South Carolina cruises to 94-60 win over Tennesseee

Posted 7:08AM on Thursday 24th January 2002 ( 23 years ago )

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE - South Carolina should expect coach Dave Odom to react the same way he did the next time the Gamecocks lose. After losing 60-51 at home over the weekend to Vanderbilt, Odom was hard on the team. The result was a 94-60 victory Wednesday over Tennessee (8-10, 1-4 Southeastern Conference), which played its worst game of the season. ``I found out that when you challenge them, they will respond. If you don't challenge them, they will get fat and happy. They need to stay on edge every day,'' Odom said Wednesday. I hope I'll be smart enough to stay after them day after day.'' Carlos Powell, starting for the first time since the season opener, scored a career-high 19 points and Jamel Bradley added 15 all on 3-pointers for South Carolina (12-6, 2-3). Powell was 6-of-7 from the floor, 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and 4-for-4 in free throws. ``Coach wanted a new look. I just had to step up and play my role,'' Powell said. Rolando Howell and Chuck Eidson each had 14 points, and Chris Warren added 10 for the winners. The Gamecocks came into the game averaging 55.8 points in their first four league games and continued to rely on their defense, which leads the SEC in allowing just 60 points a game. They didn't have much problem scoring on the Vols, who dropped to the bottom of the SEC East. Tennessee had a season-high 26 turnovers while South Carolina hit 13-of-25 3-pointers. ``It was a Gamecock night from beginning to end,'' Odom said. ``I don't know if they could do anything to change it and I don't know we could have done anything to keep it from happening that way. It's just one of those things you'll see one time a year. It's inexplicable.'' Scoring and defense were big problems for Tennessee. In the past week, the Vols had beaten then-No. 8 Syracuse and Middle Tennessee. The Vols, playing their third game in five days, continued to miss forward Ron Slay, who was lost for the season over the weekend because of a torn ligament in his knee. ``There is no use pointing fingers. We will hang together,'' Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson said. ``I want to go out there and practice them at midnight, but the NCAA rules say we have to take tomorrow off.'' Vincent Yarbrough scored 20 points for Tennessee while Brandon Crump and Elgrace Wilborn had 10. ``We probably played our worst game of the season,'' Yarbrough said. ``South Carolina played great, and we didn't play up to our potential.'' South Carolina was hot from the tipoff, which the Gamecocks won and then immediately scored. South Carolina led by as many as 22 points in the first half and used a 15-2 run in the first 5.5 minutes of the second half to go up by 31 points. Powell's basket over two Tennessee players in the lane gave the Gamecocks a 63-32 lead. South Carolina hadn't won in Knoxville since the 1997-96 season. South Carolina made seven of its first eight shots to take a 17-2 lead. Tennessee held South Carolina scoreless for 4.5 minutes in the first half but only scored twice during the span.

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