Gamecocks Set To Host No. 10/12 Kentucky Wednesday Night

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina (8-7, 0-2 SEC) returns to Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday to host No. 10/12 Kentucky (12-3, 3-0 SEC) at 6:30 p.m. ET.  The meeting between the Gamecocks and Wildcats is the 65th all-time.

GAME INFORMATION
Arena:  Colonial Life Arena (18,000)
Broadcast: SEC Network
  Play-By-Play: Mike Morgan
  Analyst: Jon Sundvold
Radio: Gamecock Radio Network
  In Columbia: 107.5 The Game
  Play-By-Play: Derek Scott
  Analyst: Casey Manning
  SIRIUS: – | XM: 382 | INTERNET: 972
Watch: WatchESPN/ESPN App
Live Stats: GamecocksOnline.com
Tickets: GamecocksOnline.com/1-800-4SC-FANS/Arena box office
Series: Kentucky leads 52-12
  In Columbia: UK leads 20-8
  Trend: Kentucky has won four of the last five
  Last Game: 76-48 Kentucky win on Feb. 5, 2019, in Lexington

TIPOFF NOTABLES
> South Carolina suffered a 56-55 loss at Tennessee last Saturday in its first SEC road contest of the season.  Senior forward Maik Kotsar concluded a monster week with a 17-point, eight-rebound performance, and r-freshman guard Jermaine Couisnard led all bench scorers with 15.  
> Other than Kotsar and Couisnard, Bryant was the only other Gamecock to hit more than one field goal in the contest, as the sophomore forward connected on four of his attempts, while pulling down a season high six rebounds.
> In home games this season, Carolina is averaging 70.1 points per outing and 41.3 percent from the field.
> Since the beginning of the 2016 SEC campaign, Carolina is 26-11 (.702) in conference home contests.
> South Carolina suffered an 81-68 loss at home to Florida in its SEC opener on Jan. 7.  Senior forward Maik Kotsar continued his strong play, pacing the Gamecocks with team highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
> Kotsar (18) and sophomore forward Keyshawn Bryant (14) both turned in season highs in points vs. Florida.    
> The Gamecocks are now 11-18 all-time in SEC openers.
> In the month of January, Carolina will host just three SEC matchups and will be on the road to face five league opponents.  
> In its eight wins, the Carolina defense is holding opponents to just 34.5 percent from the field and 27.7 percent from 3-point range.
> Martin is 32-44 (.421) against ranked opponents as a head coach. His teams have four wins over opponents ranked in the top five, and two wins over opponents who are ranked No. 1.
> The Gamecocks are 3-1 on the road this season, and are 25-34 (42.3%) in road contests dating back to the 2014-15 campaign.
> South Carolina Athletics will honor Brad Armfield, Columbia area native and Kentucky alum, with a reserved chair in Colonial Life Arena on Wednesday in his memory.  Brad, who coached tennis in the Columbia and Spartanburg areas, tragically lost his life in an ATV accident in 2017.  He coached former Gamecock men’s tennis student-athlete Wood Benton, and current men’s tennis player Phillip Jordan.  Brad was an avid sports fan and loved UK Athletics especially the Wildcat basketball team.

THROUGH 15 GAMES …
> Sophomore guard AJ Lawson paces the Gamecocks with 14.5 points per game.  Lawson also has a team high 26 3-pointers on the year and is dishing out 2.4 assists per game.
> Senior forward Maik Kotsar has scored 161 points through the first 15 games, 10.7 points per outing.  His 6.3 rebounds per game lead the team and rank 15th in the SEC.
> The Gamecocks are holding opponents to just 37.9 percent from the floor, which ranks third in the SEC and 25th nationally.
> Carolina has dished at least 13 assists in 10  games.
> R-freshman guard Jermaine Couisnard is averaging a team high 2.6 assists per game.  
> Carolina has held its opponent to less than 40 percent from the field on eight occassions, including holding Wyoming to 23.1 percent and only nine made field goals.
> Sophomore forward Alanzo Frink has hit a team best 60.0 percent (33-55) of his shot attempts.
> The Gamecocks are 8-2 in games in which they lead at the half.
> Carolina is 7-2 in games in which Jair Bolden scores in double figures.

