Knoxville: For the second straight Tuesday night, the unranked USC basketball tean shocked the college basketball world by upsetting a top ten opponent. January 23rd the Gamecocks took down then sixth ranked Kentucky in Columbia. This Tuesday night the victim was 5th ranked Tennessee in Knoxville 63-59.
The win was the Gamecocks’ first at Thompson-Boling Arena since 2017, their first road win over a top five team since 1997, and it marks the first time since 1968 the Gamecocks defeated a pair of top ten teams in a span of three games (Duke and North Carolina).
The Gamecocks, 13.5 point underdogs, showed early they were ready for the Vols jumping out to a 7-0 lead. The Vols, as you would expect, fought back and took a four point lead, only to see the Gamecocks recover and lead by four at halftime.
The second half was tense with every possession a dogfight. Meechie Johnson’s only basket of the game, a three on the Gamecocks’ first possession, put them up by seven. The Vols then went on a 7-0 run to tie the game 33-33. The game was again tied at 35 when Josh Gray made a pair of free throws, and the Gamecocks led for the final 15:47.
USC eventually build a nine point lead at 55-46 with 3:05 left. They did so by holding the Vols to 1-13 shooting during that stretch while the knocked down four three-pointers, two by Myles Stute and one each by Jacobi Wright and Ta’lon Cooper.
Dalton Knecht tried to bring the Vols back going on his own 7-1 run to cut the lead to 56-53 with 1:07 to play. But Cooper took a pass from a driving Johnson and canned a corner three to make it 59-53 with :41 to play.
The final thirty seconds was the Knecht and Stute show. Knecht hit a three, Stute a pair of free throws and it’s 61-56 with :23 to play. Knecht hit another three with five seconds left for a 61-59 USC lead, but Stute calmly made two more free throws with :04 remaining to ice the win.
The Gamecocks finished 15-18 at the line while the Vols, who didn’t attempt a free throw in the first half, went 12-20 in the second half.
Cooper led the Gamecocks with 18 points. Mack added 16 points and though he only had the one field goal, Johnson grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists. The Gamecocks had 15 assists on their 19 baskets.
USC is now 18-3 and 6-2 in the SEC. They will play at Georgia Saturday afternoon.