Beyond that, there are plenty of other noteworthy games on tap. Auburn and Michigan State already advanced in their respective conference tournaments, while Houston and St. John’s will also vie for the top seed line in the NCAA tournament.
Marquette is maintaining its lead with Stevie Mitchell hitting a 3 for a 27-17 lead. The Golden Eagles are shooting 5-of-11 (46%) from long range thus far.
And another one! Kam Jones sinks another 3 to put Marquette ahead, 20-9, at the 14:07 mark of the first half. David Joplin followed with two free throws to extend the Golden Eagles’ lead to 13 points. They’re on an 8-0 run.
Kam Jones off to scorching start
Kam Jones is hot to start off this game. He’s hit two 3-pointers in addition to two layups to tally an early 10 points for Marquette, lifting them to a 12-5 lead.
St. John’s won both regular season matchups with Marquette
St. John’s went 2-0 versus Marquette during the regular season, winning 70-64 and 86-84 in overtime. However, the Golden Eagles are 6-0 against the Red Storm in Big East tournament play
The St. John’s band had an early start on Friday, appearing on the “Today” show to perform at Rockefeller Plaza.
Getting blown out by Tennessee wouldn’t have helped Texas’ chances with the selection committee. And really, the Longhorns were never in Friday’s SEC quarterfinal game, despite what the final score might indicate. They didn’t play like a team whose postseason was at stake.
The Vols move on to play Auburn, who defeated Ole Miss earlier on Friday, in Saturday’s semifinal at 1 p.m. ET. Tennessee lost a close game in their regular season matchup, 53-51.
Texas’ Chendall Weaver rolled his left ankle after grabbing an offensive rebound and looked like he might have to come out of the game.
Weaver down on the floor. Appears to be a left ankle injury. Doesn’t look like he’ll be going back in soon.
However, he stayed in and made two free throws to cut Tennessee’s lead to 75-65 with 3:28 left in the second half.
Texas is showing a bit of life, but it’s likely too late. A ferocious Kadin Shedrick dunk over two defenders pulled the Longhorns to within 75-63, but only four minutes remain in the game.
Make that a 14-point lead for the Vols. A 3-point play from Chaz Lanier followed by a 3-pointer by Jordan Gainey are pushing the Longhorns further behind.
Chaz Lanier converts an and-1 off a mid-range jumper.
Jordan Gainey then drains a three.
Tennessee has pushed its lead to double-digits, 61-49, with 11:39 remaining in the game.
Mark leads the Longhorns with eight points, followed by Jordan Pope’s seven. Meanwhile, Chaz Lanier has 17 points for Tennessee at halftime on 8-of-11 shooting (2-of-3 from 3), while Jahmai Mashack added eight.
Texas is shooting 56% from the floor, including 50% (4-of-8) on 3s. That’s probably keeping them in the game, but can it be sustained in the second half?
Tre Johnson has only two points for Texas at the 7:18 mark of the first half. Despite that and Chaz Lanier’s hot game thus far, the Longhorns are only down by six, 28-22.
It is disheartening that they run nothing for Tre Johnson . They have got to run sets that get him open or have a second option off of it . He’s standing in the corner or 25 feet away at the top of the key.
Johnson averaged 20.1 points per game this season, shooting 39% on 3s.
Tennessee starting off hot in front of their home state crowd.
Viols off to a great start shooting 60% from the field (9-15) Nashville native Chaz Lanier has 17 points including two three pointers! @WVLTSports@wvlt
It’s the Chaz Lanier show for Tennessee so far. He has 13 of the Vols’ 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Texas-Tennessee is underway
The battle over which school is the real UT begins in Nashville…
Tennessee won the first meeting with Texas this season, 74-70.
FINAL: Memphis 83, Wichita State 80
Memphis outlasts Wichita State in the AAC quarterfinals, 83-80.
The Tigers had a 72-61 lead with 6:34 remaining in the second half, but the Shockers wouldn’t go away and got to within 77-74 with 54 seconds left. But PJ Haggerty effectively put the game away, knocking down a jumper for a five-point margin with 32 seconds remaining.
Haggerty finished with 42 points, tying an AAC tournament record. He added eight rebounds and four assists. Dain Dainja followed with 18 points.
Bijan Cortes led Wichita State with 19 points, four rebounds and five assists. Xavier Bell added 18 points, keeping the Shockers in the game down the stretch.
FINAL: Auburn 62, Ole Miss 57
Auburn is on to the SEC tournament semifinals after a tough 62-57 win over Ole Miss.
Johni Broome finishes with 23 points and 15 rebounds for the Tigers, while Sean Padulla and Dre Davis each scored 12 for the Rebels
Auburn faces the winner of this afternoon’s Texas-Tennessee quarterfinal tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.
Two Jaylen Murray free throws cut the Auburn lead to 60-57. But Johni Broome may have sunk the dagger with a spinning shot in the post to give the Tigers a five-point lead with 11 seconds remaining in regulation.
Broome is just a beast down the stretch. Still don’t understand how defenders don’t anticipate him going left more. @SECUnfiltered
