After having to fight a very difficult team of Ole Miss Rebels to win the SEC Tournament 77-72 quarterfinals, Tennessee Lady Vols’ third place is in the semifinals of the event for the first time since 2016. Now, they will face the team against which he won his biggest win of the year during the regular season in a big rematch.
Ranked No. 14 on the AP Poll and No. 16 on the Coaches Poll, Kellie Harper’s team will face the South Carolina Gamecocks in Greenville, SC, at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Just over two weeks ago, when Dawn Staley’s team ranked second in the national ranking, they suffered a nasty 75-67 defeat to UT in Knoxville, Tennessee, at the Thompson-Boling Arena. This is your chance for revenge.
Coming from a 75-63 victory over Alabama Crimson Tide on Thursday, South Carolina enters this game in 7th place in both polls and on a mission after costing themselves the regular season SEC Championship with the last Sunday’s loss to Texas A&M Aggies. Here is all the information you need for the Rocky Top SEC tournament clash.
Matchup
Tennessee Basketball volunteers
16-6 (9-4)
South Carolina Gamecocks Basketball
20-4 (14-2)
Saturday, March 6
6:30 pm ET
Live broadcast: WatchESPN
Radio: Lady Vol Network
Listen online: UTSports; Gamecocks Online
More of Everything for Tennessee
Obviously, losing the SEC Championship of the regular season and losing to UT will make South Carolina even more motivated to play this game. This puts a lot of pressure on Lady Vols, who is currently in a three-game winning streak after ending the regular season with wins over the Missouri Tigers and Auburn Tigers.
Although they fought Ole Miss, there is not much to worry about. The Rebels had won two consecutive games against ranked teams, the Kentucky Wildcats and the Arkansas Razorbacks, and lost by just one to UT in the regular season. It is a young and dangerous team well trained.
USC will be much more dangerous, and if Lady Vols could beat them again on a neutral court, it would be an incredible feat. What is most impressive, however, is that after defeating Ole Miss, they will now have spent two full years under Harper, without loss to teams not belonging to the caliber of the NCAA Tournament.
The winner of this game will face the winner of the other game in the SEC Tournament semifinal between Georgia Bulldogs and Texas A&M Aggies. UGA won The Lady Vols in the regular season, and A&M won the only match between the two. This game is scheduled for 4 pm Eastern time.