Terrence Jones and the Wildcats played like the nation's #1 team Saturday night

If ever a basketball game was over at halftime, this one was. 

Top ranked Kentucky built a 52-25 halftime lead, largely on uncontested alley-oop dunks to a variety of their talented big men, and went on to an 86-52 victory over USC Saturday night at a Colonial Life Arena that more often than not sounded like Rupp Arena. 

Thousands of Kentucky fans filled the usually empty seats at the CLA to give the Wildcats a home court feeling, and they responded in kind with one of their most lopsided wins of the season.  Kentucky improved to 23-1 overall and 9-0 in the SEC.  USC fell to 9-13 and 1-7. 

The Wildcats took advantage of their superior size and athleticism with 8 first half dunks, some on fast breaks, others on lobs over the defense in their half court offense.

AUDIO:  John Calipari, Anthony Davis & Terrence Jones post game news conference

Leonard had career high 19

Kentucky jumped to a quick 12-3 lead but USC hung around for about the first ten minutes.  The Gamecocks trailed 25-18 with 10:33 to play in the half, but the Wildcats went on an 11-0 run for a 36-18 lead and never let up from there.

The only second half drama was whether UK star freshman Anthony Davis  would record only the second triple-double in school history, and if USC would suffer it’s worst defeat of the modern era.  Neither happened.  Davis finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists.  He was removed from the game with 4:36 left after taking a hard fall. 

And the 34 point margin of defeat fell short of the 47 point loss for USC at Syracuse in 1999 under Eddie Fogler, but it was the Gamecocks’ worst defeat in their nearly four full seasons under Darrin Horn. 

AUDIO:  Malik Cooke & Damien Leonard post game news conference  

Four Wildcats scored in double figures with Davis leading the way with his 22 points.  Davis hit 9 of 10 from the floor and 4 of 5 from the line.  Doron Lamb added 18 points on 6 of 7 shooting including 3 of 3 from behind the three point line. 

Damien Leonard led USC with a career high 19 points including 4 three pointers.  Anthony Gills was the only other Gamecock in double figures with 10.  The play of Damontre Harris was one other bright spot for USC as he contributed 6 rebounds and 4 blocks. 

USC returns to action Wednesday at Tennessee.  Kentucky has a Tuesday night showdown at home against Florida.

Final Box

Tomorrow night’s game tips off at 6:00 at Colonial Life Arena.

 AUDIO: Darrin Horn previews Kentucky

Grady Brown

Below USC’s offical release announcing Grady Brown as its new secondary coach.  We’ve also included an interview we did with Brown Friday afternoon.  Please enjoy.

AUDIO: Grady Brown on SportsTalk First Edition

USC  head football coach Steve Spurrier has added former Southern Miss assistant Grady Brown to his coaching staff, it was announced today. Brown will serve as the Gamecocks’ secondary coach and assistant special teams coordinator in 2012.

“We’re pleased to announce the hiring of Grady Brown, a sharp, young defensive secondary coach who has had much success the last three years at Southern Miss,” said Coach Spurrier. “He will also assist Joe Robinson with the special teams. He and Joe were together at LSU and know each other well. He will fit in extremely well here and be an excellent addition to our staff.”

Brown, 34, has spent the past two seasons as the Golden Eagles’ cornerbacks coach. During the 2011 campaign, Southern Miss was No. 7 nationally in pass efficiency defense (108.47 rating) and set an NCAA record for interceptions returned for touchdowns with eight. As a unit, the Golden Eagle defense finished the season as a Top-30 defense.

In his first year at USM, Brown, who was hired just prior to the start of fall camp, quickly instilled a toughness and physicality into his corners that amounted to a pair of freshman being selected to the All Freshman squad.

“I’m excited to work with Lorenzo Ward, someone I’ve known since I was 17,” said Brown. “It should be a smooth transition and a blessed opportunity for me to work with someone I’ve known for such a long time. I also am excited to have the opportunity to work with Coach Spurrier. He is such a well-respected coach and has done some great things here at South Carolina. I’m looking forward to becoming part of the Gamecock family.”

Brown came to Southern Miss after spending the previous year and a half working in the strength and conditioning area at LSU, where he helped tutor NFL third-round pick Chad Jones and free agent signees Danny McCray and Chris Hawkins.

Brown went to LSU after working a season at Texas Southern where he was the safeties coach and also the community outreach liaison.

His arrival to TSU came after a six-year stint as the secondary coach at Alabama State. While at ASU, the Hornets’ defense finished ranked in the Top 10 nationally in six team categories and once for an individual. In his first season at ASU, Brown mentored Antoine Hill who finished third in the country in interceptions with 10, while the squad ranked seventh in both turnovers gained and interceptions. The team won the Southwestern Athletic Conference crown in 2003 and then the league’s overall title in 2004, in which his defensive squad ranked seventh in turnovers gained and ninth in rushing defense.

During his time at ASU, Brown served two NFL Minority Coaching Internships, first with the Seattle Seahawks in 2004, then with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007. He also served as the defensive coordinator and linebacker coach for the Magnolia All-Star Football Classic in 2005.

