The Mississippi Rebels, the SEC Tournament's seventh seed, upset the second-seeded Tennessee Volunteers in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, 77-72, a shocking result that could alter the landscape of the NCAA tournament. They will face the winner of Vanderbilt-Georgia in the semifinals. You can view the full bracket here.
The Rebels knew they had very little chance of making the NCAA tournament without a deep run in the SEC tournament, and they certainly put every ounce of effort they had into continuing their season. They harassed the heavily favored Volunteers into bad shots all night, especially down the stretch. They didn't play especially well on offense, but played just insane defense. Tennessee shot 27.7 percent from the field, an astoundingly low rate.
The motor for the Vols was Jerome Maymon, who grabbed 17 rebounds, 10 of which were on the offensive glass, though there were enough misses to go around. He fouled out with about three minutes to go in overtime. The hero, however, was Skylar McBee, who banked in a three-pointer with mere seconds left on the clock in regulation to send the game into overtime. Once in overtime, he was really the only Volunteer making a positive impact, hitting clutch three-pointers to shrink the Rebels' lead from seven to four on two occasions. He scored 15 points, all on three-pointers, and he has a sweet mustache.
The story of this game, really, was the Rebels' hustle. It seems cliché, but they simply wanted this one a little more. Jarvis Summers was monumental in the clutch, finishing the game with 17 points, and Reginald Buckner, before fouling out with less than a minute left in the overtime, had 14 points, nine rebounds and did a good job negating, at least somewhat, Maymon's contributions on the glass.
For more on these two teams, visit Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion and Tennessee blog Rocky Top Talk. For more on the SEC Tournament, stay withthis StoryStream, visit Team Speed Kills.
There are 0 Comments. Add Yours.
Shortcuts to mastering the comment thread. Use wisely.
C - Next Comment
X - Mark as Read
R - Reply
Z - Mark Read & Next
Shift + C - Previous
Shift + A - Mark All Read
Comment Settings
Live comment alert: Hide it!
Comments for this post are closed.