BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The league office released the bracket for the 2024 Southeastern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament, and Tennessee is the No. 5 seed and will open play on Thursday afternoon at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
 
The Lady Vols (17-11, 10-6 SEC) tied Alabama (23-8, 10-6 SEC) for fourth in the league standings, but the Crimson Tide earned the No. 4 seed after UT fell to No. 1 South Carolina in Columbia on Sunday, 76-68, and Bama held off Texas A&M, 78-71, in College Station.
 
Tennessee is scheduled to play the second game on Thursday at approximately 2:15 p.m. ET, following the noon contest vs. No. 8 Mississippi State and No. 9 Texas A&M. The Lady Vols will face the winner of Wednesday’s tilt between No 12 Kentucky and No. 13 Georgia. The winner of the UT vs. UK/UGA game would advance to Friday’s quarterfinals and face Alabama at the same time. SEC Network will broadcast all first, second and quarterfinal round match-ups, ESPNU will carry Saturday’s semifinals and ESPN will televise Sunday’s championship game.
 
Tennessee is 1-0 vs. Georgia (W, 95-73 on 2/1/24) and 1-0 vs. Kentucky (W, 87-69 on 1/7/24) this season and stands 10-3 vs. the Lady Bulldogs and 8-3 vs. the Wildcats, respectively, in previous SEC Tournament meetings.
 
The other top-four seeds in the SEC Tourney are No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 LSU and No. 3 Ole Miss.
 
UT will be competing for its 18th all-time SEC Tournament crown. The Big Orange have advanced to at least the semifinal round the past three seasons, including the championship game a year ago. UT has fallen to the eventual champion (South Carolina in 2021, Kentucky in 2022, South Carolina in 2023) in each of the past three years.
 
This marks the seventh appearance for the tourney in Greenville after it previously was held there in 2005, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.