Tennessee used a first half run of to propel themselves to victory on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville as Carolina could never find their rhythm on offense.
The Gamecocks scored the first two points of the ball game on a
Lakeem Jackson layup but would not get another basket until a three pointer from
Evka Baniulis with 9:55 remaining in half.
Nothing would go right for the Gamecocks in the first half as they make six of their 24 shots attempts and saw their offense constantly pushed away from the basket. Thirteen of their 24 shots came from three point range and they attempted just five shots in the paint. South Carolina would finish the half with just 16 total points, their lowest output of the season.
“I think the key tonight was we were not good offensively in the first half,” head coach Darrin Horn said. “We were really stagnant in terms of our movement. Defensively we were good enough, we held them to 30 points and a low percentage in the first half but then to start the second half we didn’t play any defense at all. I can’t even count how many easy baskets they got. “
The Volunteers were coming off a game on Thursday night while the Gamecocks had a week off. The early minutes of the game showed what appeared to be fatigue for Tennessee and rust for South Carolina. The teams were deadlocked at two after five and a half minutes of play, but Tennessee would start to find their stride outscoring the Gamecocks 9-3 over the next four minutes to open an 11-5 lead.
A big reason for the Gamecocks sluggish offensive performance was the defense played by the Vols against point guard Devan Downey. Tennessee elected to sag off Downey and forced him to make shots off ball screens while letting the screener run free. The defensive strategy forced Downey into shooting 3-of-10 in the first half and he finished with just nine points.
“We didn’t handle it well and they did a good job of being in gaps,” Horn said. “They are really long; I think they are the best defensive team in our league. Bobby Maze plays really big for a point guard. They got in the gaps and really sunk when we spread the floor and then on the ball screens and made it a little more difficult for us.”
If there was a bright spot for Horn and the coaching staff it was the play of junior forward Sam Muldrow. In the first half alone, Muldrow grabbed 10 rebounds and played with the effort Horn and his staff have been wanting. He would finish the game with a career high 16 rebounds topping his previous career high of 12.
“I think on the defensive glass he did a really good job,” Horn said. “It’s hard to argue with 16 so I think you take that as a positive but again we need a little more production offensively from everybody else.”
South Carolina has played well in the second half several ball games this season but on Saturday night Tennessee continued to be too much. In the first four minutes of the half Tennessee would outscore South Carolina 12-4 to increase their lead to 42-20. Wayne Chism was a big part of the Volunteer offense with 26 points including hitting two three pointers.
“When Chism is able to do things like that, inside and out, he is a very difficult matchup,” UT head coach Bruce Pearl said. “South Carolina did not have an answer for him. Our guys did a great job of getting him the ball. We took advantage of having Chism, and when we do that we are a great team.”
Horn agreed that Chism was the difference in the game.
“He outplayed us,” Horn said. “He had not finished like that all year long. Tonight I thought he did a great job of finishing and finishing over top of guys and he was just better than our guys and it was that simple.”
Coming into the game Downey was the SEC’s leading scorer averaging 22.9 points per game. He would finish the game with 26 of Carolina’s 53 points making five of his 20 shot attempts. The rest of the Carolina squad would shoot just 11-of-38 for the game. Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl was proud of the way his team defended the SEC’s leading scorer.
“One guy cannot guard Downey. You have got to guard him with a team,” Pearl said. “The way you hedge him off of ball screens is different than other guys you face. We cupped him. You try to build a wall. When he gets in the paint and he’s through you, what happens? Fouls and offensive rebounds.”
Carolina now must return home to Columbia for a key matchup on Wednesday night with Florida, who defeated Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon. The Gators broke the Gamecocks heart two weeks ago in Gainesville when Chandler Parson’s made a three pointer at the buzzer to win by two.
As the buzzer sounded, Horn turned to his players on the bench and offered some words of advice hoping they will be more prepared for Wednesday night.
