Mississippi State's Nick Weatherspoon holds his hip after going up for a layup and landing hard on the court during the second half of the Bulldogs' game against Tennessee in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament Friday in St. Louis. Weatherspoon was taken off the court on a stretcher.ST. LOUIS - Until 19:14 remained in Tennessee's eventual 62-59 Southeastern Conference tournament victory over Mississippi State on Friday night, it was all about basketball.
It was about State attempting to keep its season-long dream alive, however fragile that dream, to reach the NCAA tournament.
It was also about Tennessee proving itself worthy of the SEC regular-season co-championship trophy it received before the game for tying Auburn for that title.
And with 19:14 to go, the Vols clinging to a 31-28 lead, the game's outcome was uncertain enough to fill both teams with hope that their ambitions might be realized by the final horn.
But then Mississippi State guard Nick Weatherspoon was suddenly lying motionless under the MSU basket, just out of bounds, having tumbled to the court 12 seconds earlier. Only play hadn't stopped then. The Volunteers were heading the other way and Weatherspoon was moving about just outside the in-bounds line under the goal, having apparently hurt his hip.
But then the Vols lost the ball and the Bulldogs headed back down the floor toward their fallen teammate, hoping to cut a five-point deficit to three.
That's when everything appeared to go horribly wrong. Suddenly, there was older brother Quinndary Weatherspoon soaring toward the goal, only to have his shot blocked by Tennessee's Kyle Alexander. Both men fell toward Nick Weatherspoon, Alexander appearing to accidentally plant his large Nike on the fallen player's throat. The younger Weatherspoon almost instantly froze, no extremity so much as twitching.
As Tennessee coach Rick Barnes noted later of the mood change inside ScottTrade Arena: "You could feel the whole building fill with tension over it."
Within a few minutes a cart carried Nick Weatherspoon off the court, strapped to a stretcher. His neck had been immobilized. The crowd nervously cheered and applauded. The game continued, though smothered in worry.
"I just needed to play for him," Quinndary would say afterward. "I tried to play with a lot of energy, like he plays with."
Imagine the difficulty in that alone. You've just watched your brother carted off the basketball floor, quite possibly seriously injured. You want to be there for your teammates and to make your brother proud. But you also want and need to be with your brother, to make sure he's OK, to make sure he'll one day soon be back out there with you, bringing that energy.
"I really didn't think it was all that bad at first," Quinndary said of the initial fall. "But then he got stepped on, and I was worried."
The Tennessee players were worried, too. You could see it in their faces and their body language. This wasn't normal. This wasn't forgettable. This was scary. Really, really scary.
But they're also athletes. Proud athletes. Physically and mentally tough athletes who never would have made it this far up the athletic ladder without that ability to play on.
"You've still got a game to play," said UT's Grant Williams, who was named the SEC coaches' player of the year early in the week. "You've still got to compete."
So both teams did. Hard. And well. Tennessee would lead by as many as nine. Mississippi State twice fought back to close within two inside the final minute, the last time with 42 seconds to play.
Then UT's Admiral Schofield, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds for the winners, missed a 3-pointer. Mississippi State got the ball. The Bulldogs' Lamar Peters, who led all scorers with 22, drove toward the basket, kicking it out to Xavian Stapleton, who fired a triple that would have given the Bulldogs the lead.
Only it missed.
And UT won, advancing to today's semifinal against the Arkansas-Florida winner.
Soon after the game, someone asked Quinndary, who somehow scored six of his 17 points after Nick's injury, if he'd heard any news.
"We've heard he's moving well and talking," he said. "He even asked what the score of the game was."
As if that mattered at that point.
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com