Alabama will meet Tennessee in the semifinals of the SEC men’s basketball tournament on Saturday.
The game will tip off at 12 p.m. CT and will air on ESPN.
Fourth-seeded Tennessee beat fifth-seeded Florida, 78-66, in the quarterfinals Friday. Top-seeded Alabama trounced ninth-seeded Mississippi State, 85-48, in one of the most lopsided games in SEC tournament history.
Tennessee forward John Fulkerson left Friday’s game after taking an elbow to the head by the Gators’ Omar Payne, who was ejected. Vols coach Rick Barnes said Fulkerson was brought to the hospital for observation and added that his “gut feeling” was that he would be surprised if Fulkerson would be able to play against Alabama.
The winner of Saturday’s game will play in Sunday’s championship game at noon. The Tide has not advanced past the semifinals since 2002, and has not won the SEC tournament since 1991.
Alabama and Tennessee met once in the regular season, when Alabama upset the then-No. 7 ranked Vols in Knoxville on January 2.
“That was one of the first games where we were down and didn’t know quite how to respond,” Barnes said. “I think they’ve gotten better. I’d like to think we’ve gotten better.”
It was Alabama’s first road win over a top-10 ranked opponent since 2004.
“We all remember the first game,” guard Santiago Vescovi said. “It was not good for us. I think still for everybody on our team it’s still in the back of our heads. We’re still thinking about that. I think that can help us for a motivation for the next game. We know it’s going to be a battle, but we just got to take pride in every single possession.”
Added forward Yves Pons: “I think it’s a good challenge. Really good team. They beat us the first time. We have to take revenge. I can’t wait to play tomorrow. We’ll be ready for them.”
The last tournament meeting between the Tide and Vols came in 2013, when Alabama won in the quarterfinals.
Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.
