The Lexington Herald-Leader's John Clay makes some good points following UK's loss to South Carolina:

Even before the defeat, John Calipari had warned a drop off in play could become a viral matter, with one loss turning into two and so on.

Look at Texas, which was bounced not once but twice last week after taking over the No. 1 spot in the polls Kentucky (for) now holds. After Kansas lost at Tennessee, the Jayhawks trailed Nebraska at the half of its next game, only to right the ship in the second half.

--When Darrin Horn was playing high school hoops at Tates Creek, did you think one day, as a coach, he would be 3-0 against Kentucky?

--Heard a national media member say Wednesday that Devan Downey played out of his mind Tuesday night. No, Downey played well within his beautiful mind. The South Carolina guard was averaging 31.6 points per SEC game. He scored 30. Downey actually missed 20 shots, going 9-for-29. The difference Tuesday night was Kentucky didn't rebound enough of those missed shots. Of Downey's 20 missed shots, South Carolina retained possession 11 times.

--The national media seems ready to anoint Wall as National Player of the Year, yet right now Devan Downey has to be the SEC's Player of the Year.

--It will be interesting to see how Kentucky responds now that the league has learned the ultra-talented but still fresh-faced Cats are not invincible.

--Patrick Patterson's off night didn't help matters. The junior's five-point output was his lowest since his very first game as a Wildcat, back on Nov. 6, 2007, when foul trouble limited Patterson to just four points in 13 minutes against Central Arkansas.

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College Hoops kentucky wildcats, uk, south carolina gamecocks, devan downey, john wall, patrick patterson