[EKUAlum05]

My thoughts on why UK was upset:

First and formeost I am going to exclude Downey from being one of the reasons. No doubt he was amazing last night, but at the same time he is a great player andaverages 30 ppg...you have to think that he is going to do his part.

The way I see it, 4 things made the difference in this game:

1. Offensive Rebounding- SC absolutely flat wore UK out on the glass. Gamecocks had 20 offensive boards and I don't know how many second chance points! Keep in mind SC only had a total of 6 assists the entire night. In my opinion the best passing that SC did all night was missing shots.

2. Missed Layups-Dodson and Bledsoe each had easy layups that they just simply blew. You switch those 4 points around and UK either wins this game or forces SC to shoot a buzzer beater. UK consistently missed easy shots at the rim whether it be the two mentioned above or guys like Orton who had point blank tip-ins that they could not execute.

3. Fouls/Free Throws- I am not going to get into officiating, officiating did not determine the game. What did determine the game was UK's constant fouling in the first half that allowed SC to hang around with free throws. When UK was up 7 in the first half they should have been up 15 or more. SC couldn;t hit the broad side of a barn in the first half but UK allowed them to hang around and build confidence.

4. The way the ball bounces- This is the biggest one IMO. Last night was SC's night to pull an upset, plain and simple. The above things certainly helped build SC's case, but they also simply had the ball bounce their way all night. A UK defender mis-times his jump and the ball bounces right to a Gamecock, a backdoor pass is ever so slightly deflected and it hits off of Wall, a rebound goes long and a posession is lengthened.

These games are going to happen against UK more than it will happen for UK. For Kentucky to be a great team they have got to understand "luck" is not going to be on their side and most teams are going to play harder than they will. Kentucky will have a talent advtage over every team they play until the Final 4, the key to avoiding upsets is to do the little things right that is needed to overcome the times when the ball simply doesn't bounce your way.