KOTSAR CONTINUES STRONG SENIOR CAMPAIGN
> Senior forward Maik Kotsar is such a strong component for the Gamecocks on the defensive end, but during his senior campaign, his offense and rebounding have been key.  
> Kotsar has led or shared the team lead in scoring  six times this season, including in both SEC games to date.  He has also scored in double figures in 10 of the last 12 contests.
> Earlier in non-conference play, Kotsar scored in double figures in a career-best five-straight contests, starting with 14 points vs. Boston U (Nov. 19). He scored 11 points vs. Gardner-Webb (Nov. 22), before leading the Gamecocks with 12 points, three assists, two blocks and three steals, while also pulling down seven rebounds vs. Wichita State (Nov. 26), and he was strong again vs. UNI (Nov. 27), scoring 12 with two blocks, en route to Cancun Challenge All-Tournament Team honors.  
> Kotsar returned to Columbia to pace Carolina with 17 points, nine rebounds and another two-block performance in the home win over George Washington (Dec. 1).  He was near perfect from the field, hitting 8-of-9 attempts from the floor, and he also collected Carolina’s only steal in the game vs. the Colonials.  
> Kotsar also led the Gamecocks with 35.4 minutes per game during that stretch.
> Kotsar snapped his double-figure streak at UMass, however, he scored nine points, pulled down a team high nine rebounds, dished five assists and had three steals in 27 minutes of action.  He also collected a crucial lose ball late in the contest on the defensive end.
> Kotsar has scored in double figures vs. Houston,  and in the win at Clemson, while also scoring 11 vs. Stetson.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
> Kentucky is ranked No. 10 in the AP poll this week and is 12-3 on the season and 3-0 with wins over Missouri, Georgia and Alabama early this SEC season.
> Head coach John Calipari is in his 11th season leading the Wildcats.
> Kentucky has two wins over opponents ranked in the top five of the AP Poll, including a 69-62 win over then-No. 1 Michigan State in the season opener on Nov. 5.
> Four average double figures for the Wildcats, led by freshman guard Tyrese Maxey’s 13.9 points per game.  Immanuel Quickley (13.3), Ashton Hagans (13.1) and Nick Richards (13.0) also turn in double figures.
> In league play, Quickley’s 19.0 points per game are a team high.
> Over the course of the last five games, Kentucky is 4-1 and averaging 73.6 points per game.  UK is 1-0 on the road with a win at Georgia during the stretch.
> In the SEC stats (overall games), Kentucky is sixth in scoring offense (74.8 ppg) and in scoring defense (65.3 ppg), first in free throw percent (77.5%), fourth in rebound margin (+6.1) and is tied with Tennessee for first with 15.3 assists per game.

FRANK MARTIN
> South Carolina head coach Frank Martin is in his eighth season leading the Gamecocks and 13th season overall as a head coach in 2019-20.  Martin, the 2017 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year (CollegeInsider.com), led South Carolina to its first Final Four and a school record 26 wins in 2016-17.  In his 12 complete seasons as a head coach, Martin has led his teams to at least 21 wins seven times.  Martin is a native of Miami, Fla., and a graduate of FIU.
> Prior to his time on the sidelines in the college ranks, Martin spent 15 years in high school coaching in Miami, Fla., including the last seven as a head coach. He was part of five state championships as an assistant at Miami Senior High School (1985-93), before earning two titles as the program’s head coach (1995-98). Highlighting Martin’s stint as the head coach of the program were consecutive 30-win seasons and consecutive Florida 6A State Championships in 1996 and 1997, with his 1997 squad earning a 36-1 overall record and ranking No. 4 in the USA Today Top 25 Poll. He also served as the head coach at North Miami Senior High School (1993-95) and one season at Booker T. Washington High School (1999-2000).
> Among active Division I head coaches, South Carolina’s Frank Martin holds the eighth-highest (tied with Villanova’s Jay Wright) NCAA Tournament winning percentage (.667) behind only Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina’s Roy Williams, Texas Tech’s Chris Beard, Kentucky’s John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Kansas’ Bill Self and Virginia’s Tony Bennett.

