# 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.
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. 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 | SEC Network | 12,270 |
| 4 | 6:00 pm | #7 Ole Miss vs. #10 Alabama | 73–81 | SEC Network | 11,750 |
| 5 | 8:30 pm | #6 Georgia vs. #11 Mississippi State | 79–69 | SEC Network | 11,750 |
| 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 | SEC Network | 15,222 |
| 8 | 6:00 pm | #2 Kentucky vs. #10 Alabama | 85–59 | SEC Network | 18,049 |
| 9 | 8:30 pm | #3 South Carolina vs. #6 Georgia | 64–65 | SEC Network | 18,049 |
| 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 | ESPN | 19,108 |
| 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 | First round Wednesday, March 9 SEC Network | First round Wednesday, March 9 SEC Network | Second round Thursday, March 10 SEC Network | Second round Thursday, March 10 SEC Network | Second round Thursday, March 10 SEC Network | Quarterfinals Friday, March 11 SEC Network | Quarterfinals Friday, March 11 SEC Network | Quarterfinals Friday, March 11 SEC Network | | | Semifinals Saturday, March 12 ESPN | Semifinals Saturday, March 12 ESPN | Semifinals Saturday, March 12 ESPN | Championship Sunday, March 13 ESPN | Championship Sunday, March 13 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 | | | | | | | | | | | 1 | 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