Even Pearl is impressed : govolsxtra.com

COLUMBIA, S.C. - No drama here, just a lot of chicken feed.

Tennessee ran its winning streak to nine games with an 80-56 victory over South Carolina at The Colonial Center Saturday night.

JaJuan Smith scored 15 points to lead the eighth-ranked Vols (14-1, 2-0 SEC) while Wayne Chism scored 13 and Tyler Smith and J.P. Prince added 11 each.

Devan Downey scored 24 for the Gamecocks (8-8, 0-2). It was South Carolina's worst loss to UT in Columbia.

"To win on the road you have to play well early,'' UT coach Bruce Pearl said. "You set a tone and let everyone know you're coming in here for a reason.''

The Vols needed only to look back on their last trip to the Colonial Center - an 81-64 South Carolina win last season - to find added incentive.

"We were on the receiving end of this whipping last year,'' UT junior Ryan Childress said. "You don't forget things like that.''

The Vols used an 11-0 run off the opening tip to build a 43-35 halftime lead and started the second half on a 20-3 tear, sending feathers flying and fans to the exits.

"Wow, I was impressed,'' Pearl said. "You have to like the energy the guys started both halves with. They are feeding off each other.''

UT fed off Gamecocks' turnovers, too. South Carolina entered the game averaging only 10.9 turnovers per game but had nine by halftime and 17 at the end of the game.

The Vols' perimeter pressure was top shelf as well. The Gamecocks ranked second in the SEC in 3-point field goal percentage (41.1 percent) but made just 5-of-21 (23.8 percent) of their 3-point attempts.

In fact, South Carolina missed its first 10 3-point attempts of the second half before Zam Fredrick finally connected with 1:25 left in the game.

"South Carolina is usually better from three(-point range) than two; they came in hitting 41 percent,'' Pearl said. "So there's a difference with our defense right there.''

While the Vols came out of the halftime locker room soaring through the lane on drives and burying jumpers, the Gamecocks didn't score their second field goal of the second half until there was 12:54 left when Dominique Archie's jumper cut the UT lead to 63-40.

"I thought during halftime if we could correct a couple things offensively and defensively, that we could make a run at them,'' South Carolina coach Dave Odom said. "I never dreamt that we would come out of the locker room so flat.''

The Vols led by as many as 29 when Tyler Smith split a pair of free throws with 9:07 remaining to make it 71-42.

The Gamecocks highlight was early, brief and modest; they battled back from the 11-0 deficit to cut UT's lead to 14-11 when Archie split a part of free throws.

The Vols answered with a 9-0 run and went on to lead by as many as 13 points in the first half when J.P. Prince did a reverse spin off a would-be drive, hitting a high-arching step-back baseline jumper to make it 26-13 at the 8:44 mark.

The Vols return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday in Thompson-Boling Arena against Vanderbilt. Tennessee looks to extend its 24-game home win streak, which ranks as the fifth longest in the nation.

Try It Again: Prince continued to make an impact with 11 points and seven rebounds in 22 minutes, but he left the arena shaking his head over the double-pump, reverse dunk he missed on a fast break.

"It was mad at myself; how do I miss a dunk like that,'' Prince said. "I was too high. I make that all the time in practice.''

Pearl said he wasn't at all upset with Prince's highlight dunk attempt.

"J.P. made a great steal, and I was glad J.P. was aggressive,'' Pearl said. "He tried to make a nice dunk.''

Prince said Pearl offered him encouragement.

"He told me if I had another breakaway, go ahead and try it again if I wanted,'' Prince said.

Even Pearl is impressed

Vols start off 11-0 in first and 20-3 in second