KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – As the SEC’s outright regular season champion, the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team will be the No. 1 seed in the 2024 SEC Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.
The official bracket released by the league office late Saturday night features the Volunteers as the top seed, with second-seeded Kentucky, third-seeded Alabama and fourth-seeded Auburn also earning double-byes. Those three teams tied with fifth-seeded South Carolina for second place in the league, with each going 13-5.
Tennessee, which posted a 14-4 ledger in league action, will open play Friday at 1 p.m. ET, live on ESPN, with a quarterfinal matchup against either eighth-seeded LSU or ninth-seeded Mississippi State. The Tigers tied for seventh in the league with a 9-9 mark, while the Bulldogs—the lone team in the league Tennessee did not defeat in the regular season—finished solely in ninth at 8-10.
The victor of Friday’s quarterfinal contest will play Saturday at the same time on the same network. Sunday’s title game will also be at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Since the SEC Tournament returned from a 26-year hiatus in 1979, this is the first time Tennessee is the lone No. 1 seed. During the divisional format for the tournaments from 1992-2011, the Volunteers earned the East No. 1 seed three times: 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Tennessee has reached the SEC Tournament final in three of the past five events, finishing as the runner-up in 2018 and 2019 before winning the crown in 2022.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on Instagram and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
