Tennessee to face Texas in SEC Tournament quarterfinal Friday
Tennessee will face Texas in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal Friday afternoon at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, after the 13th-seeded Longhorns beat No. 5-seed Texas A&M on Thursday. Friday’s game will start at approximately 3:30 p.m Eastern Time on ESPN.
No. 13 Texas will be playing its third game in three days. The Longhorns beat No. 12 Vanderbilt Wednesday night to advance in the the SEC Tournament bracket, then beat A&M 94-89 in double overtime.
No. 8 Ole Miss will play No. 1 Auburn in the first game of Friday’s afternoon session, scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. The winner will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round against the winner of the Tennessee-Texas/Texas A&M game.
Vols currently projected as a No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament
Tennessee (25-6) is the No. 4 seed in the SEC Tournament bracket and is currently projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has the Vols as his No. 6 overall seed, behind Alabama, the No. 6 overall seed and top team on the No. 2-seed line, and Florida, the No. 4 overall seed and final No. 1 seed.
Florida is the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament bracket and Alabama is the No. 3. The Gators will face either No. 7 Missouri or No. 10 Mississippi State in the first game of the Friday night session. The Crimson Tide will face either No. 14 Oklahoma or No. 6 Kentucky.
Tennessee won 74-70 at Texas on January 11 in the only meeting between the two teams this season. Zakai Zeigler scored 16 points and had eight assists, Chaz Lanier scored 10 and Jordan Gainey and Darlinstone Dubar scored 12 each off the bench to spark the Vols.
Tennessee has faced Texas four times over the last four seasons, including the win in Austin two months ago. The Vols beat the Longhorns 62-58 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season, won 82-71 in Knoxville in January 2023 and lost 52-51 in Austin in January 2022.
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Tennessee’s history in the SEC Tournament under Rick Barnes
Tennessee won the SEC Tournament in 2022 — the program’s first conference tournament championship since 1979 — after beating Mississippi State, Kentucky and Texas A&M over three days in Tampa.
The Vols played for the SEC Tournament title in both 2018 and 2019, losing to Kentucky in 2018 in St. Louis and to Auburn a year later in Nashville.
Tennessee was one-and-done in the SEC Tournament a year ago, losing 73-56 to Mississippi State before going on an NCAA Tournament run to the Elite Eight.
The Vols lost in the quarterfinals to Missouri in 2023, after beating Ole Miss a day earlier, and went to the semifinals in 2021 before losing to Alabama.
Tennessee played three games in the 2016 SEC Tournament, in the first year under Rick Barnes, beating Auburn and Vanderbilt before losing to LSU in the quarterfinals as the No. 12 seed. The Vols were one-and-done in 2017 after a loss to Georgia in the No. 8 vs. No. 9 seed game.
