USC Takes Down Tennessee, 60-49

KNOXVILLE, TENN. – The South Carolina men’s basketball team closed out the regular season in a big way Saturday afternoon, taking down Tennessee on the road with a 60-49 win. Four Gamecocks reached double figures in scoring, led by 14 from Michael Carrera. The win evens the team’s record at 15-15, 6-12 in the SEC, while Tennessee falls back to 15-15 and 7-11 in conference play. After making nearly 60 percent of its shots in the first meeting back on Jan. 20, the Volunteers threatened to repeat their performance early in the game. Converting on four of its first five attempts, Tennessee jumped out to an early 10-5 lead before Carolina put its foot on the gas offensively. Boosted by 3s on back-to-back possessions from Duane Notice and Sindarius Thornwell, the Gamecocks hit a stretch where the team made five straight field goals and 9-of-11 from the 16-minute mark until eight minutes remained in the half. It entered that streak trailing 6-2, but emerged with a 26-14 lead after a jumper by Michael Carrera, who scored six points in that stretch. The home side’s fast start quickly devolved into a major slump. The 4-of-5 start was followed with just three field goals in the final 15:29 of the game. Carolina’s lead would climb as high as 15 points and it carried a sizable 36-21 lead into intermission. Of that total, 16 points came in the paint and 13 were directly off turnovers. The Gamecocks shot 62 percent from the field (13-of-21) with 11 assists. Carrera and Notice led the way with eight apiece, while Tyrone Johnson added five points and three assists. It marked the third straight game that the team scored 36 points or more in the opening half. Both teams would come out of halftime slowly before the offenses kicked back into gear. After missing six of its first seven shots, Carolina made 4-of-5 to maintain a double-digit lead before Tennessee used a 9-0 run in just 90 seconds to get back in contention, 47-38. A three-point play from Laimonas Chatkevicius broke a three-minute scoring drought for the Gamecocks and broke up the Tennessee run, but the offense continued to struggle down the stretch. After three minutes without a field goal, a key turnover would quiet the crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena. Notice would hit a transition layup, and on the ensuing possession Mindaugas Kacinas stepped in front of a pass in the paint and earned Notice another easy layup and a 56-43 lead with 2:25 to go. That would prove to be a major difference, as the two baskets put a comeback out of reach for the home team. Despite seven 3-pointers in the second half alone from Tennessee, Carolina was able to kill off the clock and hit four straight free throws to seal the win.