Hosting a perennial top ranked team in the midst of a humbling losing streak isn't a formula typically found for turning a team's season around. But last year's 72-67 win over Kentucky was anything but ordinary for South Carolina.
The Gamecocks were reeling after losing three in a row and 12 of their last 15 contests when they hosted a Kentucky team that ended its 2014 season in the national championship game.
South Carolina's defense smothered the Wildcats all night, holding Kentucky to a modest 26.9 percent from the field. Kentucky's frustration culminated in the ejection of head coach John Calipari in the fourth quarter.
"We didn't bow our necks until I got tossed. And then we bowed our necks and played. You know, the good news with it is if I get thrown I'm not doing a press conference after," Calipari said at his weekly press conference. Calipari did not show up to the post-game interview after he was ejected last year during Kentucky's defeat.
After its win, South Carolina peeled off three wins in five games, including victories over Auburn and Arkansas in the SEC tournament.
The Gamecocks now have a chance to make lightning strike again a year later. But this time the stakes are a little bit higher.
Kentucky will visit as the heralded No. 1 team in the nation, having won every one of its 18 games this season.
Similar to last season, the Gamecocks have struggled through SEC play but have maintained their defense prowess that head coach Frank Martin has hammered into the South Carolina program.
"They game is going to be physical," Calipari said. "They come right at you. If you drive, you've got three guys running. As you run at them, they run at you."
Through 17 games, South Carolina has held its opponents to 36.6 percent field goal shooting, which is the eighth-best in the nation. The Gamecocks also average over 38 rebounds per game, good enough to tie them for 39th in the country.
The Gamecocks have a unique opportunity Saturday to not only replicate their win from last year, but also to stop the slide they've been on since falling to Florida to begin SEC play.
"If you try to act like nothing wrong has happened, you're going to get the same result," Martin said. "We have to embrace the moment that we're in. Adversity does two things: either brings you together or breaks you apart. It's one or the other. Let's see which way we go."
Colonial Life Arena will be at capacity Saturday afternoon, the university announced Thursday afternoon. The building, which seats 18,000, has only sold out five times before — Saturday will mark the sixth. Four of the sellouts have come when playing Kentucky, including South Carolina's 68-62 upset win over the then-No. 1 Wildcats in 2010.