Downey's 30 helps Gamecocks shock top-ranked Kentucky

COLUMBIA --- The President told them there'd be days like this.

No. 1 Kentucky started the day fielding a phone call from Barack Obama. It ended the day with a loss.

There are no more undefeateds in college basketball. Undermanned and undersized South Carolina just took care of the last one.

Devan Downey again proved he'll get his 30 points no matter the SEC opponent, and Kentucky's youth showed in a 68-62 Gamecocks victory Tuesday night before a crazed, sold-out crowd inside Colonial Life Arena.

"This is huge win for our program, obviously, for a lot of reasons," said USC second-year coach Darrin Horn, now 3-0 against his homestate team. "Everyone in Gamecock nation deserves a win like this."

It's the first victory in eight tries for South Carolina against a top-ranked team.

The building was raucous from the tip. And, surprisingly, it got to stay that way. As the final two seconds ticked off, students stormed the court to the strains of the school's unofficial anthem, "Sandstorm."

How big was this one? The game was the third trending topic in the world on Twitter a few minutes after it finished.

"It's not only big for the players, but big for the university," said Brandis Raley-Ross, who added 17.

Obama was calling John Calipari's Cats to thank them for their support for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The team had helped raise money for them.

Obama asked Calipari who Kentucky had Tuesday. He said South Carolina.

The President said the Wildcats, 19-0 coming into the night, needn't worry about the opponent.

But, thinking twice, he cautioned Calipari about the tendency to lose focus with the No. 1 ranking.

Well, well.

South Carolina might not win eight SEC games. If it does, it would be a terrific season, after the injury to Dominique Archie and the dismissal of Mike Holmes.

With two starters gone, this year has taken on a completely different tone.

But the 2009-10 Gamecocks will always have Jan. 26 -- a third consecutive victory against the conference's flag bearers.

What a way for South Carolina (12-8, 3-3 SEC) to break a three-game losing streak in the league. What a way to spit out the bad taste of losing to Florida at the buzzer Saturday.

"I knew we could play with anybody," said Downey, who continues to cement is legacy as a Gamecock.

Downey was, well, Downey.

He's averaging just above 22 a game this season and 31 a game in six SEC games.

So what he did Tuesday was nothing new. It was just the opponent -- and the exposure -- that were different.

Downey's NBA stock might've spiked in the presence of a dozen or so scouts.

They'd come to marvel at, among others, John Wall, the freshman who scored 19 but didn't have command of his team or this game.

But they left with a plethora of notes about a 5-9 dart that gets his shot whenever and wherever he wants it.

"You guys know me. Every time I step on the floor, I think I'm the best player," Downey said. "It's not a big deal to me."

It didn't seem to matter that Kentucky had the length to put a hand in his face, or even when the Wildcats flared two defenders at him.

He just went through, over or around whoever got in his way.

The senior from Chester made only nine of 29 shots, but he did hit 10 of 11 free throws. And it seemed like every one of his nine field goals made were both acrobatic and emphatic.

The game tied at 51, and with two seconds left on the shot clock, Downey took the inbound pass. He made a falling-down jumper and got fouled, completing a three-point play for with 4:16 to play to give the Gamecocks the lead.

After a sensational block on the other end by Sam Muldrow on DeMarcus Cousins, who did have 27 for Kentucky, Downey cut through two UK defenders for another bucket.

Next trip down the floor, he did it again.

"The closer it gets to the end of the game, he does that," Downey said. "The kid's got a tremendous heart."

This won't make a lot of sense, in hindsight: The Gamecocks had a miserable day shooting, making 34 percent of their shots in the game and 27 percent in the first half.

But, to steal Horn's cliché, the team did all those little things that he's constantly hassling them about.

"This is the first time everybody else did what they could do," Horn said. "It's the first time we've had everybody do that -- and Devan."

They outrebounded a much better, more athletic Kentucky team, 44-40. Horn said he was "shocked" the Gamecocks won the rebounding battle.

"Usually," he said, "we're trying not to get murdered."

Muldrow had 11 rebounds and Johndre Jefferson added eight. Those 19 combined rebounds came after they paired for 20 rebounds in the past three games added together.

South Carolina came in averaging 33.8 boards a game. The Gamecocks were minus-4 in rebounding margin - something Calipari even noted.

USC's 20 offensive rebounds turned into 22 second-chance points.

"I was begging them on every timeout to block out," Calipari said. "South Carolina worked harder than us all night.

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"They wanted the ball more than we wanted the ball. They wanted to win more than we wanted to win."

Back to that phone call. The Gamecocks heard about it. They heard what Obama told Kentucky -- the part about not worrying about USC.

"I'm aware, but kind of afraid to mention something about the President," Downey said, smiling. "I don't want anybody knocking on my door in the morning."

Who knows? Obama might just be showing up to shake Downey's hand.

Reach Travis Haney at thaney@postandcourier.com and check out the South Carolina blog at www.postandcourier.com/blogs/gamecocks.