After an 83-72 win over the Texas Longhorns in the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals Friday in Nashville, Tennessee Basketball is back in action Saturday afternoon. This time, the Vols will try to get revenge on the league’s regular season champions to advance to the title game.
UT, ranked No. 8 in the AP Poll and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll, will take on Bruce Pearl and the Auburn Tigers. As the No. 4 seed in the tournament with 12-6 regular season conference record, Rick Barnes’ team comes into this game at 26-6 overall.
Auburn, ranked No. 3 in both polls and the top seed in the tourney, is coming off a 62-57 win over the Ole Miss Rebels. They had a 15-3 regular season record and are 28-4 overall. Here is all the information you need for this matchup between the two teams.
Tennessee Volunteers vs. Auburn Tigers
When: Saturday, March 15 at 1 p.m. ET
Where: Bridgestone Arena; Nashville, Tenn.
TV: ESPN
Live stream: WatchESPN
Radio: Vol Network (Click here for affiliates); Auburn Sports Radio (Click here for affiliates)
Listen online: UTSports; AuburnTigers.com
In their only meeting during the regular season, Auburn beat Tennessee Basketball at their place 53-51. Johni Broome, their best player, played that game hurt but still scored 16 points off the bench to lead his team to victory. Zakai Zeigler missed a potential game-winning three at the end for the Vols.
Ironically, while Barnes faced the team that fired him on Friday in the event, Pearl is facing the team that fired him Saturday. Of course, the Vols fired Pearl for NCAA issues, while Barnes was fired simply because Texas wasn’t satisfied with his production;.
As of right now, Auburn is projected a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament while the Vols are projected to be a 2-seed. It’s unclear how much the Selection Committee will value the SEC Tournament matchups, but if they do, a 1-seed could be in play for Tennessee Basketball if they win Saturday.
The winner of this matchup will advance to the SEC Tournament Championship Sunday afternoon to take on the winner between the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Florida Gators. All four teams who got double-byes in the tourney won Friday.
