Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier scored 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting, and the No. 4 Volunteers celebrated Senior Day with a 75-65 victory over South Carolina on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville, Tenn.
The win by the Volunteers (25-6, 12-6 SEC) was big as it gave them a double bye in next week’s SEC tournament in Nashville. They will not play until Friday.
Cade Phillips set a career high with 15 points and added four rebounds, three assists and two steals for Tennessee. Igor Milicic Jr. had 13 points and five rebounds. Jordan Gainey had 10 points and six assists, while Zakai Zeigler had eight helpers.
Tennessee beat the Gamecocks for the 12th time in 14 games and improved to 32-10 all-time at home against them.
The Volunteers, who shot 54.5 percent, finished 16-1 at home and has won five of six overall.
After finishing last season’s SEC play tied for second at 13-5, the last-place Gamecocks (12-19, 2-16) struggled as they have most of 18-game campaign, making just 20 of 57 shots (35.1 percent).
Jamarii Thomas had 20 points, while Nick Pringle totaled 16 points and 14 boards. Zachary Davis had 10 points and seven rebounds. Leading scorer Collin Murray-Boyles scored seven.
The Gamecocks will play Arkansas, the No. 9 seed, next Wednesday in the first game of the SEC Tournament.
Winners of two of their previous four games, the Gamecocks took their first lead at 2:09 on Thomas’ trey, and he added three free throws right after being fouled by Zeigler from distance. Arden Conyers’ long shot gave the visitors their largest lead at 34-31, but Phillips’ dunk and free throw left the matchup tied at 34.
Despite Murray-Boyles being held to one point and the team’s 35.7 percent shooting, 15 1/2-point underdog South Carolina tied it by making 9 of 10 free throws, committing just three turnovers and getting 14 points from Thomas.
After gradually pulling ahead in the first 10 minutes of the second half, Tennessee went up 64-52 on a putback by Felix Okpara as South Carolina spent just over three minutes without a field goal.
–Field Level Media
