Kentucky will be on the road for the first time in more than a month when the Wildcats go to Auburn and Tennessee for their next two games.
Not since Dec. 10, when they lost a one-pointer at Indiana in their only road game through Sunday, have the Wildcats had to play on an opponent's court. The only time they have ventured from Rupp Arena since then, they whipped up on Arkansas-Little Rock in Louisville, Ky.
They just wrapped up their seven-game homestand with their 79-64 win over South Carolina, their 45th consecutive win at home and 44th under John Calipari, who has yet to see his team lose in Lexington.
The big thing about the win was the re-emergence of sophomore forward Terrence Jones, who started for just the second time since missing two games in late December with a broken finger.
Jones scored a game-high 20 points, making eight of his nine field-goal attempts, after scoring just 21 in his previous three games combined.
"He flew up and down the court," Calipari said. "When you run that fast, and you try to play that hard, you'll be aggressive offensively.
"When you are passive on defense and passive going for balls and you don't want to mix it up, there is no possible way you can be aggressive offensively.
"It doesn't work that way. Your body doesn't switch on one end, and go soft on the other. It doesn't. You're either always tough or you're always soft.
"And he hadn't been wanting to mix it up. You saw him get in there."
NOTES, QUOTES
In addition to F Terrence Jones (20 points, three rebounds), freshman F Anthony Davis came up big in the win over South Carolina. He had 12 points and 10 rebounds to record a double-double for a fifth straight game and the ninth time this season.
He also blocked seven shots, the seventh straight game he had at least three blocks. He was averaging a league-best 4.5 blocks per game at that point, and his 74 for the season in just 16 games ranked as the sixth-best single season total all-time.
Davis, who is 6-10, did much of his work against 6-9 South Carolina F Damontre Harris, who had 10 points, three rebounds, and two blocks.
"It was kind of hard going in the paint because he could block shots," Davis said of Harris. "It was really hard for us to score in the paint."
Freshman PG Marquis Teague has come under some criticism recently but had gotten a vote of confidence from his coach. Teague had 17 points and four assists against two turnovers against South Carolina.
"He's a good free-throw shooter," Calipari said. "He stops on defense, which is typical of a freshman, and he's playing in Kentucky for the second-ranked team in the country that probably could have easily been undefeated.
"Everybody's saying he's a disappointment. What are you talking about? The kid is doing fine."
Kentucky forced its 11th shot clock violation of the season, one more than it had all of last year.
BY THE NUMBERS: 61-18 -- Kentucky improved to 61-18 in SEC openers with the win over South Carolina.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"He makes the game a lot easier for me. He is getting in the paint and getting rebounds. We will be an excellent team if he keeps playing like that. He is a weapon on the floor." -- Freshman F Anthony Davis, on the impact on the game provided by sophomore F Terrence Jones.
