Tennessee hadn’t lost to South Carolina since February of 2007, and it was clear very early in Saturday’s game that the streak wasn’t going to end today. The Vols (15-8, 6-4) imposed their will against an inferior South Carolina team en route to a 72-53 conference victory on Saturday afternoon at Thompson Boling Arena.
In his 100th career game at Tennessee, Jordan McRae led all scores with 24 points. It was McRae’s 12th 20 plus-point performance of the season and his 20 first-half points were the most scored by a Vol since Chris Lofton dropped 20 on Georgia in 2008.
Jarnell Stokes scored 17 points and Jeronne Maymon chipped in 10.
After a disappointing 64-60 loss to Vanderbilt in Nashville earlier this week, Coach Martin was happy with the way his team bounced back.
“We have done a solid job bouncing back after a loss and getting ready to go,” Martin said. “It is always tricky. I thought the guys did a good job.”
The Vols sprinted out of the gate to an early lead, scoring the first ten points of the contest, and the outcome was never in doubt as Tennessee entered halftime leading 45-22.
It was all business early on as the Vols scored inside and out, shooting 58.1% from the field in the first half, while holding the Gamecocks to just 27.6% from the floor.
“I thought we set a good tone early in the first half defending,” Martin said. “Overall good effort by our team.”
In the month of February, the Vols are now 15-4 under Cuonzo Martin.
As the ESPN analysts noted before tipoff, if you’re Tennessee, winning this game won’t get you in the tournament, but losing might keep you out. Although the second half wasn’t always pretty, Tennessee accomplished what it needed to on Saturday.
Tennessee will host the third-ranked Florida Gators on Tuesday night for a 7 p.m. tip. A win would certainly help the Vols’ post-season resume. That game will be televised by ESPN.