The SEC Tournament quarterfinals kicked off Friday, with 1-4 seeds playing the winners of Thursday’s matchups.
It was another good day in Music City for SEC basketball, with the top four seeds each getting the job done. In the morning session, both higher seeds had to earn the win in the second half.
Both high seeds dominated in 40 complete minutes of basketball in the nightcap and what will set up an electric semifinal Saturday.
12 games down, three games to go.
Final Scores
Auburn 62 Ole Miss 57
Tennessee 83 Texas 72
Florida 95 Missouri 81
Alabama 99 Kentucky 70
Takeaway #1: Johni Broome Ices game in final minute
Johni Broome and the 2025 SEC regular season champion Auburn Tigers were in a dogfight for much of the game. They struggled for most of the game to get into a rhythm offensively, but they got enough stops down the stretch to get the job done and move to the Semifinal on Saturday.
After a two-game losing streak, Auburn’s defense got back on track after holding the Rebels to a season-low in points with 57 and held to under 40% from the floor. Both teams struggled offensively with three minutes plus scoring droughts on both ends, with no team with the knockout punch until late.
Ole Miss stayed in the game and did a good job limiting the guys around Broome, like Tahaad Pettiford and Miles Kelly, to under double-digit days. The Rebels had the game down to three with under 30 seconds to go, but NPOY finalist Broome hit a shot with the shot clock expiring to end the game and finished with yet another double-double with 23 points on an efficient 8-14 from the floor. Broome continues his decorated campaign down on the plain, bringing home SEC Player of the Year earlier in the week.
The Rebels scored four double-figured scorers, with Dre Davis and Sean Pedulla scoring 12 points.
Denver Jones looked to be healthy after missing a game last week due to injury and had 13 points on the game with 5-8 shooting.
Ole Miss will hear its name called on Selection Sunday for the first time in 2019 in year two under Chris Beard.
Takeaway #2: Chaz Lanier’s big first half and Zakai Zeigler’s big second half propel the Vols past the Longhorns
The Texas Longhorns will now put their fate in the hands of the selection committee. Their SEC tournament run ends as the 13th seed after the Volunteers pull away in the second half to leave no doubt.
Texas kept it close in the first half despite Chaz Lanier’s 17-point half on 8-11 shooting and held Zakai Zeigler to a donut at the half. Tramon Mark hit a buzzer-beater into halftime, and the Horns could not carry that momentum out of the half. That did not last long in the second half as Zeigler exploded for 19 points on 6-7 from the floor and was the floor general and led the charge.
The Volunteers held Tre Johnson in check all game to 11 points on 3-8 scoring and did not give the freshman lottery pick any good looks from the floor. The Longhorns were held to 4-16 from downtown, and despite the monster pasteurizer slam in the second half from Kadin Shedrick, it could not spark the comeback late.
The Vols played essentially a home game and will have to continue to rely on its in-state crowd with the task at hand tomorrow.
Zeigler took over as the single-season all-time assists leader with six assists today for the senior guard.
Takeaway #3: Florida’s guards outclass Tigers
Florida Gators continued to dominate despite Walter Clayton Jr. only scoring one point in the second half, but had a 17-point first half and continued to lead the Gators. The guards played with Clayton, Alijah Martin, and Will Richard, who all had 17-plus point nights and were in complete control on the offensive end.
The Tigers would cut it down to three every time Florida would respond with a big run to keep the Tigers at bay. Tony Perkins and Anthony Robinson II carried the load offensively with 13 points each but could never really get any momentum going without Mark Mitchell.
Thomas Haugh continued to be an X-factor for Florida with 16 points, making plays on both ends of the floor.
Missouri will hear its name called, and it will be a scary matchup when the bracket is unveiled on Sunday.
Takeaway #4: Tide Rolls to semis
Despite the crowd advantage, the injury-riddled Kentucky Wildcats got run out of Bridgestone Arena by Alabama in what was the Tide’s best defensive performance of the season, holding the Wildcats to 70 and forcing 16 turnovers with 11 steals. Alabama was ice cold to start missing its first nine three-point attempts.
Labaron Philon showed why he is on NBA first-round mock drafts by being all over the floor. He scored 21 points on 8-14 shooting from the floor and was active on defense, with three steals that led to multiple runouts for layups.
Mouhamed Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson, March legends from a season ago, both had big games. Stevenson scored 16 points on 6-8 shooting from the floor. Dioubate is going through Ramadan and still put up a near double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Andrew Carr and Amari Williams carried the load, with Alabama pulling the Cats away from the three-point line to allow the bigs to combine for 34 points.
Alabama beat Kentucky thrice in the season for the first time since 2014. Florida was the first team to score 90-plus in all three games against the Wildcats.
Good news for Kentucky fans is that Lamont Butler should be ready to go by next week for the NCAA Tournament. There were not many bright spots on the night for Kentucky, with Otega Oweh leaving the game after taking a shot to the face but later returning.
Saturday’s games:
4. Tennessee vs. 1. Auburn – Noon p.m. CT
3. Alabama vs. 2. Florida – 2:30 p.m. CT