SEC men’s basketball tournament schedule set. Here’s South Carolina’s path
Let postseason basketball begin.
The South Carolina men’s basketball team finished its regular season with a 93-89 overtime win Saturday at Mississippi State, cementing itself within the top five of the conference and winning 25 regular-season games for the first time in program history. However, its hopes for a double-bye in next week’s conference tournament were crushed by Kentucky’s win Saturday over Tennessee and with Auburn taking down Georgia in those respective games.
South Carolina ended its regular season in a four-way tie for second place with Kentucky, Alabama and Auburn. The SEC determines tiebreakers based on the round-robin records of the tied programs. USC’s round-robin record is 1-2.
The top four seeds all get an extra day of rest before starting play in the quarterfinals at the SEC Tournament, being held for 2024 at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
That means South Carolina — as the No. 5 seed — will have to play its first game Thursday (and not Friday) against either Vanderbilt or Arkansas. And it means the Gamecocks (25-6, 13-5 SEC) will need to win four games in four days as they go for their first Southeastern Conference tournament title in program history.
SEC men’s basketball tournament schedule
Wednesday, March 13
Game 1: No. 13 Vanderbilt vs. No. 12 Arkansas, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 2: No. 14 Missouri vs. No. 11 Georgia, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends (SEC Network)
Thursday, March 14
Game 3: No. 9 Mississippi State vs. No. 8 LSU, 1 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. No. 5 South Carolina, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends(SEC Network)
Game 5: No. 10 Ole Miss vs. No. 7 Texas A&M, 7 p.m. (SEC Network)
Game 6: Winner of Game 2 vs. No. 6 Florida, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends (SEC Network)
Friday, March 15 (Quarterfinals)
Game 7: Winner of Game 3 vs. No. 1 Tennessee, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 8: Winner of Game 4 vs. No. 4 Auburn, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends(ESPN)
Game 9: Winner of Game 5 vs. No. 2 Kentucky, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 10: Winner of Game 6 vs. No. 3 Alabama, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends (ESPN)
Saturday, March 16 (Semifinals)
Game 11: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
Game 12: Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10, begins 25 minutes after previous game ends (ESPN)
Sunday, March 17 (Championship)
Game 13: Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 12, 1 p.m. (ESPN)
This story was originally published March 9, 2024 at 8:37 PM.
