SEC Tournament 2016: Round 2 Scores, Updated Bracket, Quarterfinals Schedule

After Wednesday's play-in started things off with a slow roll, the 2016 SEC tournament was full steam ahead in Round 2.     

An entire day of games filled up the slate Thursday, beginning in the early afternoon and stretching well past sundown. While still consisting largely of the SEC's bottom rung, there were a few teams hoping to boost their tournament resumes with wins.

Vanderbilt, Florida, Ole Miss and Georgia still have their gazes on extending their seasons past this weekend, but losses Thursday would likely end that journey. Vanderbilt entered the day ranked 23rd in the nation by Ken Pomeroy but without a seat at the Big Dance table, per ESPN's Joe Lunardi. Florida, which got things underway with a matchup against Arkansas, had the best odds of the four as a "next four out" candidate.

With that in mind, let's take a look at how Round 2 shook out in Nashville, Tennessee.

Tennessee 67, Vanderbilt 65

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Vanderbilt's chance at an NCAA tournament berth almost certainly ended Thursday, as Tennessee pulled off a 67-65 upset over the Commodores in a hard-fought matchup.

Wade Baldwin IV's last-second attempt to keep the Commodores alive wound up falling short, as the ball was still in his hands as the final ticks went off the clock. The loss drops Vanderbilt to 19-13, and with a lack of elite wins on their resume, the Commodores are likely headed to the NIT.

Tennessee won despite shooting 39.7 percent from the floor. Detrick Mostella came through huge for the second straight game, scoring 18 points off the bench. Mostella now has 35 points in two SEC tournament games, having turned in a stellar performance against Auburn one day prior.

Robert Hubbs III, who was the only Volunteers player to make half of his shots, added 10 points off the bench. Armani Moore (14 points) and Admiral Schofield (12 points) were the other two Tennessee players in double figures. Moore has scored at least 10 points in his last eight games, while Schofield has reached a level of odd consistency; the freshman has exactly 12 points in his last four contests.

Tennessee pulled ahead to a 34-22 halftime lead thanks to some cold Vanderbilt shooting and wound up holding on late despite a hard Commodores push. The two sides made the same exact amount of field goals (25), but the Volunteers' 11-6 free-throw advantage wound up giving them the edge. 

Baldwin scored a team-high 13 points while adding eight assists and six rebounds. Damian Jones (12 points), Matthew Fisher-Davis (12 points) and Joe Toye (10 points) were the other players in double figures for the Volunteers.

Tennessee moves on to play LSU Friday.

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Moore spoke of Baldwin's shot, per ESPN.com: "I didn't know the shot didn't count at the time, but I was just thinking about it like, 'Man, we got to play another five minutes.' But I was just glad that it didn't count."

Volunteers coach Rick Barnes expressed his excitement: "I'm just so excited for these guys, our seniors. They played their hearts out. ... I don't know what else you could ask from these guys here coming in."

Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings was disappointed, saying, "It's a case of wanting to play well, almost wanting to play well too badly.

Florida 68, Arkansas 61

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Kasey Hill scored a season-high 18 points, and Dorian Finney-Smith added 13 points as Florida held on for a hard-fought 68-61 win over Arkansas.

The Gators did not trail the entire second half despite nearly their entire roster struggling from the field. Only one Florida starter (Devin Robinson) even made one-third of his shots, and none of the Gators was a 50 percent shooter. As a unit, the starting five shot 11-of-38 (28.9 percent) from the field. 

Luckily, Hill waited until it counted to have one of his best games of the season. The junior guard pushed his way into the teeth of the Razorbacks defense throughout, getting to the free-throw line a game-high nine times. He also shot a solid 6-of-10 from the floor and added five assists. Florida offered a GIF of Hill making his way into the lane:

John Egbunu came through with another solid game off the bench, scoring eight points and adding nine rebounds. The sophomore center was an anchor to Florida's defensive effort, offering toughness and shot-altering ability inside.

Arkansas finished the game shooting just 36.1 percent from the floor, including a 2-of-12 rate from three-point range. Dusty Hannahs almost single-handedly carried the Razorbacks offense, scoring a career-high 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting. He was one out of just two Razorbacks players to make half of their shots and one out of two to get in double figures.

