1979 SEC men's basketball tournament

The 1979 SEC men's basketball tournament took place in Birmingham, Alabama, at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. This tournament marks the first SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament held since the event’s hiatus that started after the 1952 tournament.

The Tennessee Volunteers won the tournament championship game, and received the SEC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament by beating the Kentucky Wildcats in a 75–69 overtime win on March 3, 1979. The tournament took place from February 28 to March 3, 1979. After the SEC tournament ended, Tennessee was ranked number 20 in the Associated Press polls.

Television coverage
The 1979 tournament marks the first time that the SEC tournament was covered through television. Television coverage of the tournament was produced by The C.D. Chesley Company, who syndicated the coverage of the games regionally over 30 television stations. C.D. Chesley was known as the pioneer in syndicated college basketball broadcasts as he started production of the first package of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball telecasts in the late 1950s.

All-tournament team

 * G - Kyle Macy, UK (MVP)
 * G - Truman Claytor, UK
 * F - Terry Crosby, TENN
 * F - Reginald King, ALA
 * F - John Stroud, MISS