NOTES TO KNOW
> South Carolina is led by eighth-year head coach Frank Martin.  Martin, the 2017 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, owns a 254-167 record in his 13th season as a head coach, and a 137-113 record in his eighth season at Carolina.
> Joining Martin on the sidelines is a veteran staff, including assistant coaches Perry Clark (seventh season), Chuck Martin (third season) and Bruce Shingler (fourth season), director of basketball operations Andy Assaley (eighth season) and strength and conditioning coach Scott Greenawalt (eighth season), and several support staff members.
> South Carolina returns a core group from last season’s squad, while welcoming seven newcomers to Columbia, including five freshmen – Trey Anderson, Jalyn McCreary, Trae Hannibal, Wildens Leveque and Mike Green, transfer Seventh Woods (North Carolina/not eligible this season due to NCAA transfer rules) and graduate transfer Micaiah Henry (Tennessee Tech/immediately eligible).
> Carolina’s top returning scorer, and 2019 SEC All-Freshman Team honoree, is sophomore guard AJ Lawson, who scored 13.4 points per outing last season, while dishing 2.9 assists per game.  Over the summer, Lawson competed for Team Canada at the FIBA U19 World Cup in Greece, leading the Canadians with 16.7 points per outing, including an event-high 31 points vs. Senegal.
> R-junior guard Jair Bolden, who was unable to play last season due to NCAA transfer rules (transferred in the summer of 2018 after playing two seasons at George Washington), will bring veteran leadership and proven scoring ability to the court this season for Carolina, as the Brooklyn, N.Y., native averaged 11.2 points per game as a sophomore for the Colonials, while also pacing the team with 98 assists on the season.
> South Carolina returns 43.9 percent of scoring from a year ago, 48.3 percent of its made field goals, and 45.7 percent of its rebounding, following the graduation of All-SEC forward Chris Silva, who led the Gamecocks with 15.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game, and 150 made field goals last season.
> Sophomore guard AJ Lawson is Carolina’s top returning scorer after contributing 13.4 points per outing last season.  Lawson, who was named to the Jerry West Award Watch List in October, posted 18 double-figure scoring games last season, including six 20-point performances.
> R-freshman guard Jermaine Couisnard made his college debut vs. North Alabama, putting together a strong showing with nine points, four rebounds, two assists and a block in 22 minutes of action.  Couisnard missed the exhibition vs. CIU on Oct. 30 due to illness.
> Carolina improved to 2-0 on the young season when it posted a 66-32 victory over Wyoming at Colonial Life Arena on Nov. 10.  Four were in double figures for the Gamecocks, but the story of the game was the Carolina defense, which held Wyoming to just nine made field goals in the contest, the fewest made field goals during the Frank Martin era.
> Sophomore guard AJ Lawson hit seven buckets, including a pair of 3s, and was a career best 12-of-13 at the foul line to post a new career high 28 points in leading the Gamecocks over Cleveland State on Nov. 15 at Colonial Life Arena.  Classmate Alanzo Frink posted the first double-double of his career as well, scoring 11 with 10 boards, including eight on the offensive glass.
> South Carolina suffered a 70-47 loss to Wichita State in its opening neutral-site game at the Cancun Challenge on Nov. 26 at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya. Senior forward Maik Kotsar was the only player in double figures for Carolina, finishing with 12 points. He also had seven rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocks in a team-high 36 minutes.
> Sophomore guard AJ Lawson scored 20 points, his third 20+ outing of the season, against UNI (Nov. 27).  Lawson connected on his first four shot attempts in the game, and finished with eight made field goals, matching his career high.  
> Senior forward Maik Kotsar was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Cancun Challenge, after scoring 12 points in each matchup at the event.  
> Carolina snapped its two-game losing streak when it posted a 74-65 victory over George Washington on Dec. 1 in Columbia.  Senior forward Maik Kotsar continued his stretch of strong play, leading the Gamecocks with 17 points and 9 rebounds, pushing his double-figure scoring streak to five-straight games, the longest such stretch of his career.  
> An 84-80 win at UMass marked the first road victory of the season for the Gamecocks Dec. 4 in Amherst.  Sophomore forward Keyshawn Bryant made his season debut, scoring 13 points, and guard Jermaine Couisnard matched his season high with 16 points, as the duo provided a spark on both ends of the court off the bench in the win.
> Sophomore guard AJ Lawson posted his fourth 20-point game of the season with a game-high 24 on eight bade baskets and six made free throws in the win at UMass.  
> The Gamecocks suffered a home loss to Houston on Dec. 8.  The Carolina offense hit just 32.3 percent from the field, and the Cougars claimed the road win.  Senior forward Maik Kotsar led Carolina with 12 points, and sophomore guard AJ Lawson added 10 in the loss.  Carolina hit six 3s vs. Houston, it’s highest output from beyond the arc since hitting 7-of-19 attempts from range vs. Northern Iowa.  
> Carolina claimed a Palmetto Series point with a big road win over instrastate rival and ACC opponent Clemson Dec. 15 at Littlejohn Coliseum.  The 67-54 victory snapped a three-game Tiger win streak in the series, and was Carolina’s first at Littlejohn since 2011.  
> In that Clemson victory, sophomore guard AJ Lawson scored a team high 20, along with 11 from senior forward Maik Kotsar and 10 from r-junior guard Jair Bolden to round out the Gamecocks in double figures.  The 20-point effort was the fifth of its kind this season for Lawson, who is 11th in the SEC and leads the squad with 16.3 points per outing thus far.
> Prior to the break for the holidays, Carolina upset No. 9 Virginia in Charlottesville with a 70-59 victory on Dec. 22.  The win improved the Gamecocks to 3-0 on the road this season, and it snapped a 22-game home non-conference win streak for the Cavaliers.
> R-junior guard Jair Bolden led four Gamecocks in double figures vs. UVA with a season high 22 points on eight made field goals, including four makes from 3-point range.  AJ Lawson (14), Justin Minaya (12) and Keyshawn Bryant (10) also posted double figures in the win.
> Bolden was named the SEC’s co-Player of the Week following his standout performance vs. Virginia.  It marked Bolden’s first weekly award as a Gamecock.
> The victory on the road vs. the Cavaliers was Carolina’s first on the road over a top 10 opponent since an 81-78 victory at No. 8/8 Texas A&M on Feb. 6, 2016.
> Carolina suffered a 63-56 loss to Stetson in the non-conference finale on Dec. 30.  Only Maik Kotsar (11 points) registered double figures, and the Gamecocks connected on just 20-of-54 (37.0%) attempts from the floor and only 12-of-24 (50.0%) attempts at the free throw line.
> Rookie guard Trae Hannibal scored a season high eight points, with four rebounds, two assists and two steals vs. Stetson.  

