KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team concluded the 2024-25 regular season by defeating South Carolina, 75-65, Saturday afternoon at a sold-out Food City Center.
On a day it honored seven seniors, fourth-ranked Tennessee (25-6, 12-6 SEC) got a game-high 23 points from one of them, fifth-year guard Chaz Lanier, who had 20 after the break. The triumph sealed the program’s fourth consecutive 25-win campaign and third-ever 25-win regular season.
The Volunteers—behind eight points from senior forward Igor Miličić Jr., to give him 1,000 as a collegian—raced out to a 10-4 lead after just 4:34 of action. The home team, buoyed by seven assists from senior guard Zakai Zeigler on its first eight makes in the opening eight minutes, stretched the margin to 10, 23-13, with 8:43 left in the session.
South Carolina (12-19, 2-16 SEC) answered with a 15-4 burst, including notching seven straight points in 97 seconds, to grab its first lead, 28-27, with 2:09 left before the break. The Gamecocks extended the run to 21-8, making it 34-31 with 20 seconds on the first-half timer. An ensuing three-point play by Tennessee sophomore forward Cade Phillips leveled the score at 34 through 20 minutes.
Senior guard Jamarii Thomas scored 14 points in the opening stanza for South Carolina, shooting 3-of-7 beyond the arc to go along with a 3-of-3 free-throw ledger that came from drawing a foul on another 3-point attempt. The Volunteers started 10-of-16 from the floor and then went 3-of-10 the rest of the half, while the Gamecocks began 3-of-15 and shot 7-of-13 from then on. In addition, Tennessee was 4-of-9 from the line after missing its first five attempts, while South Carolina went 9-of-10.
A three-point play by Miličić put the Volunteers ahead, 39-38, just 3:44 into the second stanza. That initiated a 12-4 spurt—it concluded with seven straight points in 84 ticks—to put the Volunteers up by six, 48-42, with 12:57 remaining.
Shortly thereafter, Lanier hit back-to-back long-range shots in 43 seconds, sparking a 14-5 run in which he scored the first nine points, to make it a game-best 12-point advantage, 64-52, with 7:56 to go. The stretch came during an 8-of-10 field-goal span for the Volunteers that featured six consecutive makes.
The Gamecocks got it down to eight, 64-56, with 6:51 to go, but Tennessee soon answered by scoring four fast-break points in 21 seconds to again go up a dozen, 68-56, just 99 ticks later.
South Carolina made it 72-65 in the final minute, but the Volunteers scored the final three points to earn their 18th double-digit triumph of 2024-25.
In the final 16 minutes of the game, Lanier scored 20 points on 8-of-11 field-goal shooting. It marked his third 20-point half of the season, including his first after the intermission. The Nashville, Tenn., native added four rebounds, three assists and a game-leading three steals.
Phillips scored a career-best 15 points and matched a career high with six made field goals, finishing 6-of-8 from the floor. He pulled down four rebounds and paced all players with three blocked shots.
Miličić finished with 13 points and five rebounds, while senior guard Jordan Gainey had 10 points and a career-high-tying six assists. Zeigler and fellow senior guard Jahmai Mashack, who won for the 60th time in 65 home outings, led the team in assists (eight) and rebounds (seven), respectively.
Thomas paced the Gamecocks with 20 points, but Tennessee ultimately held him to a 5-of-15 field-goal clip. Graduate forward Nick Pringle amassed 16 points and a game-high 14 rebounds, while junior guard Zachary Davis had 10 points. The Volunteers limited the Gamecocks’ leading scorer and rebounder, sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles, to seven points and three boards on 3-of-7 shooting.
Tennessee shot 54.5 percent (30-of-55) from the floor, while the visitors posted just a 35.1 percent (20-of-57) ledger at the other end. The Gamecocks, though, opened 13-of-14 from the line and finished 17-of-22 (77.3 percent). In addition, the victors amassed a 42-24 advantage in paint points and did not concede a single fast-break point.
The Volunteers enter the postseason as the fourth seed in the SEC Tournament, where they will begin play Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET against a to-be-determined opponent at Bridgestone Arena.
