After just a day and a half in Nashville, Tennessee’s hopes of becoming back-to-back SEC Tournament champions are over.
Five-seed Tennessee was defeated by four-seed Missouri by a score of 79-71 in the quarterfinals of the tournament located in Bridgestone Arena.
Similarly to their previous matchup in Knoxville, Missouri’s offense lit up the scoreboard on Friday afternoon. The Tigers finished with 79 points after putting up 86 points back in February.
After scoring just 30 points in the first half and only hitting four of their first 15 shots from the field, Missouri came back with a vengeance in the second half, scoring 49 points on Tennessee’s defense. This is the second time in the last three games that Tennessee has let up 49 points in a half, going back to the regular-season finale against the Auburn Tigers on the road.
With the SEC Tournament now in the rearview mirror, Tennessee will turn its attention to Selection Sunday as they wait for their spot in the NCAA Tournament.
After the contest against Missouri, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes, guard Jahmai Mashack, and forward Olivier Nkamhoua met with the media in Nashville.
Barnes addressed several topics including Missouri’s offense, Tennessee’s defense, the Vols’ confidence on offense, and playing without star guard Zakai Zeigler in the lineup. Mashack and Nkamhua, meanwhile, spoke about what they saw on the floor this afternoon and how Tennessee can improve on their mistakes before the NCAA Tournament.
More from RTI: Three Quick Takeaways – Missouri Outshoots Tennessee In SEC Tournament
Check out everything that Barnes, Nkamhoua, and Mashack said below.
