South Carolina S. Carolina/Kentucky Kentucky Men's College Basketball recap on ESPN

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kentucky coach Tubby Smith says he's excited about the future thanks to his freshman. That time already may have arrived for his Wildcats.

Keith Bogans hit five 3-pointers and scored 23 points as No. 15 Kentucky beat South Carolina 78-65 Friday in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

Smith would only call the victory a good start, but South Carolina coach Eddie Fogler didn't hold back when praising the Wildcats.

"They're a lot better team now than they were early in the year and even midway through the year. I think they're peaking at the right time," said Fogler, who lost three games to Kentucky this season.

The Wildcats (20-9) clinched their 11th consecutive 20-win season and a berth in the semifinals Saturday. They now have won nine of their last 11 games after starting the season losing five of their first eight with six freshmen on the roster.

Fogler said those young Wildcats are playing much better now. Freshmen Jason Parker and Gerald Fitch started and scored 14 and 10 points, respectively.

Tayshaun Prince, the league's player of the year, scored just 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting for Kentucky, which has won seven of the last nine SEC tournament championships and 22 overall.

"We're just pleased to get this win and looking forward to moving on," Smith said.

Kentucky, which shared the regular season title with Florida, had little trouble against South Carolina (15-14).

The Wildcats didn't shoot as well as they did Feb. 3 when they handed the fifth-seeded South Carolina its worst loss ever in Columbia, 94-61. Kentucky scored 10 of the first 12 points and never trailed in handing the Gamecocks their 10th straight loss in this series.

"For whatever reason, they shoot the ball extremely well against us," Fogler said. "They came out today on fire. I think our only chance today, or for a lot of other teams, is to catch them not shooting well."

The Gamecocks were trying to reach the semifinals for the fourth time in five years, but could only get within six in the first half, the last at 31-25 on a basket by Rolando Howell with 1:35 to go before Kentucky opened a 34-25 halftime lead.

Kentucky fans made themselves at home by hanging blue 3s from the rails over the South Carolina banner as the Wildcats built their lead to as much as 24 twice in the second half, the last at 69-45 on a 3-pointer by Marquis Estill with 8:31 left.

South Carolina threatened to make a game of it with an 11-0 spurt that started with the Kentucky starters on the bench. They returned and watched as the Gamecocks closed within 69-56 on a pair of free throws by Howell with 4:31 to go. That was as close as South Carolina would get.

"We had a little slump," Bogans said. "We hit that slump a few times this season. I think we've matured a lot and are starting to overcome those slumps when we start to hit them."

Howell led South Carolina with 20 points, Aaron Lucas had 12 and Tony Kitchens 10.

The only area of the game that bothered Smith was the Wildcats' free throw shooting. They went 9-of-21.

"Those are areas you have to do better if you're going to move on and advance in postseason play," he said.

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Men's College Basketball Scoreboard

South Carolina Clubhouse

Kentucky Clubhouse