Forward Moses Kingsley, who had 10 points and 14 rebounds, was the other double-digit scorer. The Razorbacks only got a grand total of five points from their bench, all coming from sophomore guard Anton Beard.

Florida moves on to play Texas A&M Friday. The Gators lost their only regular-season matchup by three points in College Station.

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Florida coach Mike White thought his team scraped by, per ESPN.com: "We did enough the second half defensively, stepped up and made a few big shots to get us that first win. You can't do something special in a tournament like this, obviously, unless you win the first one. And we took care of business."

Arkansas coach Mike Anderson wasn't pleased with his team's offense: "We played good enough defense, I thought, holding Florida to 68 points. But on the other end, you've got to be able to put the ball in the hole."

Alabama 81, Ole Miss 73

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Alabama kept its NCAA tournament hopes alive with a victory over Ole Miss in the second round. Four players scored in double figures with Retin Obasohan leading the way with a team-high 17 points—all in the second half. Riley Norris added 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Arthur Edwards and Justin Coleman each had 15.

The Crimson Tide overcame a 39-point effort from Ole Miss senior Stefan Moody, who tied the second-best scoring effort in SEC tournament history, per ESPN.com.

Alabama hit 12 of 24 three-pointers on the night to help overcome a dreadful 13-of-28 performance at the free-throw line. In the end, field-goal shooting was the biggest difference in the game as Alabama connected on 52.8 percent of its shots, while the Rebels made only 38.8 percent.

Following a 76-69 road victory over the LSU Tigers on Feb. 17, the Crimson Tide improved to 16-9 and looked to be on the bubble of the NCAA tournament. However, losses in four of their last five games of the regular season ended those hopes as they were nowhere to be found on Lunardi's latest bracket predictions.

The Crimson Tide can boost their resume Friday with a victory over the No. 16 Kentucky Wildcats in the quarterfinal, but it would still most likely take one more win and the automatic invite for their first trip to the Big Dance since 2012.

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Alabama head coach Avery Johnson spoke to a scoreless Obasohan and apparently motivated him to put the ball in the basket, per Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.

"It wasn't church language," Johnson said. "We had to take it back to the street."

Despite the loss, it was a valiant effort from Moody, who finished the season averaging 23.1 points and 4.4 assists per game. Even Johnson recognized how special his game was on Thursday, per Ben Garrett of Scout.com:

Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy will miss his star guard and gave him high praise following the game, per Robby Donoho of WCBI-TV: "He really is a special player. He's the most dynamic player in the history of our program in my opinion."

Georgia 79, Mississippi State 69

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J.J. Frazier had a game-high 28 points and led Georgia to a victory against Mississippi State. It was the fourth win in a row for a team clinging to the slimmest of hopes when it comes to an at-large NCAA tournament bid.

At 18-12, Georgia is going to have to do a little more to have a case, which would include beating the No. 3 seed South Carolina Gamecocks on Friday in the quarterfinals.

Georgia looked like a tournament team, albeit against a sub .500 one, using a 15-7 run to start the second half and grow its lead to 57-41. Frazier wasn't the only one scoring for Georgia as Yante Maten poured in 20 with eight rebounds and Charles Mann had 12 points, four rebounds and four assists.

As so many games do, this one came down to free-throw shooting. Both teams hit 31 shots from the field, but Georgia was 24-of-28 from the charity stripe and Mississippi State was 15-of-18.

Mississippi State (14-17), which was led by Craig Sword's 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists, won't be heading to the postseason in head coach Ben Howland's first year at the helm. With 18 wins, Georgia will be playing somewhere in the postseason, but without a few more wins it will most likely be in the NIT.

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Georgia head coach Mark Fox didn't mince words when sharing his displeasure with his team allowing Mississippi State to cut a once double-digit lead to four around the 6:50 mark of the second half, per ESPN.com:

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I didn't think we handled the double-figure lead very well. You knew that a team that could end their season in the game would come storming back, especially with the seniors that they have. So we talked at the timeout, 'Let's recompose ourselves here and get back to playing with some stability.' And we were able to do that defensively and certainly kind of slow their finish.

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Howland said he was "really proud" of his team's comeback, but in the end it wasn't enough, per ESPN.com.

"We had a chance to win the last seven, eight minutes with a play here and a play there," Howland said. "But Georgia's a very good team."