“Just that we didn’t play well and didn’t deserve to be in this game,” he said. “I wanted them to remember how that felt because we don’t want that feeling. Losing is one thing but when you don’t feel like you give yourself a chance that is disappointing. We just have to get back to work Monday, we have a good Florida team coming in on Wednesday.”
Official Basketball Box Score
South Carolina vs Tennessee
2/6/10 6 p.m. at Knoxville, Tenn. (Thompson-Boling Arena)
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VISITORS: South Carolina 13-9, 4-4 SEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
25 Steed, Austin....... f 1-4 0-0 0-0 3 4 7 1 2 0 0 0 0 13
30 Jackson, Lakeem..... f 2-4 0-0 0-2 3 3 6 3 4 1 3 0 0 30
44 Muldrow, Sam........ f 3-11 0-2 0-2 3 13 16 1 6 0 2 4 0 30
02 Downey, Devan....... g 5-20 3-9 13-14 1 1 2 3 26 2 2 0 1 36
05 Raley-Ross, Brandis. g 4-10 3-9 1-2 0 3 3 3 12 0 3 1 0 34
01 Spinella, Stephen... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 15
12 Galloway, Ramon..... 0-2 0-2 0-0 0 0 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 14
14 Wilder, Robert...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
31 Baniulis, Evaldas... 1-5 1-4 0-0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 1 12
32 Jefferson, Johndre.. 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 14
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 16-58 7-28 14-20 11 26 37 19 53 4 11 5 2 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 6-24 25.0% 2nd Half: 10-34 29.4% Game: 27.6% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-13 15.4% 2nd Half: 5-15 33.3% Game: 25.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 2-2 100 % 2nd Half: 12-18 66.7% Game: 70.0% 3
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HOME TEAM: Tennessee 18-4, 6-2 SEC
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
00 Woolridge, Renaldo.. f 0-2 0-1 1-2 0 6 6 4 1 0 1 1 0 19
04 Chism, Wayne........ c 11-17 2-4 6-8 1 3 4 1 30 3 2 3 1 29
03 Maze, Bobby......... g 5-10 1-2 0-0 2 4 6 3 11 3 1 1 0 22
30 Prince, J.P......... g 1-6 0-2 1-2 1 4 5 1 3 3 0 1 1 24
32 Hopson, Scotty...... g 3-7 2-5 3-4 2 4 6 0 11 3 0 0 0 24
11 Cannington, Quinn... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2
13 McBee, Skylar....... 2-4 1-2 0-0 0 1 1 2 5 0 0 0 2 22
20 Hall, Kenny......... 2-2 0-0 3-5 4 7 11 2 7 0 0 0 0 18
21 Goins, Melvin....... 1-6 0-0 0-0 0 3 3 2 2 1 1 0 0 17
22 Pearl, Steven....... 2-2 0-0 1-2 0 0 0 3 5 1 0 0 0 13
23 Tatum, Cameron...... 0-3 0-1 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8
24 Bone, Josh.......... 0-0 0-0 2-2 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 2
TEAM................ 1 1 1
Totals.............. 27-59 6-17 19-27 10 34 44 19 79 14 6 6 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 11-30 36.7% 2nd Half: 16-29 55.2% Game: 45.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-10 30.0% 2nd Half: 3-7 42.9% Game: 35.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 5-8 62.5% 2nd Half: 14-19 73.7% Game: 70.4% 4
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Officials: Joe Lindsay, J.B. Caldwell, Pat Adams
Technical fouls: South Carolina-None. Tennessee-None.
Attendance: 21003
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
South Carolina................ 16 37 - 53
Tennessee..................... 30 49 - 79
Points in the paint-SC 14,UT 40. Points off turnovers-SC 9,UT 16.
2nd chance points-SC 10,UT 9. Fast break points-SC 3,UT 22.
Bench points-SC 3,UT 23. Score tied-1 time. Lead changed-1 time.
Last FG-SC 2nd-02:25, UT 2nd-02:40.
Largest lead-SC by 2 1st-19:49, UT by 27 2nd-08:43.
