AJ Storr scored 17 points, Ilias Kamardine had 14 of his 16 points in the second half and 15th-seeded Ole Miss still has never trailed in the Southeastern Conference tournament after an 80-79 victory over second-seeded Alabama in the quarterfinals in Nashville on Friday.
Malik Dia added 14 points and Patton Pinkins added 13 for the Rebels (15-19), who saw a 13-point lead with 13 minutes remaining dwindle to one before holding off the Crimson Tide.
It was the Rebels’ second consecutive close call, as they lost all but two points of a 23-point lead in a 76-72 second-round win over Georgia. Next up, Ole Miss will face third-seeded and 17th-ranked Arkansas in the semifinals.
Labaron Philon Jr. scored 28 points and made five 3-pointers, Aden Holloway scored 18 and Aiden Sherrell added 14 for the No. 15 Crimson Tide (23-9), who had won nine of 10.
No. 4 Florida 71, Kentucky 63
Alex Condon collected 22 points and 10 rebounds as the Gators recorded a wire-to-wire win over the Wildcats.
Xaivian Lee chipped in with 11 points, six assists and three steals for the top-seeded Gators (26-6), who outrebounded Kentucky 50-29 and held the ninth-seeded Wildcats to 35.6% shooting despite 18 fastbreak points. The Gators will meet fourth-seeded and 22nd-ranked Vanderbilt in the semifinals Saturday.
Former Gator Denzel Aberdeen led Kentucky (21-13) with 17 points and three assists. Kentucky’s leading scorer, Otega Oweh, had just 10 points on 5-of-18 shooting, while its best 3-point shooter, Collin Chandler, was just 1 of 3 from distance and fouled out with six points.
No. 15 Arkansas 82, Oklahoma 79
Darius Acuff Jr. hit five 3-pointers, including a key trey down the stretch, en route to 37 points as the third-seeded Razorbacks held off the 11th-seeded Sooners.
Trevon Brazile had 12 points and 11 rebounds for Arkansas, which has won eight of its past 10 games. Acuff made 1 of 2 free throws with 10 seconds left before Oklahoma’s Nijel Pack missed a long 3-point attempts in the waning moments.
Pack scored 19 points, Derrion Reid and Davis each totaled 17 and Mohamed Wague added 13 for the Sooners (19-15), who had won six in a row.
No. 22 Vanderbilt 75, No. 25 Tennessee 68
Duke Miles scored 30 points and Tyler Tanner added 19, leading the fourth-seeded Commodores to a win over the fifth-seeded Volunteers.
Both guards grabbed six rebounds, while Miles added five assists and three steals and Tanner had four assists. Miles shot 11 of 14 from the floor and made 4 of 5 3-point attempts for Vanderbilt (25-7), which beat its in-state rival for the second time in seven days.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie paced Tennessee (22-11) with 21 points and four assists, while Nate Ament and J.P. Estrella added 12 points each. Ament, who scored 27 against Auburn on Thursday in his return from a leg injury, grabbed 11 rebounds but shot 1 of 13 from the field.
