With five of its six teams making up last week’s national polls taking on each other this week, the final week of the SEC regular season proved to be a juggernaut.
No. 5 Tennessee (24-7, 14-4) put an end to talks of a potential five-way tie for the SEC regular season crown on Wednesday when the Vols secured the outright title with a win over South Carolina.
The Vols then lost on Saturday 88-81 to Kentucky despite Dalton Knecht — who was named one of 15 finalists Saturday for the Wooden Award — leading the game with 40 points. With the loss, the Vols’ odds for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament took a slight hit, although Arizona losing to USC more or less leveled them out.
REQUIRED READING: Will Tennessee be a 1 seed at NCAA Tournament? What Arizona loss means for Vols ahead of March Madness
No. 13 Kentucky (28-8, 13-5) locked up the 2-seed in this week’s SEC men’s basketball tournament with a pair of wins against Vanderbilt and Tennessee. John Calipari, who received a technical foul in Saturday’s game against the Vols, and the Wildcats bring a five-game winning streak to Nashville as Kentucky looks for its first conference tournament title since 2018.
No. 18 South Carolina (25-6, 13-5) avenged its loss to Tennessee with a thrilling overtime win over Saturday against Mississippi State behind B.J. Mack and Collin Murray-Boyles’ combined 44 points. The win for the Gamecocks set program records on multiple levels, including most regular season wins at 25.
Elsewhere, Auburn, Alabama and Florida all combined to go 4-2 in the last week of the regular season. The Crimson Tide locked up a double bye for the second consecutive season and the 3-seed over Auburn, thanks to forcing overtime against Arkansas to beat the Razorbacks in Tuscaloosa.
REQUIRED READING: SEC Basketball Tournament bracket: Full TV schedule, seedings…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/college-basketball-rankings-where-sec-101106188.html
Author : The Tennessean
Publish date : 2024-03-11 10:11:06
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