By Ron Wynn
Despite entering the SEC tournament as defending champions, few expected a sub-.500 Vanderbilt team to seriously defend its title. But the Commodores surprised everyone with a 64-48 victory over Kentucky, the team they upset last year to win the crown and NCAA berth, Friday night at Bridgestone Arena.
Tennessee, hoping for another shot at Florida, instead saw its season ended by Alabama 58-48. The defeat puts UT in jeopardy of missing the NCAAs with a 20-12 record. Alabama moves to 21-11 and faces the Gators in Saturday’s first semifinal.
Vanderbilt had its best all-round game against the Wildcats, taking command early and leading by as much as 21 points in the second half. They hit 18 of their first 27 shots from the floor, making five straight to open the second half. They shot 50 percent from three-point territory, and barely lost the rebounding battle 37-35.
They also got balanced production, with Dai-Jon Parker scoring 12 points, Kevin Bright 11, and Kedren Johnson 10. Kyle Fuller added 10 off the bench. Vandy’s defense held Kentucky to a season low in points. Archie Goodwin had 12 for the Wildcats.
Kentucky’s last lead was 6-5 early in the first half. They did go on a 10-0 run in the second half after falling behind 48-27. But after narrowing the gap to 47-37, they were held without a field goal for over five minutes. The win evened Vanderbilt’s season mark at 17-17.
While their only hope to reach the NCAA tournament is to repeat as SEC tourney champions, they’re just two games from accomplishing that goal. They face Ole Miss in the second semifinal at approximately 2 p.m.
When UT struggled earlier in the year, poor shooting was usually a culprit. The Volunteers had won nine of 10, but didn’t get the customary big games they needed from their star players against the Crimson Tide Friday.
Jordan McRae had averaged nearly 25 points (24.6) over his previous seven games. But he had a rough afternoon, making only three of 13 shots, and finishing with nine points. Trae Golden endured an even worse game, missing six of seven shots and scoring two points.
Josh Richardson tried to carry the load offensively, scoring 16 points. Jarnell Stokes had 12 points and 13 rebounds. Tennessee started quickly, making six of their first seven shots. But things then went downhill, as they only made 12 shots the rest of the game (out of 49).
Besides shooting less than 33 percent from the floor (32.1), they were just seven for 14 from the free throw line, and hit five of 23 from three-point territory. Alabama wasn’t much better, making about 42 percent (41.3) of their field goal attempts. But they made 15 of 19 from the foul line and five of 10 from behind the arc.
Levi Randolph led Alabama with 15 points. After Tennessee cut the margin to four points at 50-46, the Crimson Tide scored eight of the game’s final 10 points. A series of bad turnovers, coupled with key misses, doomed UT’s last-ditch comeback attempt.
The Florida/Alabama game will be the first semifinal at 12 noon. Sunday’s championship game also begins at 12 noon. Both semifinals and the title contest are on WKRN-2.
Photo By: Mark Humphrey/AP