The South Carolina Gamecocks scored a much-needed home victory by beating Tennessee 82-55 in Columbia on Saturday.
It was once again all about defense for South Carolina. Frank Martin’s team controlled the latter part of the second half by forcing Tennessee to make numerous mistakes, and that translated into 27 points off turnovers for the Gamecocks.
Martin also got great scoring balance from his group, with PJ Dozier leading the way with 19 points. Sindarius Thornwell added 15, as did Duane Notice (which came on five three-pointers). Rakym Felder also hit double-digits with 12.
Robert Hubbs III led Tennessee in scoring with 16 points.
Blake’s Analysis:
Well, South Carolina certainly needed that.
I said in the Saturday predictions that this felt like a big letdown spot for Tennessee. The Vols were coming off that deflating home loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday, and you never know how a young team will respond to having its NCAA tournament chances take a huge hit.
Sure enough, Tennessee just wasn’t the same team.
Of course, a lot of the credit for that goes to the Gamecocks. South Carolina forced 20 turnovers and held the Vols to just 33% shooting from the field (1-of-12 from three), which is very similar to what happened when these two teams met in Knoxville earlier in the season.
The Gamecocks forced 22 turnovers in that game, and the Vols only managed single digits in three-point shooting percentage as well (1-for-11 for 9%).
Should these defensive numbers surprise people? Not at all. This team came into the game 21st in the country in FG% defense (39.8%) and fifth in turnovers forced (17.2 TPG).
The win puts South Carolina safely into the tournament field for now, while Tennessee’s chances are likely over.
Rick Barnes has talked a lot this season about the unknowns with an inexperienced team. We saw those unknowns today in Columbia.
The Vols could still make the NIT, which wouldn’t exactly be disappointing given the fact that this team was picked 13th in the preseason.
A deep run in the NIT could be a big momentum booster for this program going forward.