South Carolina men trample Tennessee

They didn’t want to talk about it. They didn’t get to this point by staring wide-eyed at their surroundings as if they were surprised.

South Carolina expected to be here, competing for an SEC championship with three games to play after an 84-58 demolition of Tennessee on Wednesday. The talking from outside is only that.

But even they had to admit the current situation is awfully rosy.

“It feels good to kind of be on top and have this kind of feeling when we have this amount of wins, because we’ve been through struggles,” said Duane Notice, who led the Gamecocks with 17 points. “It’s a great feeling right now to see this program going in the right direction.”

USC improved to 23-5 with the win and notched just its fourth winning league season in 25 years in the SEC. By sheer numbers, the Gamecocks will leave the SEC tournament no worse than 23-9, which should be enough for their first NCAA tournament berth since 2004.

It’s all right there. Yet USC isn’t patting itself too hard on the back. Not yet.

“There’s going to be a moment when we’re going to embrace all that and be proud of it. Right now we have to stay the course,” said coach Frank Martin, who didn’t know USC’s current RPI (31 going into the game). “We’ve got a chance to finish off the season the right way. It’s important that we don’t get wrapped up in those successes.”

Wednesday was a huge success, a dominating win where the Gamecocks returned to what they do well and beat Rick Barnes for the first time in seven tries. USC paid rent in the middle of Tennessee’s interior defense, scoring 42 points, and the outside shots began falling as the Gamecocks played inside-out.

Playing zone defense, USC was prone to giving up 3-pointers (the Vols made 10 but shot 34) but it limited Armani Moore to 10 points. With Kevin Punter, the SEC’s second-leading scorer on the bench with a foot injury, the Gamecocks out-shot the Vols (13-15, 6-9) early and squashed them late.

Notice stroked three straight 3-pointers to end the first half, setting the Gamecocks up with a 15-point lead, and USC scored on its first five possessions of the second half to build a 25-point lead.

Yet the Gamecocks, as they did against Florida, couldn’t stand prosperity. They began taking early 3-pointers, ignored the inside and threw the ball around as it was coated in Crisco. Tennessee cut the lead to 13 before USC woke up.

USC took off on a 17-0 run as four ended in double figures. The final eight minutes were a Colonial Life Arena celebration, complete with free Chick-fil-A sandwich coupons after Shembari Phillips bricked two free throws.

“I had a feeling we were going to play well today,” Martin said. “Based on the way the Florida game unfolded, watching the joy in the eyes of our guys in the locker room after the game, then their approach the last two days, I had a good feeling.”

USC is a game out of first place in the SEC with three to play, tied with Texas A&M. A regular-season championship is the first order of business, then a double-bye in the SEC tournament.

Then that other thing.

“We’re not worried about how many wins we’re going to get, we’re only worried about the next game,” Notice said. “We’d like to win every game left on our schedule – that’s the plan, obviously.”

NOTE: Sophomores Marcus Stroman and Jarrell Holliman and freshman Raymond Doby each didn’t dress due to flu-like symptoms.

TURNING POINT

Michael Carrera hit a step-back jumper out of the locker room to set up a 17-point lead. Everybody in CLA was thinking of the last 17-point lead USC took, in the Florida game.

Sindarius Thornwell, Carrera, Laimonas Chatkevicius and Mindaugas Kacinas scored on consecutive possessions to stretch the lead to 25. It was more than enough.

3 POINTS

Star of the game: Notice was deadly with 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting. He also had four assists and four rebounds.

“Duane’s a stud,” Martin said. “Just a stud of a human being.”

Play of the game: Carrera went up with Admiral Schofield to deny a power baseline dunk after USC had turned it over in the second half. Schofield made the two free throws but the foul prevented UT from getting any emotional lift as it was cutting into the lead.

Stat of the game: The Gamecocks owned property in the paint. They scored 42 points there as Tennessee was mostly content to stand back and wait for the rebound and runout.

FROM THE BASELINE

A few days early: Chris Silva acted like he was hit with a 2x4 when he and Schofield were going for a loose ball early in the game. Schofield did hook him and grazed his face with his fingers, but Silva did the Reggie Miller head-snapped-back and fall to the ground routine.

Schofield was issued a flagrant foul. Silva might jump on a plane for the Oscars ceremony on Sunday.

23: That should be enough. The Drought of 2004 is ending.

UP NEXT

Who: South Carolina at Mississippi State

When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss.

TV: SEC Network

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TENNESSEE (13-15)

Hubbs III 1-3 0-0 3, Moore 4-13 2-6 10, Alexander 0-3 0-0 0, Mostella 0-3 0-0 0, Phillips 7-15 0-3 16, Kasongo 0-0 0-0 0, Schofield 2-6 2-2 7, Reese 0-0 0-0 0, Woodson 1-5 0-0 3, Baulkman 7-15 0-0 19. Totals 22-63 4-11 58.

SOUTH CAROLINA (23-5)

Thornwell 2-4 2-2 7, Notice 5-9 3-4 17, Chatkevicius 6-10 0-0 12, Carrera 6-15 2-5 16, Kacinas 4-6 2-2 11, Gregory 0-2 0-0 0, Blanton 1-1 0-0 2, Dozier 2-6 0-0 4, McKie 2-2 0-0 4, Cobb 1-1 0-0 2, Silva 3-5 3-5 9. Totals 32-61 12-18 84.

Halftime_South Carolina 49-34. 3-Point Goals_Tennessee 10-34 (Baulkman 5-10, Phillips 2-7, Hubbs III 1-2, Schofield 1-4, Woodson 1-5, Moore 0-3, Mostella 0-3), South Carolina 8-20 (Notice 4-6, Carrera 2-7, Kacinas 1-1, Thornwell 1-2, Chatkevicius 0-1, Gregory 0-1, Dozier 0-2). Fouled Out_None. Rebounds_Tennessee 35 (Alexander 9), South Carolina 40 (Carrera 10). Assists_Tennessee 13 (Moore 6), South Carolina 20 (Dozier, Thornwell 6). Total Fouls_Tennessee 16, South Carolina 14. Attendance_13,224.

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 10:58 PM.