Look: Tennessee's potential opponents in SEC Tournament bracket
Tennessee basketball will open the postseason as the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament on Friday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena. The Vols will play at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN against the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 8 LSU and No. 9 Mississippi State.
Auburn is the No. 4 seed on the Tennessee side of the bracket. South Carolina is the No. 5 seed and awaits the winner of Wednesday’s game between No. 12 Arkansas and No. 13 Vanderbilt.
Kentucky is the No. 2 seed on the bottom side of the bracket and will play either No. 7 Texas A&M or No. 10 Ole Miss on Friday. Alabama is the No. 3 seed and Florida is the No. 6 seed, awaiting the winner between No. 11 Georgia and No. 14 Missouri.
No. 4 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4 SEC) clinched the outright SEC regular-season championship with a 66-59 win at No. 17 South Carolina Wednesday night, but saw its seven-game win streak snapped in an 85-81 loss to No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Mississippi State is the only SEC team Tennessee did not beat during the regular season, losing 77-72 at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville on January 10. The Vols beat LSU 88-68 at home on February 7 at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Vols looking to earn first No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament in program history
Tennessee will have work to do in Nashville to earn the program’s first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Vols moved up to the fourth No. 1 seed according to projections from both ESPN and CBS Sports this week, after road wins at Alabama and South Carolina.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi wrote Saturday night that “Arizona will regain it’s 1-seed over Tennessee with a win at USC later tonight.”
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Tennessee has never been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Vols have been a No. 2 seed three times (2006, 2008 and 2019) and a No. 3 seed twice (2018, 2022).
Tennessee’s SEC Tournament history under Rick Barnes
Tennessee was a No. 5 seed in the SEC Tournament a year ago, beating No. 13 Ole Miss 70-55 before losing to No. 4 Missouri 79-71 in the quarterfinal round.
The Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., beating No. 6 Mississippi State, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 8 Texas A&M.
Tennessee went to back-to-back SEC Tournament title games in 2018 and 2019. The Vols, as the No. 2, lost to No. 4-seed Kentucky in St. Louis in 2018 and lost to No. 5-seed Auburn as the No. 3 seed in 2019.
No. 9 Georgia beat No. 8 Tennessee in 2017 and the Vols advanced three rounds as the No. 12 seed in 2016, beating No. 13 Auburn and No. 5 Vanderbilt before losing to No. 5 LSU.
