“Defense wins games, wins championships.”

In the early ’90s, that epic quip led into one of the widely popular NBA videos (back when they were on VHS tapes) that taught an entire generation the game inside the game. These many decades on, your humble columnist can’t remember who it was that delivered the line. Chuck Daly, Mike Fratello? Whoever it was, he was right. And he’s still right.

On Saturday in Tampa, Texas A&M pulled off a fairly surprising win and Tennessee grabbed a mildly surprising one in the other semifinal. And both teams did it with defense. Arkansas and Kentucky entered Saturday as favorites in each game. Both teams have had the offensive firepower to put together chunks of the 2022 season when they looked like SEC favorites and Final Four possibilities. Both looked like they brought water pistols to a duel on Saturday afternoon.

First, A&M. They held Arkansas to 64 points and a 3-for-18 performance from 3-point range. All-SEC standout JD Notae shot 2-for-8 on his way to just 5 points. Only twice this season had Arkansas shot a lower percentage from long distance. Notae had not been held to single-figure scoring all year. The Aggies outrebounded Arkansas 38-25, and they forced 15 turnovers.

This isn’t to say A&M didn’t play offense. The 82 points they scored were the 4th-most Arkansas allowed all season (and the Razorbacks are 0-5 when giving up more than 80 points). Four Aggies scored in double figures and they shot 8-for-15 from 3-point range. But defense set the tone early, as A&M held Arkansas scoreless for 3 1/2 minutes and didn’t let the Razorbacks into double figures for almost 12 minutes of the first half.

It is somewhere beyond asinine that the Aggies are still reputedly on the outside looking into the NCAA Tournament picture. Beating Florida, Auburn and Arkansas on 3 consecutive days should be more than sufficient to verify A&M’s NCAA bona fides. If the NCAA Selection Committee leaves the Aggies out of the NCAA field, it’ll be interesting to see what type of half-way justification will be advanced. Of course, the Aggies can leave them no choice, but more on that shortly.

As for Tennessee, the Vols gave up 107 points to Kentucky in Lexington on Jan. 15. The Vols didn’t get mad, they just got better. In 2 subsequent meetings, UT held Kentucky to 63 and 62 points. The Wildcats shot 34.3% in Knoxville on Feb. 15, and they shot 34.4% on Saturday. Indeed, since that 28-point loss in Lexington, UT has held 10 of their next 16 opponents under 40% shooting.

Saturday and the game in Knoxville represent Kentucky’s 2 worst shooting performances of the season. Saturday included a 2-for-20 binge from 3-point range that is also a season-worst for the Wildcats. Kentucky’s 4 featured guards, TyTy Washington, Sahvir Wheeler, Kellan Grady and Davion Mintz combined to shoot 10-for-41 on Saturday, including 1-for-17 from 3-point range. Kentucky harassed Grady to by far his worst game of the season, while Mintz had a single point, and Washington was forced to take several bad shots.

But Tennessee’s best job might have been on Oscar Tshiebwe. The likely consensus SEC Player of the Year had just 13 points and 11 rebounds as he fouled out in 24 minutes of play. Tshiebwe had not fouled out of a game all season and had played so few minutes only 3 times, twice against Ohio University and Albany. Tennessee sent bodies at him from every angle and wore him down as well as anyone has.

Perhaps the biggest play of the game had Kentucky cutting the Tennessee lead to 3 and forcing a late-shot clock trey attempt with just under a minute to play. The shot clanged harmlessly off the rim, but with Tshiebwe forced to the bench, Kentucky could not corral the rebound, and UT grabbed it instead. Kentucky never got within 3 points again.

Offensively, Kennedy Chandler had a steady 19 points for the Vols, and UT shot 44% overall and 40% from three-point range. Three Vols reached double figures and with the exception of some turnover-heavy minutes late, the Vols were the picture of offensive solidity. Combined with another defensive game to remember, it was enough for the Vols to advance to the final.

And what about Sunday’s final?

A&M has reached the SEC title game only once before, in 2016, when Kentucky edged them by 5 points in overtime. UT reached the title game under Rick Barnes in 2018 and 2019, but lost to Kentucky and Auburn in those games. The Vols have won the championship 4 times, but other than the 1979 title, the others were before the close of World War II.

The Aggies have had the unlikely path to this game, winning 3 consecutive games as underdogs, and barely trailing in any of them. A&M has been behind for about 90 seconds in their SEC Tournament run. Tennessee has held consecutive opponents below 40% shooting and shot 40% or better from 3-point range in both their wins.

When these teams met in Knoxville in February, the Vols won 90-80. In that game, UT shot 11-for-26 from 3-point range. Suffice it to say that the ways these defenses are playing, it seems unlikely that anybody puts up 90 points this time. Maybe not even 80.

The Vols are favored by around 6 points in early betting action. Considering that nobody expected the Aggies to make it this far, would it be that crazy if they did it again? Tennessee is 11-1 since February 1, and their only loss during that run was a 58-48 grinder at Arkansas. If this is a game in the 80s, Tennessee will win, maybe easily.

But defenses win games and win championships. The head says Tennessee, but the gut says the Aggies have one more miracle left. Good luck finding a sportswriter who doesn’t ultimately go with the gut. Aggies by 2.