Tennessee basketball dropped to 15-5 (5-2 SEC) on Tuesday night as they fell to red-hot South Carolina 63-59 in Knoxville. The loss is a tough blow to Tennessee’s SEC Championship hopes and also marks its first home loss of the season.
South Carolina never opened up a massive lead over Tennessee but the Vols failed to get anything going offensively and trailed for 30 minutes.
Dalton Knecht continued his hot streak by totaling 31 points including 13 minutes in the game’s final three minutes as Tennessee looked to make a late push. But besides Knecht, Tennessee’s offense was dreadful with only Santiago Vescovi totaling double-digit points.
The Vols particularly struggled finishing at the rim, shooting just eight-of-21 on layups and dunks. Jonas Aidoo has been one of Tennessee’s best players in conference play but scored just six points on two-of-eight shooting from the field.
“I mean, first four minutes of the game pretty much set the tone for what was going to happen,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said postgame. “Because you start missing those layups and those shots like that and it just puts, you’re like ‘uh oh, here we go.’ And we’ve seen it happen before and it’s tough.”
Following the loss, RTI’s Ric Butler and Ryan Schumpert discussed the offensive issues, South Carolina hitting big perimeter shots and more. Check it out here.
