NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- One down for the University of Arkansas men's basketball team at the SEC Tournament.
The Razorbacks hope there are four more to go this week.
Arkansas beat Vanderbilt 86-73 on Wednesday night in Bridgestone Arena to survive and advance to play South Carolina about 8:30 tonight.
The Razorbacks (20-12) need to win five games in five days to win the tournament title and earn the SEC's automatic NCAA Tournament bid.
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Arkansas took the lead for good against Vanderbilt 5-3 on junior guard Mason Jones' three-point basket at the 16:42 mark. The Razorbacks pushed the lead to 25-9 and were ahead 38-26 at halftime.
Vanderbilt (11-21) trailed by as many as 20 points in the second half and didn't pull closer than 10.
"It was good to get on a good run," said junior guard Mason Jones, who led Arkansas with 22 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals. "We were eager to play tonight. We wanted to set the tone early. We came out ready to go.
"We had a good warmup practice earlier. Everybody was just eager to play, and I knew that was going to carry over to the game."
Arkansas sophomore guard Desi Sills scored 20 points off the bench and hit 5 of 6 three-pointers. He twice hit three-pointers in the final 8:18 after Vanderbilt had closed within 11 and 12 points, respectively.
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"I don't think there's any doubt that Desi's shots were momentum swings," Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman said. "Vandy would kind of be knocking on the door, and we'd have an empty possession and his shots were really crucial."
Musselman said he gave Sills -- who has played off the bench the past seven games -- the option of starting, but he declined. Instead Musselman started guard Jalen Harris in place of forward Adrio Bailey to go with a smaller, quicker lineup that matched up better against Vanderbilt.
"Desi really wanted to come off the bench again and give us some pop," Musselman said. "I felt like we could use him as a starter, but he felt comfortable coming off the bench.
"I think it's always important to communicate with your players and get a feel for where they are mentally. And if it makes him more comfortable to watch the flow of the game and give us a scoring spark off the bench, that's awesome."
Razorbacks sophomore guard Isaiah Joe scored 18 points.
"That early lead was good for us," Joe said. "We knew we had to come out with the energy that we did. We knew we had to get off to a good start so we wouldn't have to play from behind."
Sophomore guard Saben Lee led Vanderbilt with 30 points. Freshman guard Scotty Pippen Jr. scored 16 points.
Arkansas sophomore forwards Ethan Henderson and Reggie Chaney each had three blocked shots.
"They blocked everything," Jones said. "Saben Lee and Vandy's other guards were coming into the paint, and you saw Ethan and Reggie coming with blocks out of nowhere. They really helped us get transition points."
Arkansas senior guard Jimmy Whitt had 12 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey announced Wednesday night that the remaining tournament games will be played without fans in attendance because of health concerns related to the coronavirus.
"We're just going to get out there and go play like we're in the park or something," Jones said. "We're just going to play hard.
"It's still going to show a W or an L at the end of the game, and we want to come out with a W. So we're going to bring the same energy we did tonight."
Joe said the Razorbacks can't worry about fans not being in the arena.
"I mean, it's unfortunate they can't be there, but we've just got to go out and play our game," Joe said. "Everything's happening on the court, so we can't worry about anything on the outside."
Musselman coached several years in the CBA and NBA Developmental League.
"I just told the guys in the locker room, if you spend a lot of years in the minor leagues, you play in a lot of empty arenas and it comes down to being a competitor," Musselman said. "There's not going to be momentum swings based on the crowd or the noise in the building.
"There's going to be momentum swings like there are in the park when you play on a Saturday or a Sunday."
After Joe and Jones fouled out within a second of each other -- Joe was called for a blocking foul on a drive by Maxwell Evans, and Jones was called for a foul while blocking out on a rebound after Evans' missed free throw -- Musselman drew a technical foul with 1:07 left.
"There's a lot of good shopping here in Nashville, so I'm going to let my wife spend the money and not give it to anybody else," Musselman said when asked what happened on the technical foul. "So I refrain from saying anything."
Arkansas held Vanderbilt to 38.3% shooting (23 of 60) and 6 of 24 on three-pointers.
"We felt the way to win this game was going to be based on our defense moreso than our offense," Musselman said. "Defensively, I thought we were really, really good. It's hard in a college basketball game to hold a lead for 37 minutes, and we were able to do that."
Arkansas shot 49.0% (25 of 51) and had 17 assists.
"The ball movement tonight was as good as we've seen in a really, really long time," Musselman said. "We shared the basketball."
South Carolina beat Arkansas 79-77 in Walton Arena on Jan. 29 in Walton Arena.
"It's a bounce-back game, and we know we want to beat them this time," Jones said. "They beat us at the crib, so we're going to have that on our minds the whole night."
Game sketch
RECORDS Arkansas 20-12; Vanderbilt 11-21
STARS Arkansas junior guard Mason Jones (22 points), sophomore guard Desi Sills (20 points) and sophomore guard Isaiah Joe (18 points)
KEY STAT The Arkansas bench outscored Vandy’s reserves 27-10.
UP NEXT Arkansas plays South Carolina today. Tipoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m.
At a glance
SEC MEN'S TOURNAMENT
At Bridgestone Arena
Nashville, Tenn.
Wednesday's first-round games
Arkansas 86, Vanderbilt 73
Georgia 81, Mississippi 63
Today's second-round games
All times Central
Tennessee vs. Alabama, noon
Florida vs. Georgia, 2:30 p.m.
Texas A&M vs. Missouri, 6 p.m.
South Carolina vs. Arkansas, 8:30 p.m.
Friday's quarterfinals
Kentucky vs. Tennessee-Alabama winner, noon
Mississippi State vs. Florida--Mississippi-Georgia winner, 2:30 p.m.
Auburn vs. Texas A&M-Missouri winner, 6 p.m.
LSU vs. South Carolina--Arkansas-Vanderbilt winner, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday's semifinals
Kentucky--Tennessee-Alabama winner vs. Mississippi State--Florida--Mississippi-Georgia winner, noon
Auburn--Texas A&M-Missouri winner winner vs. LSU--South Carolina--Arkansas-Vanderbilt winner, 2:30 p.m.
Sunday's Championship
Semifinal winners, noon
Sports on 03/12/2020