They’re off and running in Nashville. The SEC Tournament got under way Wednesday night at Bridgestone Arena as Texas A&M and Vanderbilt met in a matchup of the Nos. 12 and 13 seeds.
The Commodores won 79-68. It was their first victory since 2017 in a conference tournament that’s been held in their backyard quite a bit lately. It was also somewhat fitting that the Aggies would be first to go. They had played only 17 games coming in because of the affects of COVID-19 on the team.
Auburn was banned from playing in this year’s tournament because of NCAA rules violations. So only 13 of the league’s 14 teams are in the field.
Georgia (14-11, 7-11 SEC) is one of the 12 teams remaining and will play Missouri (15-8, 8-8) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the third game of the day. Kentucky-Mississippi State will start play at noon in the 8 seed vs. 9 seed game, followed by the Commodores vs. fifth-seeded Florida. South Carolina versus Ole Miss will serve as the nightcap, getting away somewhere around 10 p.m. All of Thursday’s games can be seen on the SEC Network.
Georgia enters the tournament in a bit of slog. The Bulldogs lost five of seven down the stretch, robbing any momentum that was created during the modest three-game winning streak that preceded. But coach Tom Crean and his charges are exuding optimism heading into this game and harbor plans to shock the college basketball world this week.
“Our goal is to win the SEC Tournament,” sophomore guard Sahvir Wheeler said.
That’d do it.
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