Men's Basketball . February 17, 2021

Bailey leads No. 19 Tennessee over South Carolina, 93-73

by By: Al Lesar | Associated Press

AJ Lawson had 20 points again to lead the Gamecocks

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Victor Bailey drilled 7 of 10 3-pointers and scored a career-high 29 points to lead No. 19 Tennessee to a 93-73 victory over South Carolina on Wednesday night.

The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but what turned out to be a false positive COVID-19 test for a Tennessee player led to a one-day postponement.

John Fulkerson scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half, Jaden Springer added 16 points and Yves Pons had 10 for the Volunteers (15-5, 8-5 Southeastern Conference).

AJ Lawson led the Gamecocks (5-10, 3-8) with 20 points. Keyshawn Bryant and TJ Moss each scored 15.

Tennessee expanded its 11-point halftime lead to 89-69 late in the second half thanks to a 17-7 run. Fulkerson had eight points in that burst.

Bailey hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and had 14 points to lead Tennessee to a 50-39 halftime advantage. Spring connected on a buzzer-beater jumper to score 10 in the opening half. The Vols were good on 6 of 13 3-pointers in the first 20 minutes.

KEY STATS
> The Vols shot it well the entire game, finishing 32-of-59 (54 percent) while dishing out 26 assists. Tennessee also scored 25 points off 18 Gamecock turnovers in the game.

NOTABLES
> Junior guard AJ Lawson led the team with 20 points. He hit four 3s, his 10^th game of the 2020-21 season knocking down three or more 3s. Lawson now has 10 double figure outings in 11 SEC games, scoring 20 or more points eight times in those contests.
> Junior TJ Moss was 3-for-5 from deep en route to scoring a career-high 15 points off the bench.
> Junior Keyshawn Bryant also had 15 points to round out the Gamecocks in double figures in Knoxville.
> Freshman Tre-Vaughn Minott scored his first career points in Garnet and Black tonight. He also had two rebounds in nine minutes of action.

UP NEXT
Carolina returns to Colonial Life Arena to host No. 20/19 Missouri (13-6, 6-6 SEC) on Saturday. Tip time versus the Tigers is set for 2 p.m. ET for the ESPN2 broadcast. Mizzou posted an 81-70 win over the Gamecocks earlier this season in Columbia, Mo., on Jan. 19.

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