GAME NOTES: The Kentucky Wildcats have earned the top spot in the latest AP poll, and they are slated to take on the South Carolina Gamecocks tonight in SEC action.

Kentucky has won all 19 games it has played this season under the guidance of first-year head coach John Calipari. The Wildcats improved to 4-0 in conference on Saturday with a 101-70 victory over Arkansas. Tonight's game marks just the fourth true road affair for Kentucky.

As for South Carolina, it has suffered three consecutive defeats to fall to 11-8 overall and 2-3 in the SEC. The Gamecocks have been held below 60 points in back-to-back outings, including Saturday's 58-56 loss to Florida. The team has reason for optimism tonight, however, as eight of its 10 home games thus far have resulted in victory.

Kentucky owns a commanding 41-9 series advantage over South Carolina, but the Gamecocks crushed the Wildcats, 77-59, in the most recent meeting last season.

Kentucky freshman guard John Wall is widely regarded as the best player in all of college basketball. Wall is averaging 17.0 ppg to go with 124 assists and 38 steals, and he is surrounded by tremendous talent. Patrick Patterson is a star forward/center who brings 15.9 ppg and 7.8 rpg to the mix while shooting 61.2 percent from the field. DeMarcus Cousins, a freshman power forward, provides 15.4 ppg and 9.5 rpg, and Eric Bledsoe checks in with 11.3 ppg. The Wildcats are racking up 83.2 ppg on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor, including 38.1 percent from three-point range. Defensively, the squad is holding foes to 65.6 ppg, and a rebounding advantage of more than 10 boards per contest has certainly helped matters. Darius Miller led Kentucky with 18 points in the easy win over Arkansas on Saturday, while Cousins and Wall added 16 points apiece. The Wildcats earned a 59-39 rebounding advantage and limited the Razorbacks to 30.6 percent field goal efficiency.

South Carolina guard Devan Downey has been sensational in recent weeks, as he has led his team in scoring in eight consecutive outings, netting 25 or more points on six of those occasions. Downey is netting 21.9 ppg overall to go along with 3.6 apg, but injuries have depleted his supporting cast. Brandis Raley-Ross checks in with 10.1 ppg, and while the club is generating 74.8 ppg, the offensive play has been shaky recently. The fact that Downey scored 36 of his team's 56 points in Saturday's loss to Florida suggests that South Carolina has become a one-man team. Downey shot 12-of-25 against the Gators, but the rest of the team hit just 9-of-30 shots.

Downey is an outstanding performance, but his team will be overwhelmed by the Wildcats tonight. Expect Wall and company to pull away in the second half.