The Tennessee Volunteers men’s basketball team defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks (92-70) on Jan. 29, to improve to 19-1 on the season.
The Vols have been on a hot streak as of late, winning their last 15 games. Their last loss came months ago on Nov. 23, against the University of Kansas Jayhawks in an 87-81 defeat.
Then No. 6 ranked Tennessee kicked off the season with a blowout win over private university Lenoir-Rhyne out of Hickory, North Carolina, on Nov. 6.
Following suit, forward Grant Williams led the Vols to a decisive (87-65) win over the Louisiana Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns a few days later on Nov. 9.
The Vols would go on to defeat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (66-53) and the Louisville Cardinals (92-81) before suffering their only loss of the season so far to the Jayhawks.
Since that loss, the Vols haven’t looked back. The loss to the Jayhawks was followed up by absolute dominance over Eastern Kentucky (95-76) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (79-51).
No. 4 ranked Gonzaga gave Tennessee a run for their money, but the boys in orange managed to escape with a 76-73 win.
Tennessee is 7-0 in conference play and has the best overall record in the SEC. However, their competition isn’t that far behind. Louisiana State University (16-3) and Kentucky (17-3) are only a few wins away.
In order to maintain their grip on the No. 1 seed, the Vols have no choice but to keep winning.
The Vols have 11 games left in the season and most of them are against teams that Tennessee has dealt with easily, such as Vanderbilt, Missouri and Florida.
Big games are coming Feb. 23 and March 2, when the Vols play No. 22 ranked LSU and No. 7 ranked Kentucky.
Tennessee’s next game will be against Texas A&M on Saturday, Feb. 2.
