Day One Recap of the 2024 SEC Tournament
Nashville, TN - March 13th will signal the start of the 2024 SEC tournament taking place in downtown Nashville. In the first matchup of the tournament, Vanderbilt (#13) will host Arkansas (#12). The tournament is taking place in Vanderbilt’s home arena so there could be some advantage for the commodores. The second matchup of the first round will be between Missouri (#14) and Georgia (#11). Missouri have yet to win a conference game as they are 0-18 in SEC play this year.
Vanderbilt (#13) VS Arkansas (#12)
This was easily the game of the day as we got our first glimpse of overtime this postseason. Jerry Stackhouse made sure his guys were ready to play as they played with a high motor and lots of intensity at the beginning of the game. Vanderbilt hung with Arkansas the entire first half, even grabbing and maintaining the lead. They went into the break leading 41-27. Even with Tyrin Lawrence getting banged up in the beginning stages, Vanderbilt simply dominated the first half.
Arkansas roared back as they narrowed down the Commodores lead to single digits within the first five minutes of the second half. Tramon Mark led the Razorbacks’ comeback scoring 18 points. Stackhouse was visibly upset with his team after they blew their 14-point lead and let Arkansas come back. Vanderbilt ultimately hit a 15ft mid-range jumper to send the game into overtime. Historically, the better team dominates in extra time and the Razorbacks did just that. Arkansas won the game 90-85 after the overtime period was finished. They will now advance to play the five-seed, South Carolina in the second round of the SEC tournament.
Missouri (#14) VS Georgia (#11)
Both teams struggled to score points in the opening minutes of the first half. Both teams had ample opportunities to score but neither team wanted to convert. Georgia ended up finding a rhythm as they grabbed a double-digit lead with roughly nine minutes left to play in the first half. Missouri went on a small run to end the half only down 30-31 to the Bulldogs. Missouri continued their run into the second half as they quickly built up a seven-point lead which seemed insurmountable considering neither offense was scoring loads of points. It wasn’t until the last five minutes of the game that Georgia made a run to take the lead. They went on a 10-0 run in the last four minutes to pull off the win, 64-59. Missouri goes winless against SEC opponents on the year and Georgia will advance to play Florida in day two of the SEC tournament.
