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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Cameron Matthews and Josh Hubbard each scored 18 points, and ninth-seeded Mississippi State dominated fifth-seeded Tennessee 73-56 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference tournament.
This win should take the Bulldogs (21-12) firmly off the NCAA Tournament bubble with their second win over No. 1 seed Tennessee this season. They will play the winner of No. 15 South Carolina and No. 12 Auburn in the semifinals on Saturday, their first semifinal since winning this event in 2009.
Mississippi State, which ended the regular season on a four-game skid, never trailed the SEC’s top seed and the Vols pulled out to a 2-2 tie. The Bulldogs also held Dalton Knecht, the AP SEC Player of the Year who averaged 25.5 points in the league, to 14 points.
Tennessee (24-8) damaged its hopes of earning the first No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in program history with a second straight loss.
The regular-season champion Vols are losers in the quarterfinals for the second straight year after winning this tournament in 2022.
Zakai Zeigler scored a game-high 20 points and Jahmai Mashack added 10 for Tennessee.
The Volunteers had a lot of orange in support and fans desperate to give them energy. However, they struggled to shoot no matter how open they looked at the basket. Mississippi State, which beat LSU in the tournament opener, seemingly could not fail.
The Bulldogs shot 62.5% from the floor and led 38-19 at halftime with Shawn Jones Jr. ending the dominant start with a dunk to ring the buzzer after a rare miss by a teammate. They held Tennessee to a season-low in first-half points, three fewer than the last time these teams met.
Mississippi State led by as many as 23 midway through the second half. When the Vols got within 60-48 with 10 straight points, DJ Jeffries hit a 3-pointer and then a layup to quell Tennessee’s hopes of a comeback.
BIG PICTURE
Mississippi State: The Bulldogs are one of 16 teams with at least two wins over top-10 teams during league play, and this was another after beating Tennessee in January.
Tennessee: Knecht pulled the Vols out of some poor first-half performances during the regular season with big runs all by himself. This time, he was 2-for-9 in the second half. The Vols are now 10-4 against the Bulldogs under coach Rick Barnes.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Mississippi State was swept by South Carolina, including in the regular season finale 93-89 in overtime. The Bulldogs split with Auburn and each team won on their own home court.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.