Three takeaways from Tennessee basketball’s second dominant victory over South Carolina this year
For the second time this year, Tennessee basketball, ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll and No. 20 in the Coaches Poll, scored a 20-plus point victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks to complete a regular season sweep of them. This time, UT beat them 81-57 on the road in Columbia, S.C. at Colonial Life Arena.
Rick Barnes’ team was locked in a battle in the first half and went into the locker room up 33-29. South Carolina cut it to 38-37 with just over 16 minutes to go in the second half. That’s when Rocky Top took over, going on a 10-0 run and then a 14-2 run to go up 62-41. South Carolina never got within 19 after that.
The Vols improve to 16-6 and 7-3 in SEC play with five straight league wins and a trip to the Mississippi State Bulldogs set for Wednesday. South Carolina falls to 13-9 and 4-6 in the SEC with a visit from the Kentucky Wildcats set for Tuesday. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee basketball’s win.
1. Shooting was elite again.
After 90 points Tuesday against the Texas A&M Aggies, the question was if the Vols could maintain that efficient offense. Well, with the way they shot today, they could. UT went an amazing 14-of-27 from the three-point line. They also were 13-of-14 from the free throw line, making them unstoppable.
Shockingly, Josiah-Jordan James led the way, going 4-of-9 from three en route to 20 points as he continues his red-hot play. Santiago Vescovi went 3-of-8 from three with 13 points. Olivier Nkamhoua hit a three. Kennedy Chandler was 2-of-3 from three with 11 points. Finally, Zakai Zeigler off the bench was 4-of-5 from three with 18 points, which leads to our next takeaway.
2. Point guard play was superb.
Both Chandler and Zeigler continue to be elite for Tennessee basketball, and that remained true again in this game. Chandler had a quiet double-double, as he scored 11 points and 10 assists. Most notably, he had just one turnover. Zeigler did have three turnovers, but his shooting and three assists made up for that in a huge way.
When South Carolina was fighting, down just 40-37 with the ball and under 15 minutes to go, Chandler and Zeigler broke the game open. Zeigler hit back to back three-pointers and scored eight straight points. He had a steal while Chandler had two in a span of two minutes. They each had three steals, which made a huge difference and leads to our final takeaway.
3. Defense cashed in on big plays.
Overall, the defense was aggressive. South Carolina only had 13 turnovers, but that’s because they didn’t have any unforced turnovers. The Vols forced all of them. They had 10 steals, with James having three alongside Chandler and Zeigler and Vescovi adding one. James also had three blocks, as the team had six overall. Nkamhoua added two, and Uros Plavsic added one.
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Most notably, though, was what the defense did with that play. They were dominant in transition, scoring 17 points off turnovers with eight minutes left in the game. It was reminiscent of Bruce Pearl’s early years with Tennessee basketball. The forced turnovers and South Carolina shooting 17-of-54 from the field were great. Turning that into great offense was key, though.