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Tennessee Basketball: Vols Stun No. 24 Ranked South Carolina Gamecoks 78-69

By Caleb Calhoun

Jan 23, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes talks to Tennessee Volunteers guard Kevin Punter (0) during the second half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee won 78 to 69. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2016; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes talks to Tennessee Volunteers guard Kevin Punter (0) during the second half against the South Carolina Gamecocks at Thompson-Boling Arena. Tennessee won 78 to 69. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee basketball moved to 10-9 on the season as Rick Barnes’s Volunteers upset the No. 24 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in Knoxville Saturday.

Kevin Punter scored 36 points and the Vols shot 47 percent from the three-point line as they upset the South Carolina Gamecocks 78-69 at Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday afternoon.

It was South Carolina’s second loss of the season.

The Vols rebounded from an embarrassing 88-74 home loss to the Vanderbilt Commodores that took place on Wednesday, which highlights the inconsistency of this basketball team considering its huge 80-75 road win against the Mississippi State Bulldogs last Saturday.

But this win, which was Tennessee’s first win against a ranked team on the season, topped last week’s win.

South Carolina was coming off an extra day of rest having defeated the Ole Miss Rebels 77-74 on the road in overtime Tuesday night earlier this week.

Tennessee went 10 of 21 from the three-point line and 30 of 32 from the free throw line while only going 19 of 46 overall from the field, an odd disparity.

But it wasn’t the offense that won this game. It was the defense.

A South Carolina offense that averaged 78 points a game going in was held to 69 points, and the Gamecocks shot 4-of-14 from three-point range.

It was once again a sloppy game, typical of Barnes’s tempo-based strategy for the year, as Tennessee had 18 turnovers and the Gamecocks had 17.

But Tennessee made huge plays in transition.

They broke the lead open in the second half to 11 points, and every time South Carolina cut it down, the Vols went against their typical trends of the year by hanging on.

A key part of the game was with South Carolina threatening late, Robert Hubbs III nailed a jump-shot, Devon Baulkman got a steal on the in-bounds pass, and Kevin Punter nailed a three-point shot to extend Tennessee’s lead to 65-53 at the time.

That was really the dagger with under five minutes to go, as the Gamecocks could only cut it to six after that but get no closer.

Tennessee remains just above water with a 10-9 record (3-4 in SEC) after this game, but things are not about to get any easier with road trips to Alabama and TCU next week and then a home game against the Kentucky Wildcats before going back on the road to face the Arkansas Razorbacks.

So the schedule is about to get much more brutal than it already was. If the Vols shoot like they did vs the Gamecocks, though, they have a chance in any game they play.

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