Kentucky vs. South Carolina time, TV channel, online stream, odds and predictions

Kentucky Basketball vs. South Carolina Gamecocks

• Time: 7 pm ET on February 8th, 2022.
• Location: Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, South Carolina.
• TV Channel: ESPN has tonight’s TV coverage.
• Announcers: Karl Ravech, Jimmy Dykes and Marty Smith will call the action.
• Online Stream: You can stream the game online with WatchESPN, the ESPN app, or a free trial of FuboTV.
• Replay: SEC Network (check local listings) or WatchESPN
• Listen: UK Sports Network with Tom Leach and Mike Pratt.
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 132 | XM 190 | SXM App 961
• Tickets
• Rosters: UK I SC
• Stats To Know: UK I SC
• Team Sheets: UK I SC
• Odds: DraftKings has Kentucky favored by 10.5 points. ESPN’s matchup predictor is giving Kentucky an 87.3% chance of getting the win. KenPom gives Kentucky an 88% chance of winning. Barttorvik projected the Cats to be 12-point favorites and gives them an 88% chance of winning.
• Predictions: Barttorvik is predicting Kentucky to get the 77-65 win, while KenPom is going with an 76-63 win for the road Cats. TeamRankings is going with a 78-67 victory, Kentucky!

The Kentucky Wildcats will be looking to pick up their 20th win of the season Tuesday night when they head to Columbia to face the South Carolina Gamecocks.

After a couple of hard-fought SEC games, UK wrapped up the week with a slugfest win against Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. They will now head to what should be another crazy road environment inside Colonial Life Arena to take on Frank Martin’s squad.

South Carolina comes into Tuesday’s game on a two-game losing streak and sitting at 13-9 (4-6) on the season. Martin’s team has had an interesting year as they have beaten solid teams in Florida State and Texas A&M, but then turned around and lost to Princeton and Coastal Carolina as well.

Similar to Alabama, it seems this team plays to its competition quite regularly, so it could be a tough fight once again for the Cats, who haven’t won in Columbia since 2016.

To this point in the season, the Gamecocks are averaging 70.8 points per game on 42% shooting from the field and 32% from three on just about 21 attempts from deep per game. Although these numbers are impressive, this South Carolina team currently ranks 226th in the country in the adjusted offensive numbers, according to KenPom.

What they lack in offense, they do make up big time on the defensive end. KenPom has them as the 34th best team in adjusted defensive efficiency, which is good enough for sixth-best in the SEC to this point.

Taking on the tough blue-collar mentality of their head coach, the Gamecocks will look to force Kentucky into mistakes, so they can set up easy transition baskets to avoid the half-court regularly.

South Carolina will be led by senior guard Erik Stevenson. He is the team's leading scorer at 11.3 points per game on 36% shooting from the field and 31% from three. He also adds 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

Alongside Stevenson, South Carolina has one other double-digit per game scorer in James Reese V. The graduate transfer guard from North Texas is arguably the most efficient scorer the Gamecocks have, as he averages 10.7 points on 42% shooting from the field and 37% from three.

Kentucky will also need to be aware of junior guard Jermaine Couisnard. As a true freshman in 2020 when Kentucky last traveled to Columbia, Couisnard had a career-high 26 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to stun the Wildcats 81-78.

This year, Couisnard is averaging 9.6 points on 39.2% shooting with 2.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game.

For the Wildcats, they have proven they can beat teams in a variety of ways. Whether it be an offensive masterpiece or winning a defensive battle, they seem to be effective at both.

Alongside a solid starting five, the bench players are also starting to come into their own. With breakout games for Davion Mintz and Daimion Collins this past week, it seems John Calipari has a solid eight-man rotation, that can come in and provide an impact on both ends.

Coming into this week, Kentucky is sitting as the third-ranked team according to KenPom, while posting the fifth-best offense and 11th-best defense. Both of those will come in handy on Tuesday.

This game is really going to come down to execution. South Carolina is not great in the half-court, but they are solid on defense.

This game could end up being similar to the style we saw in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night, and if the team can execute on offense, it should be another fun night for Big Blue Nation as they celebrate their 20th win of the season.

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