Alex Stepheson had 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, Mike Gerrity had 12 points and 10 assists, and Southern California routed No. 9 Tennessee 77-55 on Saturday for the Volunteers' worst loss under coach Bruce Pearl.

Gerrity was making his debut for Southern Cal (5-4) after transferring from Charlotte following the first semester of last season. He helped the Trojans build a 24-point lead in the second half, as Southern Cal won its third straight and first against a ranked team.

Scotty Hopson had 16 points to lead Tennessee (8-2), which was out-rebounded 43-21 and had its own four-game win streak snapped. Melvin Goins added 10 points.

Gerrity did most of his work in the first half, handing out seven assists and grabbing three rebounds. Dwight Lewis did his damage after the break, scoring 11 of his 21 points _ including all nine during a 9-2 run that made it 59-40.

Nikola Vucevic added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Trojans, giving them three players with double-doubles.

Tennessee committed just eight turnovers, but shot a season-low 2 of 22 (9.1 percent) from beyond the 3-point line. The Vols entered the week eighth in the nation in scoring offense (85.0 points per game) and seventh in 3-point field goal percentage (43.4 percent).

They struggled early and never found a rhythm, missing their first nine 3-pointers and making just 2 of 14 field goals to start the game. The drought allowed USC to jump out to an early 11-5 lead.

The Vols employed a full-court press that led to seven unanswered points, capped by consecutive lay-ups from Bobby Maze to give Tennessee a lead. But the Trojans' Marcus Johnson scored seven points during a 14-1 run over the final 4 minutes of the first half.

The Trojans shot 61.9 percent from the field while holding the Vols to a season-low 29.6 percentage in building their 33-20 halftime lead. The 20 points were the fewest Tennessee has scored this season.