouting report: Kentucky
Kentucky has lost four of its last five games. The Wildcats are 15-7 overall and 4-5 in the SEC. They are 24th in the KenPom rankings for adjusted overall efficiency. They are No. 2 in adjusted offensive efficiency but 108th in adjusted defensive efficiency. UK is 22nd in the NCAA NET rankings with a 7-6 record in Quad 1 games.

Otega Oweh is the only SEC player to score in double figures in every game. The Oklahoma transfer leads UK in scoring at 16.0 points per game. Amari Williams is the Cats’ leading rebounder at 9.1 per game. The Drexel transfer became the fourth Wildcat in program history to record a triple-double when he scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and made 10 assists in UK’s 98-84 loss at Ole Miss on Tuesday.

A major development for Kentucky basketball in Saturday morning’s SEC injury report update.