The 2019 SEC Tournament bracket is now set. All the seeds are locked in, and we know all the potential match-ups in the tournament.
So where are the Vols seeded? When will they play? Who will they face-off against? We’ll walk through all of that below.
With Tennessee’s 84-80 loss on the road to Auburn on Saturday and Kentucky’s 66-57 victory over Florida at home, the Vols slipped down to the No. 3 seed and the Wildcats jumped up to the No. 2 seed. Both teams remain on the bottom part of the bracket and will face each other in the semifinals if they make it that far.
With the No. 3 seed, the Vols have a double-bye in the tournament, which means they won’t play their first game till the quarterfinals on Friday. The Vols also slip down to the late tip-off time that day, playing their game 25 minutes after the end of Kentucky’s game that tips off at 7:00 PM Eastern. Tennessee will likely tip-off around 9:30 PM Eastern on Friday, March 5th.
Tennessee’s quarterfinals game on Friday will be televised on the SEC Network.
Here’s a look at the full bracket:
As you can see, the Vols have three potential teams they could play on Friday. Vanderbilt will play Texas A&M on Wednesday, and the winner of that game will take on sixth-seeded Mississippi State on Thursday. The winner of that game will take on the Vols.
This season, Tennessee is undefeated against all three of those teams. The Vols defeated Vanderbilt twice, winning 88-83 in overtime in Nashville and 58-46 in Knoxville. Tennessee topped Texas A&M by a score of 93-76 on the road on February 2nd, and they just beat Mississippi State this past week on Senior Night by a score of 71-54.
In UT’s history, they’re 9-1 all-time against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament and 8-3 vs. Mississippi State in the tournament. The Vols have never played Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.
Tennessee falling to the third seed might actually have been a blessing in disguise for them. Kentucky will have to take on the winner of the Ole Miss-Alabama game for their first game of the SEC Tournament. The Vols struggled against both the Tide and Rebels this season and escaped both of those games with narrow victories, beating Ole Miss 73-71 on the road and defeating Alabama 71-68 at home.
All the SEC Tournament games will be played in Nashville in Bridgestone Arena.
