2016 SEC men's basketball tournament

The 2016 Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament was a postseason men's basketball tournament for the Southeastern Conference held at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee March 9–13, 2016.

2016 SEC men's basketball tournament
Classification	Division I
Season	2015–16
Teams	13
Site	Bridgestone Arena Nashville, Tennessee
Champions	Kentucky (30th title)
Winning coach	John Calipari (4th title)
MVP	Tyler Ulis (Kentucky)
Attendance	105,799
Television	ESPN and SEC Network
SEC men's basketball tournaments ← 2015 2017 →

2015–16 SEC men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 15 Texas A&M	13	–	5		.722			28	–	9		.757
No. 10 Kentucky †	13	–	5		.722			27	–	9		.750
South Carolina	11	–	7		.611			25	–	9		.735
Vanderbilt	11	–	7		.611			19	–	14		.576
LSU	11	–	7		.611			19	–	14		.576
Ole Miss	10	–	8		.556			20	–	12		.625
Georgia	10	–	8		.556			20	–	14		.588
Florida	9	–	9		.500			21	–	15		.583
Arkansas	9	–	9		.500			16	–	16		.500
Alabama	8	–	10		.444			18	–	15		.545
Mississippi State	7	–	11		.389			14	–	17		.452
Tennessee	6	–	12		.333			15	–	19		.441
Auburn	5	–	13		.278			11	–	20		.355
Missouri^*	3	–	15		.167			10	–	21		.323
† 2016 SEC tournament winner ^*Ineligible for postseason play due to self-imposed postseason ban. Rankings from AP poll

This year's tournament involved only 13 of the league's 14 teams. On January 13, 2016, Missouri, then being investigated by the NCAA for rules violations that occurred under the tenure of former head coach Frank Haith, announced that it would not participate in any postseason play this season.^[1] As a result, the #11 seed in the tournament was awarded a first-round bye, leaving the #12 seed–#13 seed game as the only game to be played on March 9.

Seeds

Seed	School	Conference record	Overall record	Tiebreaker
1	Texas A&M‡†	13–5	24–7	1–0 vs. Kentucky
2	Kentucky‡†	13–5	23–8	0–1 vs. Texas A&M
3	South Carolina†	11–7	24–7	2–0 vs. LSU/Vanderbilt
4	LSU†	11–7	18–13	1–1 vs. South Carolina/Vanderbilt
5	Vanderbilt#	11–7	19–12	0–2 vs. South Carolina/LSU
6	Georgia#	10–8	17–12	2–0 vs. South Carolina
7	Ole Miss#	10–8	20–11	0–1 vs. South Carolina
8	Florida#	9–9	18–13	1–0 vs. Arkansas
9	Arkansas#	9–9	16–15	0–1 vs. Florida
10	Alabama#	8–10	17–13
11	Mississippi State#	7–11	14–16
12	Tennessee	6–12	13–18
13	Auburn	5–13	11–19
‡ – SEC regular season co-champions, and tournament No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. † – Received a double-bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a single-bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the SEC Tournament.

Schedule

Game	Time*	Matchup^#	Final score	Television	Attendance
First round – Wednesday, March 9
1	7:00 pm	#12 Tennessee vs. #13 Auburn	97–59	SEC Network	9,787
Second round – Thursday, March 10
2	12:00 pm	#8 Florida vs. #9 Arkansas	68–61	SEC Network	12,270
3	2:30 pm	#5 Vanderbilt vs. #12 Tennessee	65–67
4	6:00 pm	#7 Ole Miss vs. #10 Alabama	73–81		11,750
5	8:30 pm	#6 Georgia vs. #11 Mississippi State	79–69
Quarterfinals – Friday, March 11
6	12:00 pm	#1 Texas A&M vs. #8 Florida	72–66	SEC Network	15,222
7	2:30 pm	#4 LSU vs. #12 Tennessee	84–75
8	6:00 pm	#2 Kentucky vs. #10 Alabama	85–59		18,049
9	8:30 pm	#3 South Carolina vs. #6 Georgia	64–65
Semifinals – Saturday, March 12
10	12:00 pm	#1 Texas A&M vs #4 LSU	71–38	ESPN	19,108
11	2:30 pm	#2 Kentucky vs #6 Georgia	93–80
Championship – Sunday, March 13
12	12:00 pm	#1 Texas A&M vs #2 Kentucky	77–82^OT	ESPN	19,613
*Game times in CDT. # – Rankings denote tournament seed

Bracket

	First round Wednesday, March 9 SEC Network					Second round Thursday, March 10 SEC Network					Quarterfinals Friday, March 11 SEC Network					Semifinals Saturday, March 12 ESPN					Championship Sunday, March 13 ESPN
											8	Florida	66
						9	Arkansas	61			1	Texas A&M	72
						8	Florida	68								1	Texas A&M	71
																4	LSU	38
											12	Tennessee	75
						12	Tennessee	67			4	LSU	84
	13	Auburn	59			5	Vanderbilt	65													1	Texas A&M	77
	12	Tennessee	97																		2	Kentucky	82*
											10	Alabama	59
						10	Alabama	81			2	Kentucky	85
						7	Ole Miss	73								2	Kentucky	93
																6	Georgia	80
											6	Georgia	65
						11	Mississippi State	69			3	South Carolina	64
						6	Georgia	79

* – denotes overtime period

See also

• 2016 SEC women's basketball tournament

References

1. "Major violations found at Missouri; penalties imposed by school". ESPN.com. January 13, 2016. Retrieved January 14, 2016.