SOUTH CAROLINA GAMECOCKS BASKETBALL

Down nine at halftime to the No. 1 team in the country, the Gamecocks found themselves with 13 minutes to play down just two points.

Tre Campbell had just made three straight free throws to cut the deficit to just two points and a young South Carolina team was at a tipping point with a team riding a 14-game win streak.

That’s when things started to unravel for the Gamecocks as an inexperienced team struggled to keep up with a vastly experienced Tennessee team in crunch time.

“We just had some bad defensive plays. We let them get two three balls in a row,” AJ Lawson said. “They got momentum and we couldn’t get good stops in a row to come back into the game.”

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Campbell’s free throws came with 13:07 left in the game. After that, Tennessee would end the game on a 32-12 run, winning 92-70.

The run started simply enough with a few free throws from Jordan Bone, before he then drilled a three-pointer after an Evan Hinson miss. The Vols would hit six of their next eight field goals, including a few big buckets from Admiral Schofield.

Schofield was big down the stretch, with 11 points over the final 13 minutes for 24 points Tuesday night. He also had two rebounds, an assists and a block over that stretch as well, proving what Frank Martin thought heading into the game.

“I didn’t think we had anybody that can match up with him because he plays at the small forward the majority of the game,” Martin said. “I know Rick (Barnes). Rick was going to use that matchup the whole game and that’s what he did. He created problems for us via that matchup.”

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Meanwhile, the Gamecocks couldn’t buy a bucket over the final 13 minutes of the game, going 3-for-12 and having one stretch of over five minutes of game time where they didn’t make a field goal.

Some of that was poor play from everyone not named Chris Silva, who had 29 points and 10 rebounds—Martin said he needs better play from his bigs and his guards—but the Gamecocks are a young team that hadn’t been in many situations like that against a team that physical.

The Gamecock freshmen shied away from contact, Martin said, and it showed with Tennessee doing what it pleased offensively.

“They screen and they hit my freshmen. What happens is, because they don’t want to get hit and they run into screens because you play a team that screens,” “They start running around the screen. When you start running around the screen, you’re in trouble.”

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The Gamecocks (10-10, 5-2 SEC) played three first-year players at least 10 minutes—Keyshawn Bryant, AJ Lawson and Tre Campbell—and they combined for 23 points on 33 percent shooting (8-for-24) with 12 of those points coming off three-pointers.

The freshmen just wore down playing against a veteran, tough Tennessee team ranked seventh nationally in minutes continuity.

“The physicality of the game just wore Chris down and it just wore my freshmen out,” Martin said. “My freshmen, we just had nothing left.”