Auburn wins first SEC Tournament in 34 years

Auburn had their way with Tennessee on Sunday, capturing their first SEC Tournament title since 1985. The No. 5 seed Tigers blasted the Volunteers, 84-64.

Auburn also won the only regular season meeting between these two schools, beating the Volunteers 84-80 on Mar. 9 in Auburn.

On Wednesday, March 13, the SEC tournament kicks off in Nashville, Tennessee, as Kentucky looks to repeat as champs. The Wildcats topped Tennessee, 77-72, last season, but with those two being the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively, we could see the rematch in the semifinals this year.

The real story to follow at this year’s SEC tourney, however, involves the top-seeded Tigers of LSU. Head coach Will Wade was suspended indefinitely on March 8 due to his potential involvement in the FBI investigation of college basketball. The Tigers easily defeated Vanderbilt in its final regular season game, locking up the No. 1 seed. Now, LSU will have to press forward with Tony Benford at the helm as the interim head coach.

The SEC has two teams potentially vying for an NCAA tournament No. 1-seed in Kentucky and Tennessee. The Big Ten and SEC are probably battling for the final No. 1 seed (assuming Gonzaga, Virginia, and either Duke/UNC are all likely for the other three), so there’s a lot at stake this week.

South Carolina enters the tournament as the No. 4 seed, but, with its 16-15 overall record, the Gamecocks aren’t slated to make the NCAA tournament. Conversely, Florida, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State have a chance to make a run and improve their seeding for the postseason.

The top nine teams receive first-round byes and the top four teams receive double-byes to the quarterfinals. Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.

Here is the full tournament bracket and day-by-day schedule. Game times subject to change, and the second game in each session will start 25 minutes after the conclusion of the previous game. We’ll be updating it with results along the way.

Game 1: No. 12 Missouri 71, No. 13 Georgia 61

Game 2: No. 11 Texas A&M 69, No. 14 Vanderbilt 52

Game 3: No. 8 Florida 66, No. 9 Arkansas 50

Game 4: No. 5 Auburn 81, No. 12 Missouri 71

Game 5: No. 10 Alabama 62, No. 7 Ole Miss 57

Game 6: No. 6 Mississippi State 80, No. 11 Texas A&M 54

Game 7: No. 8 Florida 76, No. 1 LSU 73

Game 8: No. 5 Auburn 73, No. 4 South Carolina 64

Game 9: No. 2 Kentucky 73, No. 10 Alabama 55

Game 10: No. 3 Tennessee 83, No. 6 Mississippi State 76

Game 11: No. 5 Auburn 65, No. 8 Florida 62

Game 12: No. 3 Tennessee 82, No. 2 Kentucky 78

Game 13: No. 5 Auburn 84, No. 3 Tennessee 64