A closer look at Tennessee's draw in the SEC Tournament

Tennessee missed out on the double-bye into the SEC Tournament quarterfinals after failing to finish as one of the conference’s top four teams in the regular-season standings. Instead, the Vols had to settle for a No. 5 seed, opening their stay at Bridgestone Arena Thursday afternoon against either No. 12 South Carolina or No. 13 Ole Miss.

Tennessee (22-9, 11-7 SEC) still ended up with a good draw on its half of the bracket, though. The Vols went 6-2 in eight games this season against teams on their side of the bracket and went just 5-5 in 10 games against teams on the other half of the bracket. 

Alabama is the No. 1 overall seed and Missouri is the No. 4 on Tennessee’s side. The Crimson Tide will face either No. 8 Florida or No. 9 Mississippi State in Friday afternoon’s 1 p.m. Eastern Time game on ESPN.

Should Tennessee advance past No. 12 South Carolina or No. 13 Ole Miss, the Vols will face No. 4 Missouri at roughly 3:30 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN. Tennessee will play the Ole Miss-South Carolina winner Thursday around 3 p.m. Eastern Time on SEC Network. 

Tennessee ended the regular-season schedule with a 79-70 loss at Auburn on Saturday

The Vols in two games against South Carolina won by a combined 83 points, beating the Gamecocks 85-42 at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia on January 7 and 85-45 at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 25.

Tennessee swept Mississippi State, too, winning by a combined 45 points. The Vols won 70-59 at Humphrey Coliseum in Starkville on January 17, despite missing Santiago Vescovi (shoulder) and Tyreke Key (illness), and 87-53 at Thompson-Boling Arena on January 3.

Mississippi State was one of Joe Lunardi’s last four teams in his NCAA Tournament bracket projection for ESPN on Saturday. Alabama was Lunardi’s No. 2 overall seed. 

The Vols lost to Missouri 86-85 at Thompson-Boling Arena on February 11. Tennessee trailed by 17 points with 17 minutes left in the game, rallied to erase the deficit and build as much as a six-point lead, but lost when DeAndre Gholston hit a long, running desperation 3-pointer as time expired. 

Key scored a season-high 23 points in the loss to Missouri, including 21 points in the second half to fuel the Tennessee comeback. He finished 6-for-13 from the field, 5-for-9 from the 3-point line and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line.

Mizzou lost 89-56 in its next game, at Auburn, then lost 69-60 at home against Texas A&M. The Tigers enter the SEC Tournament having won four straight, beating Mississippi State, Georgia, LSU and Ole Miss.

Saturday’s first semifinal game will start a 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN, featuring either Alabama, Florida or Mississippi State against either Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee or Missouri. 

Texas A&M is the No. 2 seed anchoring the bottom half of the bracket and will play either No. 7 Auburn or No. 10 Arkansas on Friday. Kentucky is the No. 3 seed, playing either No. 6 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Georgia or No. 14 LSU.

Tennessee’s 5-5 record against the other half of the bracket included a regular-season sweep at the hand of Kentucky, a first during the Rick Barnes era in Knoxville, and a loss at Texas A&M. 

The Vols split two games with both Vanderbilt and Auburn and went 3-0 against Arkansas, LSU and Georgia. 

Up Next: SEC Tournament, March 8-12, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville

Tennessee has played in three SEC Tournament championship games under Barnes, losing against Kentucky in St. Louis in 2018 and Auburn in Nashville in 2019. The Vols beat Texas A&M in Tampa last March to win the conference tournament for the first time since 1979.

Tennessee lost in the semifinal round against Alabama in 2021, after beating Florida in the quarterfinal round, and lost to Georgia in its first game at the tournament in 2017. The Vols was a No. 12 seed in 2016, the first season under Barnes, and beat No. 13 Auburn (97-59) and No. 5 Vanderbilt (67-65) before losing to No. 4 LSU, 84-75.