LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY - If there's such thing as a must-win game in early January, No. 8 Kentucky is facing one Saturday at South Carolina. <br>
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``It's a huge game because no one expected us to be 0-2 in the conference,'' senior All-American Tayshaun Prince said Friday. ``It's time to start a new winning streak now.'' <br>
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Kentucky (9-4, 0-2 Southeastern Conference) will try to avoid going 0-3 in the SEC for the first time in 26 years when it battles the resurgent Gamecocks. <br>
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The Wildcats have blown second-half leads in each of its last two games, a 74-69 overtime loss last Saturday at Mississippi State and an 88-84 setback at home Wednesday against Georgia. <br>
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``We've dug ourselves a big hole and we're going to have to battle to get out of it,'' junior Keith Bogans said. ``We just have to show our character and keep on fighting.'' <br>
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Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said there's only one way to shake the recent doldrums and get back on track: hard work. <br>
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``That's the only way we know how to do it,'' Smith said during a news conference Friday. ``I told the team that we're going to work harder than we've worked before in those areas that need to be improved, and we have been.'' <br>
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Smith mentioned toughness and a rededication to the kind of defense the Wildcats have become known for in recent years as areas of primary concern. <br>
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``Toughness to me means screening better, diving on the floor for loose balls, not giving up open 3-point shots ... that's what I mean by getting tougher and getting a killer instinct,'' he said. ``But I think the biggest area is defense. <br>
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``If there is an area that we might need to make some changes, it would be on defense. Guys are just not really giving the extra effort that we need to win ball games.'' <br>
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South Carolina coach Dave Odom said teams shouldn't make the mistake of taking Kentucky lightly despite its recent struggles. <br>
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``The talent in the league is incredible this year,'' said Odom, who is in his first season at South Carolina after 12 years at Wake Forest. <br>
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``Kentucky's 0-2 SEC record says more about this conference and the teams in it than it does about Kentucky's problems. It shows that this conference is more than just one or two teams.'' <br>
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Smith said he knows it's never easy to win on the road, especially in the talent-rich SEC. Kentucky will find out what it's made of in a hurry, playing three of their next four games on their opponents' home floors. <br>
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That stretch begins in Columbia, where South Carolina has racked up a 10-4 record under Odom, who led the Demon Deacons to 11 straight NCAA Tournament appearances. <br>
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Although the Gamecocks are still looking for their first conference victory, all four of their losses have come to ranked opponents Duke, UCLA, Georgetown and Florida. <br>
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Senior guard Jamel Bradley and junior center Marius Petravicius lead the Gamecocks. Bradley tops the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game while Petravicius ranks eighth in the conference in rebounding, averaging 7.1 per contest. <br>
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``Florida struggled to beat them,'' Smith said of the Gators' 69-60 victory in the Gamecocks' only conference game this season. ``The more games they play, the more they get used to Coach Odom's system and style of play. And they've got some very talented players.'' <br>
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Kentucky, however, can't worry about what the Gamecocks will throw at them. Instead, the Wildcats need to concentrate on getting back to executing the way they were when they took then-No. 1 Duke into overtime last month. <br>
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``Right now, obviously, we're not very pleased about how we are playing,'' Smith said. ``We've played just good enough to get beat and not quite good enough to win. We just haven't been able to put that series or run together in late game situations to pull out a win.''
