We are officially on our way to March Madness with the NCAA Tournament almost here, and that means conference championships are officially here. One of the biggest games of the conference championships so far was the game between the Tennessee basketball program and Vanderbilt in Nashville. It was a back-and-forth game, but the Commodores pulled away late. The Volunteers were also at full strength.
It was a game that came down to the wire, but Vanderbilt survived late and held Tennessee on defense, winning 75-68 to advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals. The difference was that the Commodores got 30 points from Duke Miles, and then Tyler Tanner added 19 points of his own. They are moving on to face Florida on Saturday.
It was the second time that Tennessee lost in a week to Vanderbilt after losing to the Commodores on the final day of the college basketball regular season at home, 86-82.
Ja'Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 21 points. Nate Ament, who had 27 points in the second round, missed his first eight shots. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. J.P. Estrella added 12 points, and Jaylen Carey added 10. Gillespie hit back-to-back 3s to put Tennessee up 45-38 with 14:51 left. Vanderbilt answered with 10 straight points and never trailed again. Miles started the spurt, knocking down two free throws, and finished it with a 3.
Vanderbilt led by as much as eight. However, Ament kept the Vols in the game and from the game getting out of hand, but the Commodores hit their final eight free throws to clinch the victory. They made 16 of 18 at the line in the second half and shot 84.6% for the game.
One big reason Tennessee kept it close was a 46-34 rebounding edge, including 23 offensive boards, which it turned into 24 second-chance points.
It remains to be seen whether this game will affect Tennessee or Vanderbilt's seeding heading into the NCAA Tournament. However, if Vanderbilt keeps winning, they might be able to jump a team like Texas Tech and get to the four-seed line after how they have played since JT Toppin's ACL injury.
On the other side, it seems like Tennessee is safely a five-seed, unless Wisconsin keeps winning, because they still have some big games on deck in the Big Ten tournament.
