South Carolina Falls to No. 1 Tennessee, 92-70

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Admiral Schofield had 20 of his 24 points in the second half to lead No. 1 Tennessee to its school record-tying 15th straight victory, 92-70, over South Carolina on Tuesday night.

Grant Williams added 23 points for the Vols (19-1, 7-0 Southeastern Conference), who saw a double-digit lead cut to 60-58 with 13 minutes to play. Jordan Bone then scored five straight points to start an 18-6 run over the next six minutes that helped Tennessee stay perfect in SEC play.

Tennessee matched its program-best winning streak, which began in January 1915 and lasted through February 1917. It was Williams early on and Schofield late who kept the run of success going as the Gamecocks (10-10, 5-2) tried to rally in the second half.

Williams scored 17 points in the opening period to move Tennessee out front by as many as 12 points. Schofield, 1 of 4 shooting the first 20 minutes, found his touch after the break in scoring nine of his team’s first 13 points to keep the Vols in the lead.

Chris Silva had 28 points – only six the second half – and 10 rebounds for South Carolina, which fell to 1-13 all time against No. 1 opponents.

The game featured two of the SEC’s top post players in Tennessee’s Williams and South Carolina’s Silva – and the pair did not disappoint as both were practically unstoppable early on.

Silva, the 6-foot-9 senior who set his career high of 32 points against then-No. 16 Auburn a week ago, looked like he aimed to surpass that with 22 points in the first 20 minutes. Williams, a 6-7 junior and a candidate for SEC player of the year, matched Silva shot for shot before the break. 

KEY STATS
> South Carolina started 6-for-8 (75 percent) from the field in the second half, but finished just 4-for-18 (22 percent).
> Tennessee took advantage of its 13 offensive rebounds, finishing with 21 second chance points.

NOTABLES
> Senior Chris Silva had 28 points and 10 rebounds for his 21^st career double-double. The senior had 22 the first 20 minutes on 6-of-10 shooting with a pair of 3s.  
> Silva has now scored in double-figures in 11 of the Gamecocks’ last 13 games dating back to Wyoming (12/5/18) with four double-doubles in the stretch.
> The Libreville, Gabon, native, became the first Carolina player in program history tonight to make 500 free throws and have 700 rebounds. He now has 511 career makes at the charity stripe (12-for-16 tonight) and 774 rebounds.
> Senior graduate transfer Tre Campbell had 14 points and was 3-for-4 from behind the arc. He was a point shy of matching his season-high of 15 against Stony Brook early in the season (11/9/18).

UP NEXT
Carolina will play its next two contests on the road against former SEC East foes, first at Georgia this Saturday. The game tips off at 1 p.m. ET with Richard Cross (play-by-play) and Debbie Antonelli (analyst) on the call for the SEC Network in Athens. The Gamecocks then travel to No. 7 Kentucky on Tuesday.