The SEC Tournament had a few surprises up its sleeve this year in Nashville, but some things went according to plan. Here’s my recap of the 2017 SEC Tourney.
Wednesday:
In day one of the SEC tourney we watched Johnny Jones and his Tigers lay yet another egg. Mississippi State came out and did what everybody in the SEC has done to LSU all season long: dominated them. The Bulldogs dominated the Tigers 79-52 with Quinndary Weatherspoon leading the way with 19 points.
Game two: This game was one of the surprises we got to see this year. Missouri knocked off Auburn in overtime at the buzzer 86-83. Brucie’s return to the SEC is not going as planned… maybe he should schedule another barbecue? Kevin Puryear was fantastic for Mizzou, though, dropping 30 points on Auburn, including the game winner in overtime. Onions!
Thursday:
The first matchup of the day was one that was pretty intriguing since the two teams are evenly matched, Georgia/Tennessee. This was an extremely hard fought game, and honestly pretty brutal to watch until the final minutes, but the Bulldogs narrowly escaped the Vols 59-57 after one of the worst final possessions I have ever seen by Tennessee. JJ Frazier led the Bulldogs once again with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Game two of the day sent Mississippi State back to reality. The Bulldogs could not handle the young backcourt out of Tuscaloosa as the Tide rolled to a 20-point victory, 75-55, behind a great performance from Dazon Ingram who had 17 points and was a perfect 7/7 from the field.
On to game three, Vandy vs A&M. A combination of Vanderbilt being hot right now and A&M having absolutely ZERO guard play did the trick as Vandy rolled 66-41 with Joe Toye leading the ‘Dores with 18 points. The question now becomes will the Aggies and Billy Kennedy get any good guards to help their 2, maybe 3, NBA big men?
The final game of the day, Missouri vs Ole Miss. The magic ran out pretty quickly for Kim Anderson and his Tigers as they got beaten 86-74 to end the Anderson era in Missouri, which is too bad in my opinion.
Friday:
Kentucky/Georgia, round 3. The last two matchups JJ Frazier has been unreal and the Wildcats barely escaped. This time Cal’s Cats came ready from the go and defeated Frazier and the Dawgs 71-60 with Isaiah Briscoe leading the Cats with 20.
Game two gave us another upset, Alabama knocked off a tough South Carolina team who really has been struggling lately. Alabama’s backcourt tandem is just too much for the Gamecocks as the Tide defeated USC 64-53, Braxton Key lead the Tide with 18 points.
Vanderbilt/Florida, another round 3, another sweep. This was hands down still the biggest surprise of the tourney, even though it did complete the sweep. I don’t think many expected Vandy to knock off the Gators a third time but the Commodores did once again beating 2 seed Florida 72-62 in OT, Riley LaChance lead the ‘Dores with 18.
Arkansas/Ole Miss was a battle until the wire. We had a 40-40 tie at the half and finished with a Arkansas victory 73-72, Daryl Macon had an off shooting night from the field but still led the team in scoring with 17, 9/10 from the line.
Saturday:
Kentucky/Alabama. Avery Johnson has something big brewing in Tuscaloosa but they just do not have enough to beat Calipari and his Cats just yet. Kentucky survived a scare from the Tide to win 79-74 with the help of late game heroics from De’Aaron Fox who finished with 28 points. Monk also had 20.
Arkansas must have seen that Kentucky score and decided they wanted a shot at their old friend Malik Monk who left the state of Arkansas for better things. The Razorbacks handled the worn-down Commodores of Vanderbilt 76-62, and they dominated them from the tip. Jaylen Barford led Arkansas with 18 points, but Kingsley was huge for them as well with 12 points, 13 boards.
Sunday:
Arkansas versus Kentucky. Are we back in the ‘90s? This matchup used to be thee matchup in the SEC when 40 minutes of hell was still a thing and Ricky P. was bringing the Wildcats back to fame. But now we’re here and we get to see this matchup again. Kentucky came out feeding big Bam Adebayo and it worked. The Wildcats dominated from the go and put the Razorbacks away before the half. The seniors from Kentucky, Willis and Hawkins, were huge for the Cats. The Wildcats knocked off the dirty Razorbacks 82-65 led by De’Aaron Fox with 18.
Tourney MVP: De’Aaron Fox. Fox saved the Wildcats in the semis with 28 points and was absolutely deserving. Would’ve been happy with Dom Hawkins getting it, but congrats De’Aaron.