South Carolina 72, No. 15 Kentucky 67: Brenton Williams had 24 points and three steals as the Gamecocks recorded a mammoth upset of the visiting Wildcats in SEC play.

Sindarius Thornwell tallied 14 points and Michael Carrera added 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots for South Carolina (11-18, 4-12), which had lost 12 of its previous 15 games. Laimonas Chatkevicius scored six of his eight points in the final 2:36 to help the Gamecocks hold on.

Aaron Harrison scored 21 points and James Young added 19 for Kentucky (21-8, 11-5), which has lost three of its last five games. Julius Randle had 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Wildcats, who had a chance to tie late, but Alex Poythress’ 3-pointer was off the mark with 7.8 seconds left and Williams sealed it for South Carolina by sinking two free throws with five seconds to play.

The Gamecocks led by 16 midway through the second half before the Wildcats erupted with a 14-2 run to pull within 57-53 on Young’s 3-pointer with 4:36 remaining. South Carolina held a 68-61 lead in the final half-minute before Harrison hit a 3-pointer with 26.1 seconds left and a steal by Young set up Randle’s 3-point play to cut the margin to one with 22 seconds remaining before Thornwell hit two three throws two seconds later.

South Carolina led 31-28 at halftime after holding Kentucky to 5-of-29 shooting. The Gamecocks opened the second half with a 14-2 run to make it a 15-point margin and Wildcats coach John Calipari was ejected with 10:25 to play for arguing and Williams hit the two technicals to make it 53-39.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Williams was 15-of-16 from the free-throw line and has missed just five of 107 attempts this season. … Kentucky shot just 26.9 percent from the field and Randle was just 1-of-7 while recording his 16th double-double of the season. … South Carolina improved to 2-9 against the Wildcats during Calipari’s tenure as Kentucky coach.