NASHVILLE — Johni Broome had 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead 12th-ranked, fourth-seeded Auburn to an 86-55 romp over 15th-ranked, fifth-seeded South Carolina in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament Friday at Bridgestone Arena.
Auburn (25-7) routed South Carolina (26-7) by 40 points in their lone regular-season meeting on Feb. 14. The Tigers, who hosted that matchup, led by as many as 32 this time after being excited about finally getting to play their first game at this tournament.
Not that coach Bruce Pearl, whose team earned a double bye as one of the top four seeds, was surprised.
“I think the people are wondering why we were so excited about playing,” Pearl said. “I don’t know if that should even be a question. … We try to always be excited about playing and respecting our opponent. We recognize that we need to make plays on both ends of the floor.”
Chaney Johnson scored 11 points, and K.D. Johnson added 10 for Auburn. The Tigers will play in the first semifinal at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday against ninth-seeded Mississippi State (21-12) — a 73-56 winner in Friday’s first quarterfinal against top-seeded Tennessee, which won the regular-season title this year.
The Volunteers (24-8) entered the 14-team SEC bracket ranked fifth in the AP Top 25 and as a potential No. 1 seed for the 68-team NCAA field that will be revealed Sunday night. Their second loss of the season to the Bulldogs could be trouble in that regard.
South Carolina — playing its second game of the SEC tourney, having cruised against 12th-seeded Arkansas on Thursday — trimmed its deficit to 10 points twice against the Tigers. Auburn answered and continued to build its offensive momentum to lead 46-26 at the break. The second half was much of the same, with Auburn dominating offensively and defensively.
“Man, Coach always tells us now is the time to go on a run … make shots,” Broome said. “That is how you advance in the tournament, the NCAA tournament, and how you win games.”
B.J. Mack’s 14 points paced South Carolina, with Zachary Davis adding 10.
Auburn has been the toughest challenge for South Carolina offensively this season, but Mack was equally impressed with the Tigers’ defensive performance.
“They really try to pressure the ball,” Mack said. “That is really the main thing for them. They try to rattle you by getting all up in your face.
Auburn shot 49.3% from the field while holding South Carolina to 28.1%. The Tigers dominated in the paint, outscoring the Gamecocks 42-22 there, and on points off turnovers with a 17-2 edge.
“It was just a tough day at the office for us, that’s for sure,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said. “Auburn’s got a really good team. They are aggressive. They feed off of energy and momentum.
“They played well. They competed really hard. Our guys competed. They just didn’t play well. At this time of the year, that means they make you go home.”
Paris received a six-year contract extension worth $26 million earlier Friday. Now he can start prepping for an NCAA tournament berth.
AP photo by John Bazemore / Kentucky forward Zvonimir Ivisic reacts after a foul was called against the Wildcats during the team's quarterfinal game against Texas A&M at the SEC tournament Friday in Nashville.Texas A&M 97, Kentucky 87
Wade Taylor IV scored 32 points as the Aggies upset ninth-ranked Kentucky in the second upset of the day at the SEC tourney.
The seventh-seeded Aggies (20-13) posted their fifth straight win and reached the league semifinals for the third time since joining the SEC and the second time in three seasons. The Aggies, who lost the tourney final in 2016 and 2022, will play sixth-seeded Florida in Saturday’s second game at Bridgestone.
In addition to Taylor’s big game against second-seeded Kentucky (23-9), the Aggies got 23 points from Tyrece Radford, 17 from Manny Obaseki and 11 from Solomon Washington. The Aggies beat Kentucky for the second time this season, needing overtime for their 97-92 triumph at home on Jan. 13.
Not on Friday night.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Wildcats that had been the SEC’s longest coming into this tournament. Now the Wildcats, whose 31 titles have set such a standard this event is often called the Kentucky Invitational, are going home still looking for their first league tourney crown since 2018.
Antonio Reeves, Kentucky’s leading scorer this season with an average of 22.2 points entering Friday, was limited to 18 minutes before fouling out and finishing with 13 points. Rob Dillingham led Kentucky with 27 points, and Reed Sheppard added 14.
The Aggies jumped out with eight of the first nine points to help quiet the Kentucky faithful who filled much of Bridgestone Arena. Then they kept knocking down 3s, shooting better outside the arc than inside.
