No. 4 Tennessee held on for a 66-59 win over No. 17 South Carolina on Wednesday in Columbia, S.C., to clinch its first outright Southeastern Conference regular-season title since 2007-08.
Dalton Knecht scored 26 points on 9-for-23 shooting to lead Tennessee (24-6, 14-3 SEC), which won its seventh game in a row. The Volunteers have three conference losses with one game to go in the regular season, and their next closest opponents have five conference defeats.
Meechie Johnson scored 18 points on 8-for-19 shooting to pace South Carolina (24-6, 12-5). Collin Murray-Boyles finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Gamecocks, whose three-game winning streak ended.
Knecht pointed toward his ring finger and embraced his teammates after the final buzzer sounded. The Volunteers smiled and slapped hands with one another but otherwise stayed subdued on the court in the moments after securing the regular-season title.
The Volunteers led by as many as 14 points in the second half before South Carolina rallied.
A dunk by Jonas Aidoo made it 48-34 in favor of Tennessee with 9:40 to go.
The Gamecocks pulled within 59-56 with 1:14 remaining when Ta'Lon Cooper grabbed an offensive rebound and Johnson made a layup.
The Volunteers responded by making 7 of 8 at the foul line the rest of the way to wrap up the victory. Tennessee finished 19-for-22 from the charity stripe, and South Carolina shot 5-for-10 on free throws.
Tennessee jumped to a 35-24 lead at the half.
B.J. Mack made a layup for South Carolina to even the score at 19-19 with 7:32 to go in the half.
The Volunteers scored the next five points, as Jordan Gainey drained a 3-pointer and Josiah-Jordan James made two free throws.
South Carolina pulled back within 24-22 on a 3-pointer by Myles Stute with 3:39 left.
Tennessee answered with a 9-0 run to push its lead to 33-22 with 1:12 to play in the half. Knecht scored all nine points during the run with a trio of 3-pointers.
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