SEC Tournament Opening Round Recaps
by Ryan Glenn
South Carolina Able to Avoid Bulldogs’ Bite
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The day began with No. 5E South Carolina not having much of a problem with No. 4W Mississippi State. After the Gamecocks overcame a 9-2 deficit, they never looked back. Early in the second half, the Bulldogs were able to cut the lead to 31-36. After that, however, the Gamecocks went on a 16-7 run that allowed them to cruise to the 59-44 victory.
Turnovers were a big part of this game. Mississippi State finished with 17 miscues, while South Carolina only turned it over four times. Though he had some problems with the way his team played, Coach Dave Odom was impressed on that stat.
“We had a season low number of turnovers today, four, which is almost unheard of at this time of the year,” said Odom.
The Gamecocks brought a well-balanced attack with four players scoring nine or more points. They also had 20 points from the bench; compared to the Bulldogs which had none.
Odom and his team will now face the beast of the east in Tennessee. This will be the third time they have met this season; the Volunteers won both of the regular season contests.
Kentucky Moving On After a Late Run against Ole Miss
The first half of the Kentucky/Ole Miss game seemed to have many of the Wildcat fans worried. Joe Crawford opened the game with a three-pointer, but was forced to sit on the bench after picking up his second foul less than three minutes into the contest. For most of the half, No. 3E Kentucky just could not get things going. Bobby Perry and Patrick Sparks, who had seven points apiece in the half, helped keep the Wildcats afloat heading into the locker room down 26-29.
Kentucky was able to take the lead with 17:31 left in the game, but they were not able to increase their lead by more than a few points until about the six-minute mark. That is when the Wildcats went on a 10-0 run that included a Ramel Bradley three, a Randolph Morris dunk, and Rajon Rondo nailing a long three as the shot clock hit zero. After that, the game was no longer in question. Senior Preston LeMaster was even able to hit his only three-point shot of the game with two seconds left; making the final score 71-57.
The Rebels were led by Jermey Parnell and Dwayne Curtis. Parnell led the team in scoring with 14 and had three offensive rebounds. Curtis was right behind him with 13 points and was able to bring down seven boards.
Kentucky will move on to face No. 2W Alabama in the quarterfinals. In their only meeting of the season, the Crimson Tide were able to come into Rupp Arena and hand the ‘Cats a 64-68 loss.
Commodores Able to Give the Tigers a bit of Revenge
No. 4E Vanderbilt was able to get a bit of revenge Thursday after they were knocked out in the first round of last year’s SEC tournament by No. 5W Auburn. For much of the game, it looked like it would be the same outcome as last year. The Tigers quickly jumped out to a 10-2 lead, but a few well-timed three-pointers from the Commodores kept them hanging around. Auburn was ahead the entire half, but Vandy had cut the lead to just three at the break.
Vanderbilt slowly gained ground on the Tigers and at the 16:59 mark; Alex Gordon hit a three-pointer to give them their first lead. With seven minutes left, Auburn was up 54-53 after a dunk from Rasheem Barrett. Just seconds after that, DeMarre Carroll hit a jumper that would spark a 10-2 run by the Commodores. Despite Auburn’s late comeback attempt, Nashville’s team would go on to an eventual 76-71 victory.
The ‘Dores will move on to face No. 1W LSU on Friday. Should they win that game, you might just hear the ‘bubble talk’ again.
Razorbacks Dominate ‘Dogs to end Day One of the SEC Tournament
In a rematch of two teams that met just four days ago, No. 3W Arkansas sparked by an explosive second half was able to easily defeat No. 6E Georgia 80-67.
In the first half, Arkansas shot a disappointing 2-11 from behind the arc. They were forced to do more damage inside the perimeter. Jonathon Modica finished the half with 14 points to lead the Razorbacks. Channing Toney was Georgia’s leading scorer, going into halftime down five, with 10 points.
Coach Stan Heath must have had a good halftime speech, because his Razorback squad opened the second half with a 12-3 run and did not look back. Modica was the Hog’s leading scorer with 20 points. Ronnie Brewer finished with 18.
Arkansas will now be matched-up against No. 2E Florida. They were able to defeat the Gators at home by four when they played less than a month ago.
