Jaden Springer landed a shot when time ran out at the end of the first half and Tennessee basketball made 15-4 in the last five minutes to dominate the South Carolina Gamecocks 93-73 without Josiah-Jordan James. The Vols, ranked 19th in AP Poll and 20th in Coaches Poll, regrouped from a terrible 78-65 defeat at LSU Tigers last Saturday.
In a game that was postponed on Tuesday due to an outbreak of COVID, UT fell behind 3-2 at the start, the only time they lost, but took the lead permanently before the 14 minute mark of the first half, as a three-point basket by Victor Bailey Jr. put them ahead by 11-8. In the process, they improved to 15-5 and 8-5 on the SEC, while USC dropped to 5-10 and 3-8 on the SEC.
Rocky Top’s next leg will be a rematch on Saturday with the Kentucky Wildcats at home. South Carolina, which is now in a four-game losing streak, has yet to continue in this brutal phase by receiving 20th place in the Missouri Tigers ranking. Here are three things we learned from the basketball win in Tennessee on Wednesday night.
1. Experienced players have finally returned.
Do you think John Fulkerson, Yves Pons and Victor Bailey Jr. got the message? They were all terrified and they all exploded in this game. Bailey, who was in a big slump, moved on to the starting lineup with James out. He ended the game with 29 points, four assists, a steal and a block and hit an incredible 7 out of 10 on the three-point line. Yes, you read that right.
Fulkerson, on the other hand, went back to being aggressive, going back in one point, and finished with 19 points, two steals, three assists and six rebounds in 7 of 12 shots. Pons came back as a defensive specialist with two steals and a block to go with nine rebounds. He also scored 10 points, hitting 5 out of 6 on the field.
2. The young guards made up for the absence of Josiah-Jordan James.
Obviously, Bailey’s score helped with that. However, James does so many little things like the initial combo guard that his value cannot always be measured. The other guards stepped forward to help with this game, allowing Bailey to thrive. Springer stands out in the scoring as he got 16 points out of 4 out of 8 shots.
However, Springer and Keon Johnson had five assists. Johnson, who was struggling with foul problems, had only seven points, but he hit the shots with a straight shot, making 3 of 5. Off the bench, Santiago Vescovi had eight points, five assists and five rebounds, hitting two of three points, and Davonte Gaines came in and took two steals. This helped Tennessee basketball significantly without James.
3. Many errors during periods of drought are still a problem.
It is difficult to point out such a dominant victory, but the Vols had 16 sales. Many of them came during the first half of the second half, when South Carolina returned to having just one digit close to the 10-minute mark, despite dominating UT. After the first TV timeout in that half, Rocky Top had four turns in three minutes.
Johnson had five turnovers, but Springer, Pons and Vescovi had three. Now, basketball in Tennessee has done many other little things right, including throwing 20 of 26 from the free-throw line while forcing 18 spins. However, these problems during parts of the games can be costly if you are not careful.