2024 SEC Tournament Quarterfinals Recap
Nashville, TN - These quarterfinals games offer some interesting storylines as there are some potential upsets in the brewing. Mississippi State (#9) pleaded the number one seed, Tennessee (#1) in what had an unexpected finish. South Carolina (#5) is looking to get their revenge against Auburn (#4) as they lost by 40 points in the last matchup. Texas A&M (#7) is looking to get off the bubble and secure a spot in the NCAA tournament by defeating Kentucky (#2). In the final game of the evening, Florida (#6) and Alabama (#3) have split the season series so it should be a very competitive game.
Mississippi State (#9) VS Tennessee (#1)
The March Madness magic strikes again as Mississippi State upsets Tennessee, 73-56. Mississippi St took a commanding lead in the beginning stages of the game. The Bulldogs were playing elite defense, holding Tennessee to only four points in the first eight minutes of the game. Head Coach of the Volunteers, Rick Barnes, was visibly displeased with his team's effort during the opening minutes as they could not stop the Bulldogs from scoring. The Volunteers struggled to score as they shot 7/34 (20.6%) from two and 2/18 (11.1%) from three. As a result, Knecht and the rest of the Volunteers trailed by 19 at the half, 38-19.
Knecht immediately hit a three-pointer to begin the second half. After a series of fouls on Mississippi St, the tide started to shift in favor of Tennessee. Still down to a large deficit, they had a lot of work to do but that did not stop them from establishing a competitive second half. Soon after, Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard took over for the Bulldogs and strengthened their lead to 22 points with less than 10 minutes remaining. Zakai Ziegler led a 10-0 run to minimize the deficit to 12 points with five minutes left to go in one final attempt for a comeback. In the end, it wasn’t enough as the Bulldogs advanced to the semifinals of the SEC tournament.
South Carolina (#5) VS Auburn (#4)
In the last matchup between these two teams, Auburn blew South Carolina out of the water as they won 101 - 61. Both teams like a physical style of play, therefore everyone was contesting shots, diving for loose balls, and aggressively attacking the boards. The Tigers went on an 11-0 run over a span of 3:30 to generate a lead into the last eight minutes of the first half. K.D. Johnson was showcasing his fiery personality as he picked up a technical foul moments after South Carolina's, Zachary Davis picked up a flagrant one foul. Auburn ran away with it as they led 46-26 at the break.
Auburn did not let off the gas pedal the entire second half, as all 10 rotational players scored. South Carolina’s dominant defense was nowhere to be seen as the Tigers ruled both ends of the court. It was almost an exact replica of what we saw before between these two teams as Auburn easily advanced to the semifinals, 86-55.
Texas A&M (#7) VS Kentucky (#2)
Wade Taylor IV and the Aggies jumped out to an immediate 8-1 lead within the first two minutes of the game, which forced Coach Calipari to call a timeout in frustration. Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard were then inserted into the game for the Wildcats to generate some offense. Both teams lit up the box score from downtown as they combined to make 14 three-pointers in the first half. A&M weren’t frightened though as they continued to dominate the offensive glass and generate second-chance points. At the break, Texas A&M led 48-42 in a high-scoring, action-packed first half.
Texas A&M continued to dominate the boards in the second half. This is the bread and butter of Aggies basketball as this allows them to get into transition and create second-chance points. Solomon Washington seemed to leave the game with a cramp in his calf and Kentucky took advantage of this as they minimized the lead. Not long after, Radford and Taylor IV took back control as they built a 14-point lead with only seven minutes remaining. Texas A&M never let Kentucky take the lead back as they will advance to the semifinals, 97-87. They should be secured to make the NCAA tournament now as they have advanced off the bubble.
Florida (#6) VS Alabama (#3)
The Tide came out sizzling as they took a quick 8-0 lead within the opening two minutes of the game and pressured Todd Golden to use an early timeout. Alabama eventually got into some foul trouble for reaching into the cookie jar too many times. This incentivized Florida to attack the paint as Alabama was inclined to stop fouling as much. The Gators went on a 21-2 run over the last four minutes remaining to grab the lead right before the half. The four Gator big men were the real difference makers as they went into halftime leading, 48-33.
Alabama continued to struggle defensively as Tyrese Samuel and company kept feasting in the paint. Normally it is not that big of an issue for the Tide as they can score with the best of them, but they could not get the ball to go through the hoop consistently. That would be the theme of the rest of the half as the Gators will advance to the semifinals, 102-88. All of the top three seeds in this tournament lost in the quarterfinals as March Madness remains unpredictable.