Taylor led the way in a game that felt much more like a tennis match, with both teams sprinting up and down the court, and Texas A&M led 48-42 at halftime.
“He just has an elite-level IQ off the floor,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams said of Taylor. “But he has just as high of an IQ as a player. And he understands time scoring momentum arguably as well as anybody I’ve ever been around. He obviously has the ability to score, but he kind of has a vibe for, ‘Should I score? Should I shoot?’”
Kentucky led only twice, both times by only a point. Reeves hit a free throw in the opening minute, then Sheppard finished off a steal with a fast-break layup for a 16-15 edge at 13:15. Washington answered with a 3, and the Aggies never trailed again, sealing the game by hitting nine of their final 10 free throws.
Coach John Calipari said his Wildcats didn’t pass the ball the way they had been during their winning streak.
“When the ball stops, we’re not the same team,” Calipari said. “Go 1-on-5, you can’t make a play that way. We haven’t for weeks. Today we kind of did. … But they deserved that game the way they played. Again, I mean, we give up 97. How many games you going to win giving up 97 points?”
AP photo by John Bazemore / Alabama forward Nick Pringle (23) and Florida forward Alex Condon (21) battle for a rebound during their teams' SEC tournament quarterfinal Friday in Nashville.Florida 102, Alabama 88
There was a theme on the third day of the SEC tournament, when the top four seeds finally joined the fray.
The favorites were going down, and they were going down hard.
Auburn wound up being the sole survivor of the bunch, and the quarterfinals were closed out by the sixth-seeded Gators (23-10) erupting against 19th-ranked, third-seeded Alabama, which swept the SEC titles a year ago on its way to being the NCAA tournament’s overall No. 1 seed.
Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points to lead Florida past the Crimson Tide (21-11), whose ouster ensured the first time the SEC’s top three seeds all lost their tournament openers since 1983. That tournament was played in Birmingham, Alabama, where Georgia won the title and wound up reaching the NCAA Final Four.
Zyon Pullin added 19 points, Tyrese Samuel had 18, Alex Condon 12 and Will Richard had 10 for the Gators, who are in the league semifinals for the first time since 2019 and the second time since winning the program’s most recent SEC tournament title 2014. The Gators have won the tournament four times.
“Alabama’s a great team, but we beat them pretty comfortably tonight, and I thought it was a great effort from our group,” Florida coach Todd Golden said.
Mark Sears led Alabama with 22 points, Aaron Estrada added 17, Nick Pringle finished with 12 and Grant Nelson had 11.
The Tide scored the first eight points. Florida tied it at 17 and again at 31, and then the Gators seized control with a 21-2 run to finish the half and take a 48-33 lead into the locker room.
The upset loss came the same day Alabama announced coach Nate Oats had signed a new contract.
“Obviously, we’d like to be playing tomorrow, playing for an SEC Tournament championship, but we’re in the NCAA tournament,” Oats said Friday. “You know, the 13 years before we got here, they’d only played two. This will be four straight for us, so we’ve got the program headed in the right direction.”
The Tide will learn their seed Sunday, but whatever it is, Oats knows the next loss of the season is also the last.
“We’ve got to be better,” Oats said. “I’ve got to do a better job. Maybe I probably should’ve called a timeout in the middle of that six minutes there at the end of the half.”
The Gators started the second half where they left off, scoring the first four points and avoiding another slow start.
“Obviously a concerning start going down 8-0 in the first two minutes,” Golden said of the Gators’ slow start. “But after that, I thought we played fantastic the rest of the way.”
Florida led by as much as 82-58 on its way to scoring 100 points against Alabama for a second straight game between the teams.
Oats said his players have to decide how bad they want to win a national championship, which means playing defense for a full 40 minutes. The Tide were eliminated in the Sweet 16 a year ago.
“You decide to take 24 minutes off on the defensive end, it’s going to be hard to beat anybody in the NCAA tournament,” he said.
The Gators split during the regular season with Alabama, losing 98-93 in overtime in Tuscaloosa and winning 105-87 in Gainesville. The Gators advanced to the quarterfinals with an 85-80 victory over Georgia in the second round Thursday.