Brown began his coaching career in 2000 at his alma mater, Alabama A&M, before being promoted to the rank of a full-time assistant coach for the 2001 campaign.

After completing his high school career at Wenonah High School in Birmingham, Ala., Brown played defensive back for Alabama A&M from 1995 through 1998. After his senior season, he played one season with the Tennessee Valley Vipers in the Arena Football League.

Born June 13, 1977, Brown graduated from Alabama A&M with a degree in mathematics education in 2000. He is married to Rashidah Brown.

Dawn Staley

The USC women’s basketball team rolled into Knoxville Thursday night and upset the eigth ranked Tennessee Lady Vols 64-60.  The win is easily one of the biggest in program history for the Lady Gamecocks.  Their last  and only other win over the Lady Vols came on January 23rd, 1980 when a man named Jimmy Carter was occupying the White House.  USC had lost 40 straight to UT since that game.

It’s also been a decade since the Lady Gamecocks beat a top ten, and 11 years since they did it on the road.  The 8th ranked Lady Vols are the highest ranked team coach Dawn Staley has notched a win against in her career.

Damontre Harris played big for USC in the loss to Florida Thursday night

Story from USC Sports information:

USC  pulled within six points, but solid free throw shooting down the stretch saw No. 12/11 Florida escape with a 74-66 win in SEC action at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville on Thursday night. The Gamecocks fall to 9-12, 1-6 SEC with the loss, while Florida improves to 18-4, 6-1 in league play.

Sophomore forward Damontre Harris had an impressive night for the Gamecocks with a near double-double, scoring 12 points, collecting nine rebounds and matching a career high with six blocks. Sophomore guard Bruce Ellington added 15 points and three assists.

Florida was led by junior guard Kenny Boynton with 24 points, while senior guard Irving Walker added 14 and freshman Bradley Beal added 17 and 11 rebounds.

After trailing by as many as 17 midway through the first half, the Gamecocks used a 9-1 run over the final 3:52 to pull within nine at the halftime break. Ellington led the Gamecocks with eight points in the set, with Harris adding six and four blocks.

The Gators held a five-point advantage at the under-16 minute media timeout and extended their lead to 10 points at 18-8 with 13:16 remaining. The Gamecocks continued to battle, as Harris was solid from the free throw line, and Cooke hit back-to-back jumpers late in the half.

Florida’s Beal hit the only Gator point in the final minutes of the half on a free throw with 57 seconds remaining on the clock, and a layup by RJ Slawson at the buzzer put the score at 37-28 Florida at the break.

The teams traded baskets through the first part of the second half before the Gators took a timeout with 10:53 remaining after a 7-2 South Carolina run over the previous 3:23.

The Florida lead hovered around 10 points midway through the half. A layup by Cooke with 6:43 remaining pulled the Gamecocks within eight at 54-46. Following a missed 3 by Cooke, a tip-in by Gill saw the Gator lead at just six with 4:11 remaining.

Twice in the final three minutes the Gamecocks pulled within six. After a layup by Boynton with 55 seconds on the clock, sophomore guard Brenton Williams sank a 3 from the near corner for Carolina to bring the score to 67-62, but solid free throw shooting in the final minute by Florida saw the Gators escape with the 74-66 victory.

South Carolina returns to Colonial Life Arena on Saturday to host No. 1 Kentucky in a contest to be televised on ESPN at 6 p.m. ET.

Final Box

Grady Brown

According to sources Southern Miss assistant Grady Brown is a prime candidate to replace Jeep Hunter on the USC coaching staff. He is expected to be in Columbia tonight to interview for the job.

 Brown is going in to his third season in Hattiesburg and coaches the Golden Eagles cornerbacks.  Prior to working at Southern Miss Brown was on the staff at LSU.

Hunter was fired last week after spending three seasons at USC.

Steve Spurrier

By: Brian Rauf

In the second part of his National Signing Day press conference, head coach Steve Spurrier and his son, recruiting coordinator Steve Spurrier, Jr., sat down and discussed the topic of the day: the newly-signed recruits.

AUDIO: The Spurriers talk about 2012 recruiting class

Steve Spurrier

By: Brian Rauf

During this National Signing Day, USC head football coach Steve Spurrier held a press conference to talk about the Gamecocks.  In part I of his press conference, Spurrier and three of his new assistant coaches (LB coach Kirk Botkin, Special Teams coach Joe Robinson, RB coach Everett Sands), as well as strength and conditioning coach Joe Connolly, discuss joining the South Carolina coaching staff.

 AUDIO: New assistants talk about joining the staff

AUDIO: Darrin Horn

Today Gamecock Head Coach, Darrin Horn, caught up with the media to preview the matchup with the Gators.

By: Rixon Lane

On the eve of Signing Day, we continue our coverage of the verbal commitments who will sign their letters of intent with Clemson and USC.

Tonight, we talked with Jordan Diggs, a safety from Fort Myers, Florida, and Island Coast High School.

AUDIO: Jordan Diggs

Diggs, who participated in this year’s Under Armour All-American Game, is the son of former Gamecock linebacker Shed Diggs. Tonight, we spoke with him about his decision to come to Columbia, his relationship with Carolina’s other commitments, and how he fits into the Gamecock defense.