Down 15, No. 6 Alabama rallies past Tennessee in SEC semis
6 Alabama rallied from a big deficit in the final 17 minutes to beat Tennessee 73-68 Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinals. The Volunteers trailed 69-68 when Davonte Gaines missed two foul shots with 25 seconds left. Yves Pons’ 3-pointer got Tennessee within 69-68 with 41.4 seconds left, but Quinerly added two free throws and Ellis two more with 3.7 seconds left to seal a tense game. Alabama: The Crimson Tide have thrived from long distance all season and weren’t about to change, even without Primo. It didn’t start well but ended better as Ellis hit a big 3 to help the Tide finish 7 of 28.
The Latest: Texas A&M men's hoops has 7th postponement
It’s the seventh consecutive postponement for A&M, which hasn’t played since beating Kansas State 68-61 on Jan. 30 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The SEC has built in March 5-7 to make up games postponed because of COVID-19 protocols, but no makeup date has been determined. Kentucky’s Dec. 29 SEC game against South Carolina was also postponed. The school said Saturday that the Tar Heels will host Marquette on Wednesday, which comes after they had a fourth game postponed in Atlantic Coast Conference play. AdLast week the school added a nonconference game against Northeastern two days ahead of time after a game against No.
Pons scores 17 as No. 18 Tennessee beats No. 15 Kansas 80-61
18 Tennessee never trailed Saturday in beating 15th-ranked Kansas 80-61 in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. This was just Tennessee's second win all-time against Kansas in six games. David McCormack led the Jayhawks with 17 points, Marcus Garrett added 15 and Jalen Wilson had 10. Kansas shot only 7 of 26 through the first 20 minutes and kept from being blown out by hitting 11 of 12 at the free throw line. Tennessee: The Vols have proven they can play stingy defense, and they dominated on the boards 38-23, scoring 14 second-chance points.
Alabama stuns No. 7 Tennessee 71-63 in physical battle
The Crimson Tide (7-3, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) turned a one-point halftime lead into a double-digit advantage midway through the second behind Petty’s trio of 3s and two more long-range makes by Joshua Primo. Primo and Herbert Jones finished with 11 points, and Jahvon Quinerly scored 10. Tennessee (7-1, 1-1) struggled from the field the entire game, hitting 21 of 66 shots (32%). Alabama's 31-29 lead at the break happened with the Crimson Tide shooting 39% (12 of 31), while Tennessee struggled shooting 33% (11 of 33). UP NEXTAlabama: The Crimson Tide will be home Tuesday to face Florida, which beat LSU on Saturday.