NASHVILLE - Dru Smith made two free throws with 15.2 seconds left as Missouri held off Georgia, 73-70 on Thursday night at Bridgestone Arena, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament.
The seventh-seeded Tigers (16-8) will face eighth-ranked, second-seeded Arkansas (21-5) on Friday night.
Missouri was up 62-50 against the 10th-seeded Bulldogs (14-12) but nearly blew its lead by failing to make a field goal after Jeremiah Tilmon's layup with 6:24 remaining. The Tigers missed their final six shots but made all nine free throws within the final five minutes.
Xavier Pinson added 17 points and Kobe Brown 16 for Missouri, while Tilmon finished with 10.
Georgia, which lost for the third straight game, trailed 69-67 with 19.8 seconds remaining when Toumani Camara went to the foul line and missed both free throws. Missouri's Smith hit his free throws, then Pinson added two more for the final margin.
Sahvir Wheeler led Georgia with 14 points, Camara finished with 13 and K.D. Johnson had 12.
Pinson beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer to trim Missouri's deficit to 33-32 after a first half when both teams went through scoring droughts longer than five minutes. Georgia led 33-27 after making six straight shots before Pinson's basket.
The youthful Bulldogs, the only SEC team not to miss a game because of COVID-19 or weather this season, cost themselves in this matchup by going 10-of-16 on free throws. They only had one more turnover than Missouri but were outscored 19-9 off those mistakes.
Florida 69, Vanderbilt 63: Tre Mann scored 22 points as the fifth-seeded Gators (14-8) held off 12th-seeded Vanderbilt, snapping a two-game skid coming into the tournament and setting up a quarterfinal with No. 4 seed Tennessee (17-7), which will be the second game between the teams in six days.
Noah Locke scored 13 points for Florida, and Tyree Appleby added 12 off the bench.
Vanderbilt (9-16) lost to Florida for the third time this season and sixth straight time in this series.
Scotty Pippen Jr. led the Commodores with 23 points, making all 10 of his free throws. D.J. Harvey and Trey Thomas each had 12 points.
The Commodores, who won only three league games in the regular season, had their chances for a second SEC win within 24 hours. Pippen pulled Vanderbilt within 64-63 with a pair of free throws with 1:40 left, but Mann hit a jumper with 53 seconds to go,and Thomas missed a 3 for Vandy with 31 seconds remaining as the Gators held on.
Florida appeared ready to cruise, up 34-22 at halftime after scoring the final eight points of the first period.
Thomas keyed an 11-0 spurt with three consecutive 3s for Vanderbilt, the last giving the Commodores their first lead since the opening minutes at 55-54 with 8:39 remaining.
Appleby put Florida ahead to stay with two free throws with 7:13 left at 58-57.
Mississippi State 74,Kentucky 73: Iverson Molinar scored eight of his 21 points in the final 3:07 to erase a five-point deficit, and Mississippi State held off Kentucky.
The ninth-seeded Bulldogs were just 3-of-14 from 3-point range until Molinar hit from behind the arc on two straight possessions to retake the lead at 72-71 - after leading by 15 earlier in the half. Molinar had a 3-point attempt roll off the rim on their next possession, and Olivier Sarr gave eighth-seeded Kentucky a 73-72 lead at 1:18.
Molinar, an 81% free-throw shooter, made two with 7.1 seconds left for a one-point lead. Davion Mintz dribbled it down the court and found a hot-shooting Dontaie Allen on the wing, but the shot bounced off the rim.
Mississippi State (15-13) advances to face top-seeded and sixth-ranked Alabama. The Bulldogs lost both of the regular-season meetings, by eight and five points.
Kentucky (9-16), needing the SEC tournament title to make the NCAA bracket, was outscored 36-12 in the paint in the first half, when the Bulldogs finished with a 29-15 advantage in rebounds.
Abdul Ado, a 6-foot-11 senior, scored 12 first-half points for Mississippi State, and forward Tolu Smith had nine with seven rebounds. Ado made all six of his shots as the Bulldogs shot 57.6% while holding Kentucky to 32.4%.
Allen, a freshman, led Kentucky's second-half comeback with 20 of his 23 points and five of his six 3-pointers after the break.
Smith finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Ado added 12 points and nine rebounds for Mississippi State. D.J. Stewart had nine points, seven rebounds and 10 assists.
Mintz had 16 points and eight assists and Sarr added 14 points for Kentucky.
Ole Miss 76, South Carolina 59: Jarkel Joiner scored a game-high 18 points as one of three players in double figures for the sixth-seeded Rebels, who didn't need to do much in the second half after beginning it with a 15-point advantage over the 11th-seeded Gamecocks.
Romello White added 17 points, seven rebounds and three blocks for Ole Miss (16-10), and Devontae Shuler had 15 points with five assists and a pair of steals. Joiner made all six of his free throws, part of a 15-for-19 showing at the line for the Rebels.
Jalyn McCreary scored 15 points and blocked three shots for South Carolina (6-15), which got 14 points from Wildens Leveque and 12 from AJ Lawson.