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KSR Today: Catch the Fever at the SEC Tournament

Nick Roushby:Nick Roush•03/14/24•

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© Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

Wednesday Night at the SEC Tournament typically produces punchlines. Last night we unironically caught the fever at Bridgestone Arena. A record crowd of 16,539 was on hand to watch two incredibly entertaining games between the worst teams in the SEC.

Vanderbilt and Arkansas gave us a silly basketball game that featured a couple of big runs by each team. It was a seesaw on the scoreboard. The Commodores led by 15 points with 16 minutes on the clock. They trailed by 8 points with 2 minutes remaining.

Somehow, the game still ended up in overtime, all thanks to late Arkansas errors and Ezra Manjon heroics. It’s the first time the opening game of the SEC Tournament has gone to overtime since 1997.

Despite Manjon’s outstanding play, finishing the night with a game-high 29 points, it wasn’t enough to keep the Commodores’ season alive for another day. Arkansas prevailed 90-85 in overtime, potentially sending a pink slip Jerry Stackhouse’s way.

The nightcap was another surprising, back-and-forth affair. Georgia led by as many as 12 points in the first half, then let Missouri rally. Winless in SEC play, the Tigers had an 8-point lead at one point in the second half. That slowly eroded until the Dawgs retook the lead on a three-pointer with 90 seconds remaining. Mizzou missed three potential go-ahead tip-ins at the rim, and a game-tying three-pointer with 5 seconds to play, as Georgia ended the contest on a 12-0 run, leaving with a 64-59 win.

Thursday SEC Tournament Schedule

1:00: 9 Miss. State (-4.5) vs. 8 LSU
3:30: 12 Arkansas (+5.5) vs. 5 South Carolina
7:00: 10 Ole Miss (+4.5) vs. 7 Texas A&M
9:30: 6 Florida (-7.5) vs. 11 Georgia

You can watch all of the action on the SEC Network. Don’t have tickets for the night session at Bridgestone Arena? You can catch Shannon the Dude performing with his band, Alice Blue Gown, at the Broadway Tin Roof. The set begins at 5:30 pm CT.

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Villanova’s Prayer Answered

Missouri wasn’t the only desperate team in action Wednesday night. DePaul entered last night’s Big East Tournament game 0-20 against conference foes. With 17 seconds on the clock, they led by two. Firmly on the bubble, Justin Moore kept Villanova’s season alive with this three-pointer.

Who would’ve thought DePaul would play the wildest game on Wednesday night of Championship Week? March is the best. Elsewhere around college basketball, Kansas was inept without Hunter Dickinson or Kevin McCullar in the lineup. Cincinnati shellacked the Jayhawks, leading the entire way in a 72-52 victory.

First Order of Business for Kentucky at the SEC Tournament

Not long after the Kentucky basketball team arrived in Nashville, they were treated to dinner at one of the Music City’s finest establishments. Jeff Ruby thanked John Calipari and the Wildcats for stopping by and enjoying a nice steak before beginning their quest for an SEC Tournament title.

Prior to departure, Bruiser Flint, Ugonna Onyenso and Adou Thiero previewed the SEC Tournament with the media. See everything they had to say on the KSR YouTube Channel. Subscribe to make sure you don’t miss anything in Nashville.

Kenny Payne Officially Out at Louisville

UofL did not waste any time. An hour after the team plane returned home from the ACC Tournament, Josh Heird announced Kenny Payne will no longer be the Cards’ head coach. The former Card only tallied 12 wins over two seasons at his alma mater. Even though we knew things were bad over there, we still did not know exactly how bad they were.

WDRB’s Eric Crawford spilled the tea in a detailed postmortem of the Payne era. There were a few startling revelations, like the amount of NIL dollars Payne refused to use to build his roster, but none more shocking than what happened with Nolan Smith. The son of Payne’s former teammate and a budding star in the coaching ranks after spending five seasons with Coach K at Duke, Smith made a shocking move in the middle of the season.

“When athletics leadership concluded that Smith had been the source of a leak that resulted in national media reports saying Payne would be fired in December and Smith elevated to the head coaching job, Payne was advised to take the matter up with Smith,” writes Crawford.

“Smith remained on the staff, and what measures Payne may have taken were not known. Similarly, after his first season, Payne declined to shake up his staff after finishing 4-28, even when advised to by Heird.”

Travis Ford out at St. Louis

Madisonville native and former Kentucky sharpshooter Travis Ford is looking for a new gig. He was relieved of his duties after a 5-13 Atlantic 10 campaign. In eight seasons at St. Louis, he compiled a 146-108 record (.575) and guided the Billekins to an A-10 Tournament title in 2019. Scoop-master Trilly Donovan shared that Indiana State head coach Josh Schertz is the early favorite to succeed Ford at SLU.

KHSAA Girls’ Sweet 16 Continues at Rupp Arena

Bowling Green mounted a furious comeback to knock off Owsley County in a dramatic opener. Butler won a back-and-forth affair over Anderson County. McCracken County and Franklin County cruised to advance to the quarterfinals on Friday. Today the top two teams meet in primetime at Rupp Arena.

11:00 am: Bethlehem vs. Pikeville
1:30: Owensboro vs. Henderson County
6:00: George Rogers Clark vs. Sacred Heart
8:30: Cooper vs. Danville Christian

Transy in the Final Four

The Transylvania women’s basketball team is putting its record-breaking 64-game win streak on the line tonight in the D-III Final Four. A tall task lies ahead against an undefeated foe, New York University. Head coach Juli Fulks is returning to her alma mater, Capital University in Columbus, for the clash of titans. The action begins tonight at 7:30 pm EST and can be streamed at NCAA.com.

Congrats to the Lucketts!

In the not-so-distant past, I was the third employee at KSR. We now have five KSBabies. On Tuesday Adam Luckett and his wife Taylor welcomed their second boy into the world, Henry Douglas. Mom, Baby and Dad are doing great, so great that Luckett was Tweeting about DePaul basketball last night.

SEC Tournament Shout Out

We’re ending today’s morning post with a shout-out to someone who could use it. Eric Payne was ready for an eventful week at the SEC Tournament, but some unfortunate circumstances caused a change of plans. We’re sending all of our good vibes to him and the Maloney family during this difficult time. Here’s to hoping the Cats give them a few reasons to smile this weekend.

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2024-09-21