With the Southeastern Conference regular season concluded, teams and fans flocked to Nashville for the SEC Tournament.
Fans clad in different hues of blue, maroon, gold and orange descended on Music City in hopes of seeing their team hoist the tournament trophy Sunday afternoon. For 13 teams, their weekends would end in disappointment.
For Florida and Missouri it was an opportunity to improve and prepare for the impending NCAA Tournament, and of course take the bragging rights of being the conference tournament champion.
For some it was the conclusion of difficult seasons and a last ditch effort to steal an automatic bid.
And for a select few — Tennessee, Alabama, Ole Miss and Kentucky — it was desperation time. A last chance to add quality wins to résumés before Selection Sunday. In the case of Ole Miss they went above and beyond, taking the judgment of the selection committee out of play by tearing through the weekend en route to a 66-63 win over Florida to win the conference championship.
The loss to Vanderbilt (16-17) torpedoed the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats’ chances of returning to the tournament. Tennessee needed a minimum of two wins to solidify its résumé but failed to notch a much-needed win over Alabama.
Tennessee (22-12) handled No. 13 seed Mississippi State in a game that was a must win but could do nothing to improve the Vols’ chances at a tournament bid.
The Vols led by as many as 19 points in the first half and carried a 16 point advantage into the locker room over the Bulldogs. Mississippi State refused to go down easily though and battled back within nine points of Tennessee in the final five minutes.
In the end, the deficit proved to be too large for the underdog as the Volunteers were able to secure a 69-53 victory to move into the quarterfinals against No. 4-seeded Alabama.
The Volunteer faithful knew the importance of the game and turned out in large numbers in hopes of seeing their team punch its ticket to the Big Dance.
Both teams had danced on either side of bubble in recent weeks, and a win was imperative to the Vols and Crimson Tide. Alabama prevailed.
Tennessee struggled shooting and was frustrated by the stingy Tide defense, being held to just 32.1 percent from the floor.
Alabama held Jordan McRae to just nine points, Golden to two points and Jarnell Stokes to 12.
“They did a good job of pressing, getting it up the court and out of my hands,” Golden said. “I thought they did a good job defensively.”
Alabama advanced to play top-seeded Florida and make an argument for its NCAA résumé but were unable to come away with a win.
On the other side of the bracket, Ole Miss defeated Vanderbilt on the strength of a strong second half and the inside presence of Murphy Holloway. The Rebels’ win setup a showdown with the Gators and an opportunity for the team from Oxford, Miss., to play their way into the NCAA field.
They did just that.
Ole Miss rose to the occasion, taking down the Gators 66-63 to earn the SEC’s automatic bid and winning the school’s second SEC Championship — the first since 1981.
“We knew this was possible if we stayed together and we focused on the things that we could control,” Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy said after the win.
