NASHVILLE, Tenn. --- John Jenkins scored 22 of his career-high 25 points in the second half, and No. 20 Vanderbilt held off Georgia 78-66 on Friday night in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

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Dave Martin/AP Photo

Vanderbilt's defeated Georgia 78-66 on Friday. Vanderbilt will play Mississippi State in the semifinals.

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Dave Martin/AP Photo

Kentucky's John Wall (top) and Alabama guard Senario Hillman fight for the ball. Wall scored 23 points to lead the Wildcats in a comeback win.

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The Commodores (24-7) came in with only their third first-round bye since the SEC went to divisional play in 1992 as the East's No. 2 seed, and they managed to reach the semifinals for the first time since 2004 and just the second time in coach Kevin Stallings' 11 seasons.

A program that has only one SEC tournament title back in 1951 will play Mississippi State, the West's No. 1 seed, today.

Jenkins hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range. Jermaine Beal also had 16 points and A.J. Ogilvy had 10 points.

Georgia (14-17) couldn't recreate the magic of 2008 with four wins in four days. Travis Leslie had a career-high 34 points, and Trey Thompkins had 13, all in the second half.

NO. 2 KENTUCKY 73, ALABAMA 67

John Wall had 23 points, including seven in a row in the second half to give the Wildcats the lead for good, and help Kentucky overcame an 11-point deficit.

The win gave Kentucky its 12th 30-win season -- the most by any school -- and the Wildcats' first since 2003 when they went 32-4. It's also the fifth such season in a row for John Calipari and seventh overall to tie him with Connecticut's Jim Calhoun for third-most among coaches.

Kentucky (30-2) will play No. 15 Tennessee, who beat Mississippi, in the semifinals today looking to add a 26th tournament title to the 44th regular-season championship.

Patrick Patterson scored 20 and Eric Bledsoe 10 for Kentucky. DeMarcus Cousins, who had 18 double-doubles this season averaging 15.6 points and 10 rebounds per game, finished with seven points and eight boards.

Mikhail Torrance led Alabama (17-15) with 20 points. JaMychal Green had 14 and Tony Mitchell 10.

The Tide just couldn't match Wall or the crowd in essentially a road game in Rupp Arena South as fans painted the inside of Bridgestone Arena blue.

Kentucky improved to 112-22 in this tournament and 9-1 in Nashville. The Wildcats now are 4-1 against Alabama in the quarterfinals, a program that ranks second only to Kentucky in the number of tournament wins and titles in the league.

NO. 15 TENNESSEE 76, MISSISSIPPI 65

Wayne Chism had 16 points and 15 rebounds as Tennessee beat Mississippi.

J.P. Prince added 17 points for Tennessee (25-7), which is 7-0 this season when Chism gets a double-double. Cameron Tatum came off the bench to score 15, and Bobby Maze added 13.

With the teams tied at 44, Tennessee went on a 9-0 run punctuated by a jump shot by Tatum to take a 53-44 lead with 13:21 left.

Mississippi (21-10) answered with back-to-back 3s by Chris Warren from opposite sides of the baseline and a free throw by Trevor Gaskins -- to trim the Vols' lead to 2.

Tennessee used free throws and paint points to pull away as the Rebels went 5 minutes without hitting a field goal.

MISSISSIPPI STATE 75, FLORIDA 69

Barry Stewart scored 17 points and hit five late free throws as Mississippi State held on to defeat Florida.

Mississippi State held a 58-39 lead with 13:29 left when it fell into a 6-minute scoring drought.

The Gators (21-12) took advantage with a 14-0 run. A 3-pointer by Erving Walker and a free throw by Chandler Parsons cut Mississippi State's lead to 58-53 with 8:17 left.

Kenny Boynton hit a jump shot over Jarvis Varnado's head to cut Mississippi State's lead to 71-68 with 27 seconds left, but Stewart hit 5 of 6 free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win.