Vols topple in SEC tourney; No
Mar 15, 2024, 03:51 PM ET NASHVILLE, Tenn.– The fifth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers run out time to fix problems costing them games before the NCAA tournament.The Mississippi
State Bulldogs likely have actually played their method into that field with their most current big win.Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard each scored
18 points, and the ninth-seeded Bulldogs dominated Tennessee 73-56 Friday in the SEC tournament quarterfinals.This triumph should push the Bulldogs(21-12 )strongly off the bubble with their 2nd win over the SEC’s regular-season champs this season. They will play the winner of No. 15 South Carolina and No. 12 Auburn in the semifinals Saturday, their first semifinal given that winning this event in 2009. Editor’s Picks 1 Associated Mississippi State, which ended the routine season on a four-game skid, never ever tracked with the Vols
handling one tie at 2-2. The Bulldogs held Dalton Knecht, the AP SEC Player of the Year who averaged 25.5 points in league play, to 14 points.”We just dictated,”Bulldogs forward D.J. Jeffries said.Mississippi State coach Chris Jans said he understood his group needed to be incredibly aggressive.”Actually felt our only chance was
to strike them in the mouth,”the second-year coach said.
“We needed to come out and assault them, simply get our durability in the game and see if we could rattle them
a bit.”Tennessee(24-8 )harmed its hopes for the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA competition in program history with a second straight loss.” We’re not delighted with a great deal of things that happened today, things that shouldn’t have taken place,”coach Rick Barnes said of his Vols. “There’s absolutely nothing that did happen that we can’t fix.”Tennessee can be found in aiming to add a competition title to its regular-season title, but rather leaves as a loser in the quarterfinals for a second straight year after winning this competition in 2022. Zakai Zeigler had a game-high 20 points, and Jahmai Mashack included 10 for Tennessee.The Volunteers had great deals of orange for support with fans desperate to give them energy. Yet they had a hard time to shoot no matter how open the look at the basket. Mississippi State, which beat LSU in its tournament opener, relatively could not miss.”It simply felt great silencing all that noise, having our fans root for us,”Matthews said.The Bulldogs shot 62.5%from the floor and led 38-19 at halftime with Shawn Jones Jr. rounding off the dominating start with a dunk to beat the buzzer after an unusual miss by a colleague. They held Tennessee to a season low for points in the very first half, 3 less than the last time these teams met.Mississippi State led by as much as 23 midway through the second half.
When the Vols got within 60-48 with 10 straight points, Jeffries hit a 3 and after that a layup to smother Tennessee’s hopes of a comeback.BIG PICTURE Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are among 16 groups with at least 2 victories over top-10 teams during league play, and this was another one after beating Tennessee in January.
They outscored the Vols 42-14 in the paint.Tennessee: Knecht dug the Vols out of a few bad first-half performances throughout the regular season with huge runs by himself. This time, he was 2 of 9 in the second half. The Vols are now 10-4 against the Bulldogs with Barnes.UP NEXT Mississippi State was swept by South Carolina, including in the regular-season finale 93-89 in overtime. The Bulldogs split with Auburn with each group winning on its home floor.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.