Mississippi State-Tennessee Postgame Notes

March 15, 2009

Recap | Box Score | Quotes | Photo Gallery

Mississippi State improves to 23-12, while Tennessee falls to 21-12.
State becomes just the fourth team in SEC Tournament history and second in a row to claim the championship with four wins over four days. Georgia turned the trick last season, joining Auburn in 1985 and Arkansas in 2000. The Bulldogs earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
MSU head coach Rick Stansbury claims his second SEC Tournament title and improves to 14-9 in this event, while Tennessee's Bruce Pearl drops to 3-4.
The Bulldogs shot just 22.7 percent (10-of-44) from three-point distance over the past two games, but today it was Phil Turner's three with 1:32 remaining that handed them the lead for keeps at 59-57.
State's defense limited UT to just nine points over the final 7:30 while rallying from a 52-50 deficit. MSU held the Vols scoreless for 3:20 to begin the second half and another 4:37 toward the end.
Today's win by Mississippi State snapped a five-game losing streak to the Vols. Back on Feb. 25 in Knoxville, the Tennessee defeated Mississippi State 81-76.
The 36-36 halftime score was this tournament's first tie at intermission. State improved to 2-0 when even at the half, while Tennessee is now 1-1.
Tennessee shot a season-low 29.0 percent (20-of-69) from the field and falls to 0-9 this season when shooting below 40 percent. The Vols' previous worst was 31.7 percent (20-of-63) in a loss at Kentucky.
This was the most closely contested game of the tournament. There were 11 ties and 15 lead changes. Seven of those lead changes came in the first half, eight in the second.
Tourney MVP Jarvis Varnado extended his SEC season record shot-blocking total to 165 with six rejections this afternoon to go with 10 points and seven rebounds. Turner added his third double-double of the season with 12 points and a game-high 10 boards, while Barry Stewart scored 11 points.
The All-Tournament Team consisted of MSU's Varnado and Stewart, Tyler Smith and Wayne Chism from Tennessee, and Auburn's Korvotney Barber.
Chism led Tennessee today with 15 points, while J.P. Prince added 14 and Smith 12.
Better-seeded teams finished 8-3 in this year's tournament, and Mississippi State (W3) pulled off all three "bracket upsets" with wins over South Carolina (E2), LSU (W1) and Tennessee (E1).
Shooting in this year's tournament finished at 41.5 percent (550-of-1,326) from the field, 30.0 percent (133-of-444) from three-point distance and 71.6 percent (293-of-409) from the free throw line. The average score was 75-64. Last season in Atlanta, shooting was 45.7 percent (580-of-1,268) from the field, 34.9 percent (155-of-444) from three-point range and 70.1 percent (361-of-515) from the line. The average score last year was 79-74.
Attendance totaled 71,137 for this year's tournament after Sunday's figure of 10,093. The average for six sessions was 11,856.
This week's championship marked the 50th SEC Tournament. See you next year in Nashville!

University of Tennessee Athletics

Players Mentioned

Wayne Chism

J.P. Prince

Tyler Smith

Related Videos