Tennessee basketball returns to Knoxville on Tuesday night to face a red-hot South Carolina team in a SEC showdown.
The Vols are riding a four-game winning streak and are looking to stay unbeaten at home on the season. South Carolina is riding a three-game winning streak including a victory over Kentucky last week.
Here’s everything to know about the conference matchup.
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How to Watch – No. 5 Tennessee (15-4, 5-1 SEC) vs. South Carolina (17-2, 5-2 SEC)
- Start Time: 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT
- Location: Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
- TV: SEC Network. PxP: Tom Hart. CC: Dane Bradshaw, Sideline: Alyssa Lang
- Online Streaming: Watch ESPN
- Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App
Betting Lines
- Tennessee -13 South Carolina
- Over/under 136.5
- Tennessee -12 South Carolina
- Over/under 138
What Tennessee AC Rod Clark Said About South Carolina
On the biggest difference in South Carolina this season under second-year coach Lamont Paris
“I think that they have their identity. You could tell that their foundation is set in stone now. They guard really tough as they did last year. They just kind of didn’t have the bodies and the guys that understood the system (last year). Now those guys are like a well-oiled machine. Meechie Johnson is a returner. He’s a really good defender. Ta’Lon Cooper has been a big acquisition for them in the portal. He’s a really good defender. And then the freshman there, the Colin Murray-Boyles kid, he gives a lot of energy to them defensively. But you know, they’re just tough man. They don’t do a ton of switching. They get through everything. You could tell that they hold their identity on toughness, which is something that we’ve been able to do in this league. And seeing them do it, think that kind of leads to a lot of their success.”
On if Tennessee expects a low-possession game against a South Carolina team that plays at a slower pace, if there’s a comparison to a non-conference game in terms of style
“The the easiest one I can recall is Wisconsin, which (Lamont Paris is) a former Wisconsin assistant. I think that the balance that we’ve been trying to find this year is when we play teams that want to play low-possession games, how do we dictate tempo and still play the way that we want to play? And I think your best example of that was last game. First half (at Vanderbilt), we kind of fell into playing low-possession game, how the other team wanted to play. Second half, we got out and we ran and we shot the ball better, we got easier opportunities, we got transition layups, which is when we’re at our best. So we have to find a balance of when we go into those games, how do we play our game without making it a low-possession game? Because we want more possessions. We feel like that’s when we’re best right now. We’re getting the ball up and we’re taking a lot of open threes and we’re getting a lot of drives and putting pressure on the rim. So we got to do a better job of that and that’s what we plan to do this game.”
Probable Starters
South Carolina (via USC Game Notes)
Team Statistics (via Sports Reference)
Tennessee:
South Carolina:
