No. 8 Tennessee stays hot, hammers South Carolina on the road
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 8 Tennessee went to South Carolina Saturday as a 17-point favorite for a Southeastern Conference road game, the biggest spread on the road in program history. The Vols spent two hours at Colonial Life Arena showing why the line wasn’t nearly big enough.
Olivier Nkamhoua scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, Jonas Aidoo had 15 points and Santiago Vescovi scored 12 to lead the Vols to a dominant 85-42 win at South Carolina.
Nkamhoua led Tennessee (13-2, 3-0 SEC) with his double-double while making his return to the arena where his season ended with an ankle injury a year ago. He went a perfect 10-for-10 from the field, just days removed from scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting in the win over Mississippi State Tuesday in Knoxville.
Senior Josiah-Jordan James and freshman Julian Phillips returned to their home state to combine for 20 points. James, a Charleston, S.C., native, scored 12 while Phillips, from nearby Blythewood, had eight, starting the game with a three from the wing.
It was the most lopsided conference loss for South Carolina (7-8, 0-2) in program history and the worst home loss in 20-year history of Colonial Life Arena.
It was Tennessee’s third-largest road win in program history and biggest since 1965. It came close to a new record for Tennessee largest margin of victory in an SEC game, which was set in 1966 with a 47-point win over Ole Miss.
South Carolina got 19 points from Meechie Johnson. Five-star freshman power forward GG Jackson was shutout, going 0-for-8 from the floor, including 0-for-4 from the 3-point line, with four turnovers in 22 minutes.
Nkamhoua had an emphatic, high-rising one-hand dunk in transition with 11:15 left, giving him 19 points on 9-for-9 shooting and capping a 12-0 run, building Tennessee’s lead to 41. At the time, South Carolina had scored just 30 points.
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Vols dominant from start to finish at South Carolina
Tennessee shot 60.7 percent from the field and 62.5 percent from the 3-point line in the first half. Vescovi capped the half with a three just before the horn — making the Vols 5-for-8 from the 3-point line over the first 20 minutes — to take a 43-21 lead into halftime.
Nkamhoua had 11 points and four rebounds in the first half, going a perfect 5-for-5 from the field, a game removed from scoring 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting against Mississippi State on Tuesday.
Vescovi had seven points in the first half, despite being called for two fouls in the first five minutes, and Phillips and James scored six points each.
Meechie Johnson had 12 points on 4-for-11 shooting in the first half for South Carolina, which shot just 25.9 percent (7 of 27) from the field and 7.7 percent from the 3-point line (1 of 13). GG Jackson was scoreless, going 0-for-5 from the field while grabbing one rebound in 11 minutes.
Up Next: No. 8 Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt, Tuesday, 9 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Tennessee returns to Knoxville for back-to-back home games, hosting Vanderbilt on Tuesday, a 9 p.m. Eastern Time start on SEC Network, then Kentucky on Saturday, a Noon ET start on ESPN.
Kentucky lost 78-52 at Alabama on Saturday, the lowest point production during the John Calipari era, and Vanderbilt needed overtime to beat South Carolina at home on Tuesday.
