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NCAA Berth All That Matters For MSU

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By MICK ELLIOTT

melliott@tampatrib.com

Published: March 15, 2009

TAMPA - Insulted, belittled and ridiculed for a lack of quality throughout the regular season, Southeastern Conference men's basketball did little to change critical opinion Sunday afternoon in the SEC Tournament final.

Congratulations, Mississippi State Bulldogs. You were not as bad as the Tennessee Volunteers. As a result, the Bulldogs' 64-61 victory earned the SEC champion's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.

"Only thing I know is we don't have to sit here and worry about being on a bubble," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. "We busted that bubble. So that's all that matters."

In front of a crowd of 10,093 in the St. Pete Times Forum, Mississippi State prevailed by converting 36 percent of its shots (17 of 47) because Tennessee hit 29 percent (20 of 69). The Bulldogs won with 17 turnovers because the Vols committed 14 of their own and had nine shots blocked - six swatted away by MSU center Jarvis Varnado.

The Bulldogs were led by guard Phil Turner with 12 points; he hit two of five shots from the field. Barry Stewart (one of eight but 8-for-9 from the foul line) and Ravern Johnson (five of 12) each added 11. Varnado, a 6-foot-9 shot-blocking machine and tournament MVP, added 10 points and seven rebounds to his blockfest.

Tennessee was led by center Wayne Chism's 15 points, but he shot only five of 17 from the floor. J.P. Prince added 14 and All-SEC guard Tyler Smith hit two of 14 shots on the way to 12 points.

"Obviously, we shot a low, probably a season low, probably a low in my career as far as field-goal percentage is concerned when we have been playing so very, very well offensively," Vols coach Bruce Pearl said. "Varnado was a factor on the inside, and our inability to get out and run in transition.

"Mississippi State was very patient, and spread us out and controlled tempo, which has a way of forcing tremendous impatience on the opponent. As a result, we rushed, we took a lot of bad shots, and as a result struggled terrifically offensively."

Mississippi State, who went into the tournament as the Western Division's No. 3 seed, improved to 23-12. Tennessee, the preseason conference favorite, fell to 21-12.

During one second-half possession, Mississippi State got off six shots without scoring, finally turning the ball over with a shot-clock violation.

Most confounding, however, was the final 11 seconds, weirdness that began with Tennessee's Prince going to the foul line for two shots and the Vols trailing 62-60.

After draining the first attempt, Prince's second clanked off the rim but was last touched by Varnado. With refreshed hope and down by one, Tennessee set up under its own basket with 9.6 seconds remaining only to be whistled for a five-second violation when Smith could not inbounds the ball against the Bulldogs defense.

So Mississippi State takes possession, inbounds the ball off a UT defender and out of bounds, before trying again and having Dee Bost step on the baseline.

All that and 9.3 seconds remained on the clock.

With yet another chance, Tennessee inbounded to Chism, who caught the ball airborne and made a pass that was intercepted by the Bulldogs' Turner.

After being fouled, Turner made both free throws for a 64-61 lead with eight seconds remaining. A desperate 3-point to tie by UT's Cameron Tatum missed badly.

"I can promise you we didn't lose no TV viewers neither," Stansbury said. "Because we made it interesting."

For everyone still watching.

Reporter Mick Elliott can be reached at (813) 281-2534.

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