The South Carolina (12-12, 7-4 SEC) men's basketball team was on the road Wednesday for its second matchup with the Tennessee Volunteers (23-1, 11-0 SEC), taking its second loss to the Vols this year with a final score of 85-73.
South Carolina head coach Frank Martin was complimentary of Tennessee, but also said he was proud of how the Gamecocks were resilient, despite losing to the top-ranked Volunteers again.
"They're a hard match-up for us," Martin said. "I was real proud of the fight. Obviously, we made shots, and when you make shots, it kind of hides some deficiencies. But we got no answer for them at the point guard and no answer for them at the small forward."
Tennessee did have some players on Wednesday that the Gamecocks did not see in their first matchup with the Volunteers. Vols junior guard Jordan Bowden was out in the first game due to injury, but bounced back against the Gamecocks with 16 points.
Tennessee senior forward Kyle Alexander fouled out after 10 minutes in the first game at Colonial Life Arena. On Wednesday night, he scored 10 points instead.
Despite the second loss of the year to Tennessee, the Gamecocks had a much better performance in Knoxville than they did in Columbia, specifically with their shooting.
The Gamecocks made a season best with 14 3-pointers. In addition, no Gamecock players were fouled out of the game. They also committed less team fouls than the Volunteers.
South Carolina senior forward Chris Silva put up 17 points as well as 15 rebounds by himself, accounting for half the team's total of 30 rebounds. Senior guard Tre Campbell scored 19 points against the Volunteers, which was the highest for the team.
Despite the loss, Martin told players to not get discouraged, put the game behind them and move forward.
"I told Keyshawn [Bryant] three years ago, [Tennessee's Admiral] Schofield didn't do real good," Martin said. "You hit the fast forward button three years, he obviously didn't go home and cry and pout. He worked and worked and worked, and now he's throwing people around ... You gotta work and you gotta work and get better. It's plain and simple."
The Gamecocks will be back at home Saturday for a matchup against Texas A&M, with tip-off set for 1 p.m. at Colonial Life Arena.