COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina coach Darrin Horn says his team's upcoming game against Kentucky is important, but it's just one step in building the Gamecocks basketball program.

Wednesday's game is as close to a marquee showdown as the Southeastern Conference has seen this season and the biggest game in years in Columbia.

The winner stays atop the SEC East, while the loser may find themselves slipping off the NCAA tournament bubble.

Horn says the Gamecocks, picked fifth in the East in the preseason, are ahead of where he thought they would be. But he says it hasn't changed his philosophy of slowly building a winner like the Wildcats already have.

The game also features two of the best players in the SEC in Kentucky's Jodie Meeks and South Carolina's Devan Downey.