Anatomy of a meltdown: How the wheels came off in Columbia

Kentucky was leading South Carolina 57-43 after Hamidou Diallo knocked down a free throw following a hard foul on his breakaway dunk attempt. It looked like the Wildcats were close to putting it on cruise control and rolling out of Columbia with a fifth SEC win in six games.

Then came the collapse you've been reading and hearing about, and perhaps replaying in your head a few times, resulting in a surprising loss.

Here's a closer look at what went wrong over the last 11 minutes of the second half.

Right after Diallo hit a free throw to give Kentucky a 14-point lead, its biggest of the game, South Carolina's Maik Kotsar intercepted a pass and started to lead the fast break the other way. Diallo, who struggled mightily in the game, grabbed Kotsar's shorts and was whistled for an intentional foul. Kotsar knocked down one of two free throws and on the ensuing possession Chris Silva caught the ball in the soft spot of Kentucky's 2-3 zone, leaned into Nick Richards' chest and finished off the glass. Just like that the lead was down to 11 and the Gamecock crowd started to regain interest.

On Kentucky's very next possession Kevin Knox found Richards on the baseline. Richards initiated contact into a South Carolina defender who fell down, drawing no whistle, but Richards missed a open short-range shot.

Two possessions later, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who had six turnovers for the game, which, along with the game against Kansas, tied for his season-high — gave it away when Frank Booker stepped out and took a pass intended for Knox the other way for a layup. That brought the lead down to 57-48.

Gilgeous-Alexander found a lane on the other end of the court but missed a floater off the backcourt. South Carolina once again got the ball to Silva, this time defended by Sacha Killeya-Jones posted up in the paint, and he drew a foul before connecting on both free throws.

At that point in the game, with nine minutes to play Diallo, Wenyen Gabriel, Gilgeous-Alexander and Killeya-Jones all had four fouls.

After Silva's free throws cut the lead to 57-50, Gilgeous-Alexander, six turnovers and all, calmly stepped around a screen and knocked down an 18-footer. Frank Booker drained the Gamecocks' fifth three-pointer of the game at the other end but P.J. Washington hit one of two free throws after drawing contact on a baseline take as an answer.

Then Silva brought down the house.

Just before the under 8-minute timeout, Booker laid a hard screen on Gabriel on the left side of Kentucky's zone and that freed up Silva for a monster alley-oop dunk, cutting the Wildcats' lead to 60-55 and bringing roars from the home crowd.

To make matters worse for Kentucky, Gilgeous-Alexander was rejected on his take at the other end. Silva drew another foul and dropped in an other free throw making it 60-56.

At that point Kentucky responded well, temporarily, with Knox nailing a long-range shot - the Wildcats' only three-pointer of the game - and Jarred Vanderbilt scored following an answer from Silva.

Booker ripped the ball away from Knox and once again finished with a transition basket (65-60 Kentucky). Vanderbilt caught the ball in the high post but followed a nice spin move with an air ball floater.

Shortly thereafter came perhaps the game's single-most defining moment.

Leading 65-60, Knox saw a three-ball from the wing rim out and Richards followed that with a missed dunk off the back iron. Either of those baskets would have made it a three-possession game and shifted momentum, but instead Kentucky fouled Silva after a made basket off the offensive rebound and the lead dwindled to 65-63.

Knox threw a shot off the backboard on a runner as three defenders collapsed from their zone and that ill-advised shot led to an easy runout for Wesley Myers, who tied the game up.

After the TV timeout Diallo attacked the basket and drew contact but missed both free throws. At the other end, Richards was whistled for a goaltend on Myers' runner off glass and South Carolina had the 67-65 lead.

Neither team scored a field goal the rest of the way. South Carolina hit nine free throws, Kentucky hit three and the Gamecocks finished the 76-68 win.

It's easy to write off Kentucky's run as resulting from a simple momentum shift but there were several identifiable things that happened that created that shift.

1. South Carolina aggressively attacked Kentucky's zone defense as Kentucky's zone softened up. By working the ball into the high post, Silva was able to attack Kentucky's big men, who were saddled with foul trouble and unable to aggressively defend, or find open shooters or cutting teammates.

2. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was defended much better, and his shots near the rim were much more contested, than they have been in most of Kentucky's games over the past month.

3. Kevin Knox went cold. The freshman carried Kentucky through much of the game when the rest of the team was unable to solve the Gamecocks' defense, but he missed his last five shots, some worse than others, and that left the Cats without any scoring punch.

In the big picture had Quade Green played, had Kentucky shot better from outside, had Vanderbilt come into the game more polished, had foul trouble been less extreme - all would have made a difference, too. But within the game itself the above factors played key roles in the loss.