How To Watch: No. 17 South Carolina Vs. No. 4 Tennessee

South Carolina's men's basketball team is set for a showdown against the Tennessee Volunteers where the stakes will be plentiful and high.

Author:
Andrew Lyon
Publish date:
Mar 5, 2024 9:57 PM EST

Tomorrow night, South Carolina's men's basketball team will play the Tennessee Volunteers in what some people have deemed the biggest men's basketball game since the opening of the Colonial Life Arena in 2002. For Lamont Paris and the Gamecocks, several things are at stake: a senior night win for guys like Ta'Lon Cooper, BJ Mack, and Stephen Clark, a chance to solidify their status as a Top 4 seed for the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, and a chance to remain alive in the SEC regular season title race.

Carolina will also have the opportunity to sweep a home-and-home against the Volunteers for the first time since the 2016-17 season and for the seventh time overall in the series' history. While there are several reasons to point to for why the Gamecocks came out on top in their first season matchup against Tennessee, the main objective Lamont's team seemed to accomplish was forcing Dalton Knecht to play hero ball to beat them, which didn't work out for the Volunteers star. Knecht scored 31 points overall but got a solid chunk of his points in what was essentially garbage time, evidenced by the fact that the North Colorado transfer shot 33.3 percent (6 of 18) from the floor in the first 37 minutes and 6 seconds of the contest.

Another area where South Carolina made its presence felt was its perimeter defense at the top of the key. Tennessee point guard Zakai Zigler struggled to get into a rhythm in the first meeting between both teams, scoring just two points and not hitting a single shot from the floor. This forced the Volunteers to make tough shots in the half-court, which they were unable to do, while the Gamecocks hit multiple clutch shots and did a better job of imposing their will from a physicality standpoint in the paint area.

In order for Carolina to knock off Tennessee once again, they'll have to replicate what they did in Rocky Top over two months ago. This time, they'll have close to 18,000 fans in their corner to help them secure a desirable result.