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Get your popcorn ready. We have a rubber match at Bridgestone Arena this afternoon.
No. 4 seed Vanderbilt takes on No. 5 seed Tennessee for the third time this season as the Commodores play its first game at this year’s SEC Tournament on quarterfinal Friday. The first two meetings between the schools were just about what fans would expect from a heated rivalry: tightly contested, tense and full of ramifications that led to today’s game.
Tennessee got the best of Vanderbilt in the first game of the season, beating the Commodores in Memorial Gymnasium 69-65. But Vanderbilt got revenge on Tennessee’s senior day a week ago, taking down the Volunteers 86-82 in Knoxville. The win for Vanderbilt was paramount to how the Commodores were able to secure a double-bye while knocking their rivals out of double-bye contention.
That brings everything to today, where it is a fresh start for every team in college basketball this week as the calendar shifts to postseason basketball. What happened in the past does not matter today. What matters is the present. For Vanderbilt, the Commodores are hoping that a win over Tennessee helps get them firmly into the conversation for a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament next week.
Tipoff between Vanderbilt and Tennessee is set for approximately 2:30 p.m. CT on ESPN following the game between Kentucky and Florida.
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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