Upset by Mississippi State, No. 1 seed Tennessee makes quick exit from SEC Tournament
It was a short stay for the No. 1 seed at the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament.
No. 9 seed Mississippi State took down regular-season champion Tennessee 73-56 in the first game of Friday’s quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena.
Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard each scored 18 points as Mississippi State shot 55.3 percent from the floor while holding cold-shooting Tennessee to 30.6 percent.
Less than a week after its 85-81 home loss to Kentucky, Tennessee made just eight of its 33 three-point attempts. SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht finished with just 14 points, 10 points below his SEC average. Knecht was 4-of-17 from the floor, including 2-of-9 from three-point range.
Mississippi State-Tennessee box score
Tennessee shot 20.6 percent in the first half. The Vols missed 16 of their 18 three-point shot attempts over the first 20 minutes. Knecht was just 2-of-8 from the field, including 1-of-4 from three-point range. UT point guard Zakai Zeigler missed all six of his three-point attempts in the first half and finished 4-of-12 from beyond the arc.
Meanwhile, Mississippi State shot 61.5 percent in the first half. Cameron Matthews scored 12 points in the first half for the Bulldogs, who defeated the Vols 77-72 in their lone regular season meeting in Starkville on Jan. 10.
Fresh off a 70-60 victory over No. 8 seed LSU on Thursday, the Bulldogs jumped to a 15-4 lead and led by 19 points (38-19) at the break when Sha Jones followed in a miss just before the buzzer.
Tennessee got no closer than 12 in the second half. A 10-0 run cut the Bulldogs lead to 60-48 with 5:01 left. But State’s D.J. Jeffries drained a three-pointer, then converted a fast break layup to push the Bulldogs’ lead back out to 17.
Chris Jans’ team finished the game outscoring Tennessee 42-14 in the paint.
Now 21-12, Mississippi State plays the winner of No. 4 seed Auburn vs. No. 5 seed South Carolina in Saturday’s 1 p.m. ET semifinal.
Its hopes for a NCAA Tournament No. 1 seed having taken a hit, Tennessee fell to 24-8. The Vols were 14-4 in the SEC this season.
This story was originally published March 15, 2024 at 3:25 PM.