MORE NUMBERS
43.9% – South Carolina returns 43.9 percent of its scoring from last season following the departure of All-SEC forward Chris Silva, who led Carolina with a total of 486 points – 15.2 points per game – last season.
17/11 – In his return to the court for the first time in almost a year after missing the final 27 games of last season due to injury, r-sophomore forward Justin Minaya posted team highs of 17 points and 11 rebounds for the first double-double of his career vs. North Alabama on Nov. 6.
23 – Sophomore guard AJ Lawson led Carolina in its lone exhibition contest, a win over Columbia International, with a team high 23 points.  Lawson connected on 7-of-11 attempts from the floor, including a trio of 3-pointers.
4 – After a really strong week of practice prior to the Clemson contest, walk-on forward Nate Nelson was one of the first Gamecocks off the bench in the win over the Tigers on Dec. 15.  It was Nelson’s fifth appearance this season, and the sophomore forward played over four minutes of action in the win vs. the Tigers.
22 – R-junior guard Jair Bolden scored 20 points for the first time in a Carolina uniform in the upset road win at No. 9 Virginia on Dec. 22 with a team high 22.  Bolden is averaging 10.2 points per game.
14 – South Carolina matched a season high, and a Frank Martin era high, when it collected 14 steals vs. UVA in the win on Dec. 22.  Both Maik Kotsar and Trae Hannibal led the Gamecocks with three steals each.
28.0% – The Gamecock defense held Clemson to just 28.0 percent (14-50) from the field in the Dec. 15 road win vs. the Tigers.  That mark was the lowest by an opponent in Carolina’s previous eight games, the lowest since Wyoming’s (Nov. 10) 23.1 percent (9-39) from the floor.
8 – Rookie guard Trae Hannibal scored a season high eight points, while also dishing two assists with two steals and five rebounds in matching a season high with 19 minutes played vs. Stetson.
19 – South Carolina forced 19 Virginia turnovers in the road win on Dec. 22.  It was the most turnovers in a game by the Cavaliers since also having 19 vs. West Virginia on Dec. 8, 2015.
55.1% – Virginia entered the Dec. 22 matchup vs. Carolina as the nation’s leader in field goal percent defense, holding opponents to just 32.1 percent from the field.  The Gamecocks hit 55.1 percent from the field in the win, a UVA opponent season high.

COMING UP NEXT
> Carolina will play its next two contests on the road, beginning with this Saturday’s matchup at Texas A&M.  Tip for the contest is set for 1 p.m. ET, with Richard Cross (play-by-play) and Barry Booker (analyst) on the call for the SEC Network broadcast from College Station.