Tennessee spoils Senior Night for South Carolina behind big outings from Felix Okpara, J.P. Estrella
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Despite Nate Ament’s absence and a rough shooting night for Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Tennessee had no trouble with South Carolina on Tuesday.
J.P. Estrella came just shy of a career-best with 22 points, Felix Okpara tied a career high with 20, and the Volunteers snapped a two-game losing streak with a 78-59 win over the Gamecocks at Colonial Life Arena.
With Ament, Tennessee’s star freshman, out due to a leg injury he suffered during Saturday’s loss to Alabama, Gillespie was a candidate to pick up the slack. But the senior guard scored just eight points on 3-of-9 shooting, including an 0-for-4 mark from three-point range.
That didn’t matter because just about everything fell for Estrella and Okpara. The duo combined to go 20-of-27 from the field. They also totaled 15 of the Vols’ 34 rebounds on the night.
Tennessee (21-9, 11-6 SEC) never trailed in this one, shooting 54.8% in the first half as it took a 40-28 lead into the locker room. The Gamecocks would eventually pull within 48-42 with 14:23 remaining in regulation before a 12-3 Vols run pushed the lead to 60-45 with just under 10 minutes to go.
It put a damper on Senior Night celebrations for South Carolina (12-18, 3-14 SEC), which was held to 37% shooting. Meechie Johnson scored 20 points while Nordin Kapic added 13. South Carolina also had zero answers down low for Tennessee, who held a blistering 56-18 edge in the paint.
Tennessee wraps up the regular season on Saturday at home against Vanderbilt. South Carolina visits Ole Miss to close out its own slate.
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Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.
