COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tennessee followed its worst half of basketball this season with arguably its best Sunday.

The Vols rallied from a 15-point second-half deficit en route to a 76-69 victory over South Carolina in both teams' SEC opener.

"The first half is nothing," said UT guard Chris Lofton, who scored 12 of his team-high 18 points in the second half, nine of those coming on NBA distance 3-pointers. "The second half is where it's at. I just try to have my spurts and do what I can."

Lofton and the Vols made a believer out of South Carolina coach Dave Odom by hitting 10 of 13 3-pointers in the second half and outscoring the Gamecocks 53-34 over the final 20 minutes.

"I thought we had things settled and going our way at the half," said Odom, whose team dropped to 9-5 with the loss. "(Lofton) is a tough guard. He hit seven (3-pointers) on us last year, six this year. Anybody not convinced he can shoot them, raise your hand."

With that, Odom abruptly left the podium.

Tennessee, meanwhile, moves to its SEC home opener against Georgia on Wednesday with a 10-1 overall mark and a 1-0 record in conference.

"This was our biggest win of the year," UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "The key today was we didn't panic."

Tennessee scored its first win in the Palmetto State since the 2000-2001 season and its first in the Colonial Center after three losses in the Gamecocks' pristine home arena.

It seemed an unlikely triumph after the Vols missed six first-half layups and were 3-for-12 from the free-throw line through the first 20 minutes.

But down 40-25 with 18:14 remaining, UT's players said they still believed, having come back to win two other games this season after trailing by nine or more points.

"With the way we can score, we know we have a big run coming," said Dane Bradshaw, who scored a career-high 14 points while holding 6-foot-8 South Carolina power forward Renaldo Balkman to eight points. "Chris (Lofton) is like a 9-0 run himself."

Bradshaw and Lofton hit back-to-back baskets to trigger an 18-7 rally. Running the offense in front of its bench, UT hit 5 of 7 treys during the run to cut the lead to 47-44 with 12:44 remaining.

South Carolina's last chance at regaining control came when Rocky Trice delivered on a drive to the basket and a free throw to give the Gamecocks a 54-49 lead with 9:58 left that got the crowd back into it.

South Carolina, however, could not take the Vols' players out of it.

Andre Patterson answered Trice's basket with a floating jumper as the shot clock expired to spark a 6-0 run that gave UT its first lead, 55-54, with 7:47 remaining.

Major Wingate scored the go-ahead bucket from deep in the lane with a powerful move to the basket. C.J. Watson set up the possession when he stole a pass and tumbled into Pearl on the sideline while calling timeout.

"C.J.'s play, and then we take the lead with Major, that right there pulled us through," Pearl said. "It really hurt (South Carolina). They had been killing us and controlling the game."

The Gamecocks regained the lead, 57-55, on a Tarence Kinsey (18 points) 3-pointer. But Tennessee tied the game on a Watson jumper the next trip down the floor. The Vols went ahead for good on their next possession when JaJuan Smith hit a spinning layup and converted a free throw to make it 60-57 at the 6:03 mark.

Smith, Lofton and Watson drilled consecutive 3-pointers as UT pulled away, leading 69-60 with 3:41 left.

Watson's trey was the seventh consecutive field-goal attempt the Vols hit and the team's fifth straight 3-pointer without miss.

Bradshaw's 3-pointer from the corner with 31 seconds left gave UT a 74-67 lead and essentially ended the game.

"We've done a 180," Bradshaw. "In a word, it's confidence."

Off Tackle: Pearl joked he didn't do a very good job catching Watson when he crashed into the UT bench area while making a pivotal steal.

"I looked bad on that play," Pearl said. "I tried to catch him but he blew me over. I didn't wrap up. Coach (John) Chavis would have substituted for me right away."

Chavis, of course, is the football Vols' defensive coordinator.

Microwave: Smith continues to help heat the team up quickly when he enters the game.

In addition to his 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting, Smith drew a charge and had a steal in consecutive possessions to keep UT's comeback alive.

"I was just trying to get the team energized," said Smith, who had 12 points in the Vols' 95-78 win over No. 6 Texas earlier this season. "It was just hustle plays."

Bad and Good: UT scored 14 points off turnovers, South Carolina had none off turnovers. ... UT shot 64.3 percent in the second half after making just 31 percent of its shot attempts in the first half. ... Bradshaw also led the Vols with seven rebounds and had a team-high four assists without a turnover. Watson had a game-high three steals.