An insufficient South Carolina team lost the entire second half against No. 19 Tennessee on Wednesday night, a final score of 93-73 that gave Carolina her fourth straight loss.
Gamecocks (5-10, 3-8) came out shooting well, making seven of their first nine attempts at three points and led 25-21 over the course of 10 minutes of play. Leading the gunner AJ Lawson caught the second foul and had to sit in the last seven minutes of play, the Volunteers overcame the visiting team by 20-12 until the first half of the bell.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Lawson after the game. “I want to be there for my team. I didn’t want to catch those two cheap fouls early. It’s frustrating. I want to help my guys in any way I can and the fact that I wasn’t able to because of problems hurts a lot.”
Tennessee, led by the junior guard Victor Bailey Jr. The career record, 29 points, was ahead throughout the second half. The Gamecocks managed to reach seven points with 9:25 left to play, but failed to keep the Tennessee team at bay. The Vols followed in a 24-11 run to end the game.
“We are in a game of six or seven points in the second half and have given up on the race,” head coach Frank Martin said. “They came down and scored and we committed some of the worst fouls I’ve ever seen anyone commit. Another great race that just takes us down. We cannot stop the bleeding when it starts. We have no personality defensively. It is another highlight of the career that we gave up. In the guard position, our desire to defend and maintain the effort is not what it needs to be. When the other team runs a mini race, we become selfish in attack and try to play heroic basketball. “
The volunteers shot 54% of the field. Bailey had seven of his team’s nine three points and Tennessee went 20 to 26 on the free throw line. Gamecocks shot 40 percent of the field and made just one in their last eight attempts. They had less than half of their opponent’s free-throw attempts, 11 out of 12 in the night.
“The biggest problem we’re having is defensively,” said Martin. “We play some zone and the patrol report says’ Find Victor Bailey. ‘We didn’t find him, we saw him and let him keep shooting at three and he is a very good player and made them. Poor communication and identification in the area and in man, we have to harden. “
No third and fourth scorers Jermaine Couisnard (ankle) and Justin Minaya (head), both in Columbia due to an injury, the Gamecocks failed to score much beyond Lawson and Keyshawn Bryant, the second combination of SEC scorers entering the game (35.4 ppg).
Lawson reached 20 points for his third straight game and ninth time this season. He had 20 in the nose, but he needed 20 shots to get there. He had 8 out of 20 on the field and 4 out of 10 in the three-point range. Bryant had 15 points (4 out of 12 FG and 6 out of 6 FT), as well as TJ Moss, which reached the total in 6 of 11 shootings with three strokes made three. Starting shipowner Seventh woods had an average of 12 points per game in his last four matches, but had only three points in 1 out of 9 shots. Wildens Leveque and Jalyn McCreary combined by eight points in 32 minutes. McCreary scored two points and four fouls in eight minutes.
South Carolina returns home to face another Top 25 team, number 20 from Missouri at 2pm on ESPN2 on Saturday. The Tigers (13-6, 6-6) defeated Gamecocks 81-70 on January 19 in Columbia, Missouri.