1986 SEC men's basketball tournament

The 1986 SEC men's basketball tournament took place from March 5–8, 1986 at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, home to the University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team. Kentucky won the SEC tournament championship title and the SEC's automatic bid to the 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball tournament by defeating Alabama 83–72.^[1][2][3]

1986 SEC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	1985–86
Teams	10
Site	Rupp Arena Lexington, Kentucky^[1]
Champions	Kentucky^[1] (15th title)
Winning coach	Eddie Sutton (1st title)
MVP	John Williams (LSU)
Attendance	148,005
Television	Lorimar Sports Network (First and Second Rounds, and semifinals) NBC (Championship Game)
SEC men's basketball tournaments ← 1985 1987 →

1985–86 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 3 Kentucky †	17	–	1		.944			32	–	4		.889
Alabama	13	–	5		.722			24	–	9		.727
Auburn	13	–	5		.722			22	–	11		.667
Florida	10	–	8		.556			19	–	14		.576
LSU	9	–	9		.500			26	–	12		.684
Georgia	9	–	9		.500			17	–	13		.567
Vanderbilt	7	–	11		.389			13	–	15		.464
Tennessee	5	–	13		.278			12	–	16		.429
Ole Miss	4	–	14		.222			12	–	17		.414
Mississippi State	3	–	15		.167			6	–	22		.214
† 1986 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

Coverage of the first round, the quarterfinals and semifinals was produced and regionally syndicated by the Lorimar Sports Network, the sports broadcasting arm of Lorimar-Telepictures. The semifinals of this tournament marks the LSN's final broadcast before going defunct; Jefferson-Pilot Teleproductions would win syndication rights to SEC Basketball before the following season. The championship game in this tournament was nationally televised by NBC, through its sports division, NBC Sports.

Bracket

^[2][3]

	First Round Wednesday, March 5 Lorimar Sports Network					Second Round Thursday, March 6 Lorimar Sports Network					Semi-Finals Friday, March 7 Lorimar Sports Network					Finals Saturday, March 8 NBC
	8	Tennessee	56
	9	Mississippi	73
						9	Mississippi	69
						1	#3 Kentucky	95
											1	#3 Kentucky	61
											5	LSU	58
						5	LSU	72
						4	Florida	66
																1	#3 Kentucky	83
																3	Alabama	72
						6	Georgia	59
						3	Alabama	77
											3	Alabama	77
											10	Mississippi State	65
						2	Auburn	63
						10	Mississippi State	65
	7	Vanderbilt	54
	10	Mississippi State	62

References

1. 2014-2015 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Media Guide, page 133
2. 1985-86 Southeastern Conference Schedule and Results | College Basketball at Sports-reference.com
3. 1985-86 Southeastern Conference Season Summary | at Sports-reference.com