For about 37 minutes Tuesday night, South Carolina played about as poorly as it had all year long, and yet the Gamecocks had a chance to win against Tennessee Tuesday night.
However, South Carolina’s comeback attempt came up just a bit short, and head coach Frank Martin’s team’s woes continued as the Gamecocks lost to Tennessee 66-62 at Colonial Life Arena, dropping the Gamecocks to 1-4 in SEC play.
South Carolina hasn’t won against Tennessee since February 17, 2007, and has now lost 15 straight matchups with the Volunteers.
Trailing by 13 points with only 3:17 remaining in the second half, the Gamecocks mounted a massive rally, and South Carolina came within two points after a tip-in by junior power forward Michael Carrera with 32 seconds to make the score 64-62.
After Tennessee senior shooting guard Josh Richardson split a pair of free throws to make the score 65-62, South Carolina sophomore shooting guard Justin McKie nearly tied the game, but his three-point attempt rimmed in and out.
The Volunteers were able to hold off South Carolina from that point on.
“I think both teams competed for 40 minutes,” Tennessee head coach Donnie Tyndall said. “I thought our team was fortunate to make about one more play than they did, and get out of the gym alive.”
Martin, who believes his team hasn’t played well at all since upsetting then No. 9 Iowa State on January 3 in Brooklyn, vented about his frustrations after the game.
“I’ve tried to stay positive, but we’ve been no good since we got back from New York,” Martin said. “No good. In practice, our attention to detail, our enthusiasm, our energy, everything that we’ve worked to create leading into that game in New York, stayed in Brooklyn.”
The night didn’t start off well for South Carolina as the Gamecocks struggled on offense against Tennessee’s zone defense. Ten of South Carolina’s first 14 possessions resulted in either a turnover or a missed three-pointer.
Meanwhile, Tennessee could hardly miss, making 50 percent of its first half shots.
However, South Carolina freshman point guard Marcus Stroman injected some life into the Gamecocks off the bench.
Stroman hit the Gamecocks’ first three-pointer of the night, and that kickstarted a 10-2 run for South Carolina to tie the game at 22-22.
As the first half went on, the Gamecocks stopped settling for fewer long-range shots, started to attack the rim, and extended possessions by crashing the boards. South Carolina had seven offensive rebounds in the first half alone.
Still, the Gamecocks had a tough time stopping the Volunteers’ inside-out offense, as Tennessee ended the first half on a 9-4 run to lead 31-26 at halftime.
Tyndall’s team picked up right where they left off, and started the second half off with a 23-11 run.
Junior point guard Kevin Punter and Richardson led Tennessee with 13 points apiece while junior power forward Armani Moore (11) scored in double-digits as well.
As a team, Tennessee shot 57.5 percent from the field, including a 55.6 percent mark from three-point range.
“I mean, when a team goes 10 of 18 [from three-point range], you automatically put yourself in a dogfight,” South Carolina sophomore power forward Demetrius Henry said.
South Carolina’s rally began with a pair of three-pointers by sophomore small forward Sindarius Thornwell, and McKie.
Thornwell led the Gamecocks with 17 points.
Henry scored 12 points while also grabbing eight rebounds.
As a team, South Carolina shot just 34.4 percent from the field.
The Gamecocks will have to quickly switch their focus to Saturday’s matchup with No. 1 Kentucky at Colonial Life Arena. But in the meantime, Martin believes that his team needs to stop taking steps backwards.
“Right now, we’re walking backwards,” Martin said. “We need to stop, and if we don’t stop, then I got to stop it.”