Kentucky beats South Carolina, sees MSU next
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky used a stellar defense to maintain its roll and throw South Carolina off kilter.
PJ Washington scored 20 points, and routed South Carolina 76-48 Tuesday night for its ninth consecutive victory.
The Wildcats (19-3, 8-1 Southeastern Conference) shot just 41 percent but held the Gamecocks to just 28 percent in the second half and 36 percent overall. It was the seventh time in eight games they've held an opponent below 40 percent. Kentucky outscored 17-4 over the final 5:14 to lead 39-28 at the break and stretched its advantage to 29 with 3:23 remaining.
Washington fell short of his fourth consecutive double-double but posted his fourth 20-point game in the past five. He also had five rebounds and two steals.
"Defense is a big part of why we're winning," Washington said. "We're stopping teams and forcing them to get out of their game plans, and it's great to stop teams like that."
Tyler Herro, Reid Travis each added 11 points for the Wildcats, but freshman forward EJ Montgomery might have been the happiest contributor after the kind of performance coach John Calipari suggested was possible.
Montgomery came off the bench to post career highs of 11 points and 13 rebounds, his first career double-double. Kentucky dominated South Carolina 50-27 on the glass and forced 19 turnovers leading to 26 points.
"I just kept my head up, stayed focused and kept working," said Montgomery, who had an assist, block and a steal in 20 minutes. "I knew my time was coming, and I guess today was the day."
Added Calipari, "This was a game for him to prove it against a really physical team."
The Wildcats stayed within a game of the conference lead in the process and improved to 28-2 at home against the Gamecocks (1111, 6-3). Kentucky plays at Mississippi State on Saturday.
A.J. Lawson and Tre Campbell each had 12 points for South Carolina, which lost for the fourth time in six games.
It was also the Gamecocks' fourth defeat this season against a top-five opponent, and this one quickly slipped away early in the second half. After consecutive layups by Chris Silva and Lawson, they missed their next 10 attempts and 17 of 19.
Tennessee 72, Missouri 60
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams scored 13 points each as No. 1 Tennessee defeated Missouri to extend its school-record winning streak to 17 games.
Tennessee (21-1, 9-0 SEC) has the longest active winning streak of any Division I team. This latest victory also enabled Rick Barnes to match the longest winning streak of his 32year head coaching career.
Barnes' 2009-10 Texas team won its first 17 games before stumbling down the stretch to finish 24-10 with a first-round NCAA Tournament loss.
Jordan Bowden had 12 points and Jordan Bone added 11 for the Volunteers. Bone also had seven assists.
Javon Pickett scored 12 points, Jordan Geist had 11 and Xavier Pinson added 10 for Missouri, which lost for the fourth time in the last five games.
Missouri (11-10, 2-7) made five straight shots to take an early 17-13 lead and then missed 16 of its next 17 shots as Tennessee went on an 18-2 spurt.
Arkansas 69, Vanderbilt 66
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Daniel Gafford scored 28 points to lead Arkansas to its fourth straight SEC win over Vanderbilt.
Arkansas (14-8, 5-4) rallied from a 10-point deficit late in the first half to hand the Commodores (9-13, 0-9) their ninth consecutive loss.
Vanderbilt led 28-18 on Aaron Nesmith's pull-up jump shot from the lane with under four minutes left in the first half before Arkansas freshman Isaiah Joe went on a 3-point scoring barrage. Joe ended a threeminute stretch for the Razorbacks without a field goal with 2:57 left in the first half and drained four 3-pointers to pull Arkansas within 3534 at halftime. Joe finished with 18 points.
Gafford, who was making just 57 percent of his free throws coming into the game, kept Arkansas in the game early by hitting 8-of-9 from the free-throw line in the first half.
The Razorbacks raced to a nine-point lead midway through the second half, then saw the lead evaporate as Vanderbilt's Joe Toye hit three 3-pointers to help the Commodores go on a 12-2 run to retake the lead.