John Clay's Sidelines

I’m traveling back from South Carolina today, so won’t be doing much blogging. But considering that we had over 1,600 comments on the Liveblog last night, thought it might be interesting to repeat the Livechat we had last week. It’ll run from 8-9 p.m., if you’re interested.

College basketball on the tube for Thursday, Feb. 26:

Here’s what I’ve heard from local radio call-in shows:

• WLAP-630: At 6 p.m., Dick Gabriel will take calls on last night’s UK-South Carolina debacle before the women’s game starts at 7.

• WLXG-1300: Chris Cross and Mike Cameron welcome Brett Dawson of the C-J at 6:05. At 6:20 p.m., the guest is San Martin of letstalkbaseball.net. At 6:30, former UK assistant Doug Barnes joins the show.

Big Blue Links for Thursday:

• The Herald-Leader’s Jerry Tipton writes the game story on UK’s lopsided loss at South Carolina.
• Tipton’s notes leads with the fact Patrick Patterson didn’t fade away.
• My column from the game saying Kentucky just wasn’t ready to play.
• A slideshow from the game.
• The fans aren’t happy, as you can see from the discussion board.
• In The State, Seth Emerson has the gamer of the Gamecock rout.
• State columnist Ron Morris says South Carolina made a loud statement.
• Video highlights from The State.
• Brett Dawson’s game story in the Courier-Journal.
• Tom Leach writes on the long night in South Carolina.
• Kenny Colston of the Kentucky Kernel calls it a lost opportunity.
• James Pennington of the Kernel has the details.
• A Sea of Blue is so upset it skips the post-mortem.
• Kentucky Sports Radio calls it an abysmal performance.
• Straitpinkie’s thoughts on the game.

Had trouble with software last night, but now have Billy Gillispie’s post-game press conference after Kentucky’s 77-59 loss at South Carolina:

• Gillispie laments his team’s competitive nature, but says the loss is not the end of the world.

For those who don’t want to participate in the Liveblog below, there will be updates from UK-South Carolina on this post.

• South Carolina wins 77-59 over Kentucky. Gamecocks blocked a school-record 16 shots.

• It’s 75-53 South Carolina with 3:19 left. Game has been over for awhile.

• It’s 71-45 Gamecocks with 7:16 left. Unofficially, South Carolina up to 16 blocked shots for the game.

• It’s 64-41 South Carolina at 11:50 mark as Gamecocks block yet another shot — well into double-figures now. This is, in my opinion, easily the worst UK performance of the season. Just outplayed, outhustled, out-everythinged.

• South Carolina rolling 52-33 with 15:56 left in game. Don’t know what Billy Gillispie said at the half, but Carolina opened with a 6-0 run. Michael Porter got his cookies taken again, and is now on the bench.

• Stats: UK shot 40 percent first half on 10-of-25. South Carolina made 18 of 36 shots for 50 percent. Gamecocks were 6-of-12 from 3-point line. Kentucky turned it over 14 times to seven for Carolina. Gamecocks got 9 offensive rebounds, Kentucky had 10 defensive rebounds.

• That’s UK’s second-largest halftime deficit of season. Miami lead Cats 46-26 at Rupp on Dec. 6.

• Great move by Downey for bucket right before half and Carolina goes to lockerrom with 46-28 lead.

• It’s 42-24 South Carolina at 3:34 mark of first half. This is teetering on a rout.

• South Carolina leads 30-21 at the 7:44 mark. Archie has 8 and Downey 7 for Gamecocks. UK’s offense has been pretty much a mess to this point. But Meeks does have 9.

• It’s 20-14 South Carolina at 11:18 mark and Patterson will be line for an and-one when we return. Cats are again having problems on defensive boards. Pat has five points to lead UK. Carolina is not shooting well, but getting a lot of shots off glass.

• It’s 12-6 South Carolina at the 15:41 TV time. Downey is already a big factor. He’s got three points on a three, made a steal, and kicked out to Archie for a three. Kentucky has turned it over three times already.

• South Carolina is starting Downey, Fredrick, Archie, Holmes and Muldrow.

• UK starters: Harris, Porter, Stevenson, Meeks and Patterson.

• Officials tonight are Doug Shows, Mike Kitts and Mike Nance.

• Dave Baker and Barry Booker are doing the game for Raycom.

• Kevin Galloway did not make the trip because of a death in his family back in California.

On the road, so these Big Blue Links are a bit late:

• Jerry Tipton of the Herald-Leader has the advance on tonight’s UK-South Carolina game.
• Jerry’s notes package includes note that UK has started a Jodie Meeks for Player of the Year campaign.
• My column on the breakdown of the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, which includes just four of 10 members boasting a basketball background.
• There’s word from KSR that Kevin Galloway did not make the trip because of a death in the family.
• In The State, Seth Emerson writes that UK-Carolina is something to shout about.
• The State also has a Q&A with SEC commissioner and NCAA Selection chairman Mike Slive.
• Brett Dawson of the Courier-Journal writes on the Kentucky-South Carolina showdown.
• Larry Vaught of the Danville Advocate-Messenger weighs in on tonight’s game.
• Bobby Reagan of the Kentucky Kernel writes on the battle for first place.
• The Kernel’s Jon Hale writes that a deep tournament run could send two Cats running to the NBA.
• Ken Howlett of A Sea of Blue breaks down the Cats and South Carolina.
• Straitpinkie breaks down the game.
• Kentucky Sports Radio talks about stopping Devan Downey.

College basketball on the tube for Monday, Feb. 24:

Here’s what I’ve heard from the local radio call-in shows:

• WLXG-1300: Chris Cross and Mike Cameron welcome Richie Farmer at 6:05. David Barry with the Lexington Legends follows at 6:25 p.m.

• WVLK-590: Heath Cline, a reporter from Columbia, South Carolina, joins Larry Glover at 7:05 p.m.

• WLAP-630: Dick Gabriel will have highlights from the Billy Gillispie press conference at 6. He’ll have Pete Tierman of bracketscience.com at 7.