TIP INS
Tennessee: The Vols had a career night at the foul line the last time they faced South Carolina, making 30 of 32 free throws (93.8 percent) in the 78-69 victory on Jan. 23. Tennessee leads the Southeastern Conference in foul-shooting at 73.1 percent. The Vols were just 4 of 11 on foul shots in this one. South Carolina: When Michael Carrera had 20 points and 15 rebounds in the win over Florida last Saturday, it was his second time this season reaching at least that many in those categories. It was also the first time a South Carolina player has had multiple 20-15 games since Jimmy Foster had three in the 1983-84 season.
UP NEXT
Tennessee returns home to face Arkansas on Saturday night. South Carolina heads to Mississippi State on Saturday. — Associated Press
Rick Barnes was an unhappy coach following Tennessee’s loss at South Carolina on Wednesday night, and it had little to do with the outcome.
The first-year coach of the Volunteers sent a clear message to three players by benching them in the second half of the season’s most lopsided defeats.
Robert Hubbs III, Detrick Mostella and Derek Reese never got off the bench in the second half as the Gamecocks doubled a 15-point halftime lead in the second half to avenge their loss at Tennessee in January with an 84-58 romp.
“I’ll lose games to set the culture in this program,” Barnes told reporters in his postgame press conference. “If that’s what it means, I’m willing to lose games to make sure they understand there’s certain things that aren’t acceptable. One of them is you’re not going to make excuses and you’re not going to turn around and blame your teammates.
“It’s not like we’ve got anybody that plays perfect. Over the next couple of games, we’ll find out who’s going to do what we need to continue to get done.”
The scathing comments from Barnes after the game followed the indicting lineup decisions he made during the game.
Ray Kasongo, who hadn’t played in the last two games, started the second half, and walk-on Brad Woodson played the final 18 minutes as three of Tennessee’s veterans sat and watched.
Tennessee (13-15, 6-9 SEC) actually trimmed a 25-point deficit down to a dozen with the odd lineup, but South Carolina buried the visitors by scoring 17 straight to take a 78-48 lead on Michael Carrera’s 3-pointer with 3:36 to go.
Barnes said he was proud of the “battling” effort put forth by the players that did play in the second half.
The same can’t be said for the benched trio.
“There were certain guys I wasn’t going to put back in that game,” Barnes told reporters. “I don’t care if we had fouled out everybody that was on the court. I might have gone in myself, but there were certain guys I wasn’t going to put back in that game tonight.”
In its second game without leading scorer Kevin Punter Jr. (foot), the Vols actually started fast offensively by making 11 of their first 17 shots.
It was another defensive no-show on the road, however, as Tennessee could turn that fast shooting start into a 31-28 deficit with 8:34 to go in the first half.
The Gamecocks (23-5, 10-5) outscored the Vols 18-6 to close the half as Duane Notice, who scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, hit a trio of 3s to close the half.
South Carolina shot 59 percent in the first half and scored 24 of its first 36 points in the paint en route to a 42-14 whipping in that category.
Tennessee’s locker room at halftime, Barnes said, “wasn’t a real pleasant place to be.”
Devon Baulkman led the Vols with 19 points on five 3-pointers. Freshman Shembari Phillips scored 16 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Armani Moore, the reigning SEC player of the week, had 10 points, six rebounds, six assists and two blocked shots.
Their teammates combined to shoot 4-of-20 from the field.
“There’s no reason not to compete,” Barnes told the Vol Network radio broadcast after the game. “There’s absolutely no reason for that, and we’re going to a get a group (that competes). I told Shembari to remember this score, because you’re going to be in here three more times.”
Woodson, the walk-on out of Murfreesboro’s Riverdale High School, had played 17 minutes all season before playing the final 18:14 on Wednesday, and the 3 he hit five minutes into the second half gave him his first career points.
“I’m watching him play, and I told the coaches, ‘You know what, I should have been playing him more,'” Barnes told the Vol Network. “He just understand the game. I wish he’d get those five shots again, because he’s capable of making them.
“He kept the ball moving, he worked as hard as he could — just fundamentally sound. I probably should’ve used him more. I think it shows great character on his part that he comes in the game and he’s ready to play.”
Tennessee remains in 11th place in the SEC standings going into Saturday’s home game against Arkansas.
“We asked them to do one thing today,” said Barnes, “and that was to play as hard as they could play.
“We didn’t get that.”
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.