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No. 22 Vanderbilt beats No. 25 Tennessee 75-68 to reach SEC semifinals

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Duke Miles scored a season-high 30 points as No. 22 Vanderbilt beat 25th-ranked Tennessee 75-68 Friday to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals.

The fourth-seeded Commodores (25-7) came in with its highest seeding since winning the 2012 SEC Tournament. They will play regular-season SEC champ Florida, a 71-63 winner over Kentucky, on Saturday.

Tyler Tanner added 19 points for the Commodores, who won their third straight.

No. 25 Tennessee (22-11) lost to Vanderbilt for the second time in a week and leaves well short of the tournament title game where the Vols lost to Florida last year.

Ja’Kobi Gillespie led Tennessee with 21 points. Nate Ament, who had 27 points in the second round, missed his first eight shots. He finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds. J.P. Estrella added 12 points and Jaylen Carey 10.

Gillespie hit back-to-back 3s to put Tennessee up 45-38 with 14:51 left. Vanderbilt answered with 10 straight points and never trailed again. Miles started the spurt, knocking down two free throws, and finished it with a 3.

Vanderbilt led by as much as eight. Ament kept the Vols close, but the Commodores hit their final eight free throws to clinch the victory. They made 16 of 18 at the line in the second half and shot 84.6% (22 of 26) for the game.

These teams split winning on each other’s home court with Vanderbilt closing out the regular season beating Tennessee last week. The Commodores had extra cheerleaders with Vanderbilt’s sixth-ranked women on the front row.

Up next

Tennessee didn’t help its NCAA Tournament seeding. The Vols have lost four of their last six.

Vanderbilt has a chance at payback for a 98-94 loss Jan. 17 on its own court to Florida.

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Hawkeyes are set to play Vanderbilt in a November women’s basketball game in Sioux City, Iowa

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Vanderbilt and Iowa, both ranked in the top 10 late last season, will meet in a women's basketball game early next season in northwest Iowa, the schools announced Tuesday. The neutral-site game is set for Nov. 15 at the Tyson Events Center, which is 290 miles from Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City. Vanderbilt is 4-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes. This will be the teams' first meeting since 1997. The Commodores are expected to return national scoring leader Mikayla Blakes. She averaged 27 points per game and was Southeastern Conference player of the year. Vanderbilt was ranked as high as No. 5 and finished No. 10 with a 29-5 record after reaching the NCAA Sweet 16.
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