South Carolina whips Vols, 72-54

Posted 7:54AM on Sunday 10th February 2002 ( 23 years ago )

COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina coach Dave Odom finally got point guard Aaron Lucas to relax. ``Instead of feeling that his career and our season rests in his hands every time he touches the ball,'' Odom said. ``I think he let it go'' against Tennessee. Lucas scored 17 of 20 points in the second half to lead South Carolina to a 72-54 victory over Tennessee on Saturday night, its second rout of the Vols in less than three weeks. Lucas, a senior co-captain, had been pressing the past five games for the Gamecocks (14-9, 4-6 Southeastern Conference), scoring only 30 points with nearly twice as many turnovers as assists (17 to nine). But Lucas said he let his coach's message sink in against the Vols (12-11, 5-5). Lucas loves to create on the floor. ``But at the same time, the coaching staff told me that a lot of the little things I do, making a pass, are just as big as somebody knocking down a shot or me knocking down a shot,'' he said. Lucas' play kept the Gamecocks on track to their first season-sweep of Tennessee in five seasons. ``I didn't feel I had to make things happen,'' Lucas said. ``There's no pressure on me to do things, anybody on this team can make things happen.'' A lot seems to happen for the Gamecocks when they face the Volunteers. On Jan. 23 at Knoxville, South Carolina shot 60 percent in a 94-60 victory. Tennessee had won four in row since then, including a 76-74 overtime victory against Kentucky on Wednesday night. But the Vols needed a late rally to reach 40.5 percent shooting (24-of-53), committed 18 turnovers to South Carolina's seven, and were held to its lowest point total this season. Vols coach Buzz Peterson wasn't around to see the end after picking up two technicals for arguing a foul call early in the second half. It was his first ejection of the season. Peterson, who said that had never happened to him before, said he was arguing what he felt was the rough play of Gamecocks 6-foot-10 center Marius Petravicius. ``The foreign kid could be a heck of a football player. If I were Lou Holtz, I would recruit him for football,'' Peterson said. ``So I just got sick and tired of that and wanted to make a point about it. If he can do it fine, I just want to make sure I teach football blocking also.'' Lucas picked up the Gamecocks after Tennessee had cut a 15-point first-half lead to 28-20 at halftime. He hit a jumper and a 3-pointer as South Carolina opened the second half with a 17-3 run that included four free throws from Chuck Eidson on Peterson's technicals. Lucas closed the run with a sharp driving layup to put the Gamecocks up 45-23 with 15:50 remaining. A basket by Lucas with 14:07 made it 50-25 for South Carolina's biggest lead. When Tennessee used a garbage-time run to cut the lead to 60-47 in the final five minutes, Lucas made four foul shots to restore control for South Carolina. It was the first time in six games that Lucas hit double figures. He scored 20 in a 60-51 loss to Vanderbilt game on Jan. 19. ``Aaron played his kind of basketball tonight,'' said Jamel Bradley, South Carolina's leading scorer held to eight points, six fewer than his average. ``It was good to see that and we know we're going to see it the rest of the year.'' Vincent Yarbrough had 16 points to lead the Vols. Jon Higgins added 15. Tennessee's 20 first half points was a season-low. Peterson had hoped the Vols would show more fire early on, coming off the Kentucky win and looking to avenge the first loss to South Carolina. But the Vols trailed 17-5 and 25-10. ``The first half we were down eight and I felt very good about it,'' Peterson said. ``I said guys lets go out there because early it's going to be very important. But Lucas hit two big shots that set the town right there.''

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