Tennessee basketball’s draw is officially set at next week’s SEC Tournament in Nashville as the regular season comes to a close on Saturday night.
The Vols are the four-seed in the conference tournament, earning a double-bye for the second straight season and the fourth time in the last five years.
Rick Barnes’ 10th Tennessee team opens up postseason play on Friday afternoon when they’ll face one of 12-seed Vanderbilt, 13-seed Texas or five-seed Texas A&M. Vanderbilt and Texas will face one another on Wednesday afternoon with the winner facing Texas A&M on Thursday.
Tennessee will play in the second game on Friday afternoon at approximately 3:30 p.m. ET and 2:30 p.m. CT. ESPN is broadcasting the Vols’ first game at the SEC Tournament.
If the Vols get past their first opponent then they’ll likely face No. 1 Auburn, the regular season champion on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals. Eight-seed Ole Miss, nine-seed Arkansas and 16-seed South Carolina are the three other opponents Tennessee could possibly face the semifinals.
The top teams on the other side of the SEC Tournament bracket are two-seed Florida, three-seed Alabama, six-seed Kentucky and seven-seed Missouri.
Tennessee finished the regular season 25-6 (12-6 SEC) and will likely be a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament later this month. The Vols suffered a blowout loss at Florida but otherwise was competitive in every game, losing in the final seconds at Auburn, Vanderbilt and Ole Miss while losing competitively twice to Kentucky.
The Vols’ first loss against Kentucky was their only defeat at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center this season. They earned marquee victories over both Florida and Alabama.
Check out the full SEC Tournament bracket here.
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