With an early spark from the bench, another strong performance from Sindarius Thornwell, and their usual tenacious defense, Frank Martin was able to clinch his 200th career win as South Carolina beat Tennessee 70-60.
The Gamecocks were able to jump to an early first half lead largely due to the play of their bench, which helped propel them to a 27-21 halftime lead. Led by Hassani Gravett’s seven points, the South Carolina bench scored 13 of the Gamecock’s 27 points. South Carolina led by as much as 15 points with 4:41 left in the first half until the Volunteers closed the half on a 9-0 run.
Tennessee’s run would end there though, as South Carolina would not relinquish the lead. Sindarius Thornwell led the Gamecocks in the second half, scoring 16 of his game high 22 points during the period enroute to victory.
PJ Dozier, the second leading scorer on the season, struggled with foul trouble for much of the night. He seemed unable to find a groove, finishing with 6 points on 2-10 shooting from the field before fouling out with 3:10 left in the game.
Just as they have for much of the season, South Carolina relied heavily on their defense to beat the Vols. Their defense, which currently ranks fifth in the nation in field goal percentage defense and ninth in the nation in scoring defense, held Tennessee to a season-low 60 points. The Volunteers shot just 32.7 percent from the field including 1-11 from three point range, while also turning the ball over 22 times.
With the win, South Carolina improved to 3-0 in SEC play this season, a feat that had not occurred since the 1996-97 season.
The win is a milestone win for coach Martin. He first began his college basketball coaching career as the head coach of Kansas State, where he coached from 2007-2012. At Kansas State, he recorded 117 wins. Martin posted a .684 winning percentage as the coach of the Wildcats, recording at least 21 wins in each of his five seasons.
Martin has won 83 games in his past five seasons at South Carolina. He has shown great progress in building up the basketball program. In his first two years as head coach of the Gamecocks, Martin’s team posted two losing seasons. But in 2014, Martin posted his first winning season, which he then followed up with last years 25-win season.
The Gamecocks will play Ole Miss Saturday at Colonial Life Arena as they look to stay undefeated in SEC play.