Kentucky will be a solid favorite against South Carolina on Wednesday night even on the road.

But anytime a team goes on the road in conference play there's the danger of an upset.

Here are some keys to avoiding a letdown performance and a bad road loss.

Nick Richards needs to stay on the court ... The only knock on what Nick Richards has done this season has been an inability to stay on the court due to foul trouble at times. Fortunately for UK, in some big moments Richards has played well even when he has had foul trouble. But as far and away Kentucky's best big man, going on the road in a hostile arena where whistles can sometimes be tight and unpredictable, a significant variable would be if Richards has to leave the game with a couple of quick fouls or with three early in the second half.

Avoid the bad turnovers ... 14 turnovers against Alabama doesn't seem that bad but it led to 17 Alabama points. John Calipari can probably live with a standard number of giveaways, and this team hasn't been too bad about coughing it up for most of the year. But they can't give away easy points to South Carolina. That's one of the only ways the Gamecocks could score enough points to win this game because it's hard to see them executing too well in the halfcourt against the Wildcats.

South Carolina happens to be very good at forcing turnovers. They create 15.7 turnovers per game.

Don't let bad shots go in ... South Carolina is a bad three-point shooting team. Actually, at 27.9-percent from long range South Carolina is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in college basketball.Kentucky can get out and defend the perimeter. So it stands to reason that Kentucky will defend the perimeter fairly well against the Gamecocks. This shouldn't come as a shock, but in USC's best moments this year, they have been better than normal from outside. Two of their three best three-point shooting performances of the season came against Clemson (8/18) and Virginia (6/17), and those happened to be South Carolina's two best wins of the season. Really getting into those bad shooters outside can take away another variable that often plays a role in upset bids.

Don't get enamored with the three ball ... While Kentucky has been much better from three point range itself lately (26/58 the last several games), this might be a good time to, at least temporarily, keep it inside the arc for the most part. Run the offense, be methodical, and don't become enamored with the three ball. This shouldn't be a problem because it's not as though Kentucky has been taking bad shots or too many of them from outside. But South Carolina is an excellent three-point defense. Don't play into that strength in a game that might be won with 60 points.