Tennessee Basketball Destroyed 82-55 by South Carolina: 3 Takeaways from Vols’ Loss

Tennessee basketball was destroyed by the South Carolina Gamecocks on the road 82-55. Here are three takeaways from the Volunteers’ loss.

With four losses in their last five games, the Tennessee basketball skid continues. And it doesn’t look pretty either.

Rick Barnes’s Vols lost on the road to the South Carolina Gamecocks 82-55 on Saturday afternoon. They never really threatened except for a furious run at the end of the first half to cut the Gamecocks’ lead to single digits.

But South Carolina broke it back open in the second half.

With the loss, Tennessee basketball now falls to 15-14 on the year and 7-9 in the SEC, while South Carolina improves to 21-8 overall and 11-5 in the SEC.

Here are five takeaways from the Vols’ loss.

1. Shooting was atrocious.

The Tennessee Vols continued their shooting funk by going 1-for-13 from the three-point line and shooting 33.3 percent overall. This follows a terrible shooting night against the Vanderbilt Commodores at home this past Wednesday, and it has not stopped.

Frank Martin did a great coaching job closing off the post-game of the Vols’ offense which is why Grant Williams struggled so severely with only 8 points. So they needed better shooting in this game. They didn’t get it, and that’s why they lost. However, South Carolina has a great defense, so this is forgivable. The next point isn’t.

2. The Vols lost at their own game.  

South Carolina shot 45 percent from the field and hit nine threes, shooting 39 percent from beyond the arc. Those are good numbers, but they shouldn’t be enough for 82 points, especially when you consider the fact they had 18 turnovers. The problem?

Tennessee had 20 turnovers. Rick Barnes has stressed tempo with his team all year, and they somehow managed to fall apart playing their own up-tempo style against the Gamecocks. They were able to score a lot in transition and capitalize off the Vols’ mistakes. Martin took Tennessee’s biggest strength and turned it into a weakness. And that was unacceptable.

3. Guard play was an all-around travesty.

This is the reason for the other two takeaways. Outside of Robert Hubbs III, who had 16 points on 7-for-14 shooting, the Vols guards were terrible. It’s forgivable for the big men to struggle underneath the basket given Martin’s defensive schemes.

But the guards outside of Hubbs shot 5-of-19 and had nine turnovers. They had nowhere near a high enough usage rate for that many turnovers, and they were utterly useless. Once again, Lamonte Turner and Shembari Phillips failed as combo guards, and that’s become a problem for this team. All-around, the terrible guard play cost the Vols this game.