Tennessee landed the 9-seed for the 16-team SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament this week at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina.
The bracket was released after the Sunday slate of games in which No. 11 Tennessee was upset by unranked Georgia in the regular season finale from Knoxville.
The loss dropped the Lady Vols behind Vanderbilt in the SEC standings with the Commodores owning the tiebreaker from a one-point win over Tennessee in Nashville back in January. The difference in the swap means that eight-seed Vanderbilt will now have a bye with its tournament starting on Thursday, while nine-seed Tennessee will be the highest-ranked of the eight teams to play on opening day on Wednesday.
Kim Caldwell’s squad will take on No. 16 Texas A&M on Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. ET, the first game of the entire tournament. After suffering back-to-back losses against Kentucky and Georgia to close down the regular season, the Lady Vols will need to get up early to get back on track in the first round of the tournament.
Trailing Tennessee is 10-seed Mississippi State, 11-seed Florida, 12-seed Georgia, 13-seed Arkansas, 14-seed Auburn, 15-seed Missouri, and 16-seed Texas A&M.
Tennessee’s path to the Final 4 of the SEC Tournament on Saturday goes through 16-seed Texas A&M, 8-seed Vanderbilt, and 1-seed South Carolina. The Gamecocks were rewarded with the 1-seed in the tournament thanks to a legitimate coin flip from SEC commissioner Greg Sankey on Sunday.
Texas, the losing side of Sankey’s coin toss, was given the 2-seed for the upcoming tournament.
🚨 The Bracket.
🔗https://t.co/vhesX5HlIP #SECWBB x #SECTourney pic.twitter.com/G6iveQnHb4
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) March 3, 2025
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Tennessee went 21-8 in the regular season with eight wins and eight losses in SEC play. The Lady Vols’ key win on the season was a landmark victory over No. 5 UConn in Knoxville in early February.
The Lady Vols rattled off a four-game win streak in mid to late February with wins over Auburn, Ole Miss, No. 18 Alabama, and Florida but hit a two-game losing streak to close the regular season with losses to No. 15 Kentucky and Georgia.
Tennessee handled Texas A&M in Caldwell’s first SEC game with a 91-78 win over the Aggies in Knoxville on Jan. 2 as guard Jewel Spear led the way with 20 points. The Lady Vols will be looking for revenge if they make their next two rounds, though.
Tennessee fell to Vanderbillt by one point in Nashville on Jan. 19 and lost to South Carolina, 70-63, just two games later in Knoxville.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider on YouTube for postgame press conferences from Kim Caldwell and the Tennessee players during the SEC Tournament.
