We’ve officially entered the thick of conference play and its already shaping up to be a wild season. There were several upsets over the week, including one team in particular rising fast within the SEC.
The full breakdown of how each team performed is below, along with the conference standings, KenPom rankings and NET rankings.
Alabama
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 10-5 (1-2)
After upsetting Kentucky, the Crimson Tide have dropped two straight against LSU and Texas A&M. The loss to the Tigers came in Baton Rouge, but Alabama fell to the Aggies at home in dramatic fashion 81-80.
Defending the three ball was the difference maker in the 88-79 loss at LSU. Both teams made 18 shots from inside the arc and 22 free throws, but the Tigers shot 10-of-15 from distance while Alabama hit on only 7 of 24 threes.
John Petty scored 22 points against Texas A&M off of six three-pointers. More on how that game went down in the Aggie roundup.
Arkansas
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 10-5 (1-2)
It was a hard week for the Hogs, who dropped back-to-back games at home. Arkansas dropped to 7-4 inside Bud Walton Arena this year after losses to Florida and LSU.
The Razorbacks lost to Florida 57-51 in an ugly game that saw Arkansas shoot 15 of 50 as a team. Mason Jones poured in 30 points, but the next highest scorer was Daniel Gafford with nine.
After falling behind by as much as 13 in the second half, Arkansas forced overtime against LSU, but ran out of gas in a 94-88 loss. Gafford had a bounce-back game, scoring 32 points.
Auburn
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 12-3 (1-1)
The Tigers played their first two conference games of the season this past week and were handed their third loss of the year in the first one. Ole Miss ran away from Auburn 82-67 in a surprising SEC-opener for the Tigers.
Bryce Brown scored 23 but Auburn turned the ball over and made just 22 field goals. The Tigers then returned home and handled Georgia 93-78. Five Auburn players hit double digits with Jared Harper leading the way with 22 points.
Florida
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 9-6 (1-2)
The Gators pulled out a tough win over Arkansas in Fayetteville but were beaten at home by Tennessee on Saturday. Florida shot poorly against the Razorbacks, but got a gutsy 18-point effort out of KeVaughn Allen in the win.
Allen led the way again against Tennessee, but the Gator shooting slump continued. The Vols made them pay, shooting an efficient 20-of-32 from two-point range while handing Florida the 78-67 loss.
Georgia
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 9-6 (1-2)
Georgia blew past Vanderbilt down the stretch for conference win No. 1 on Wednesday before losing at Auburn on Saturday.
The Bulldogs finished the game against the Commodores on a 26-8 run to come away with an 82-63 victory. Simi Shittu scored 10 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the game.
Georgia played well for the majority of the game versus Auburn but a late first half Tiger run was the difference in the Bulldogs' 93-78 loss. William Jackson scored 16 points and dished out five assists while Nicolas Claxton blocked six shots.
Kentucky
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 12-3 (2-1)
The Wildcats responded to the SEC-opening loss to Alabama with a pair of home wins over Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Ashton Hagans had 18 points, five assists and five steals in the 85-74 win over the Aggies.
Hagans scored 15 against Vanderbilt, while Keldon Johnson added 15 of his own points in Kentucky’s 56-47 win.
LSU
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 12-3 (2-0)
Will Wade’s Tigers are off to a 2-0 start in SEC play following an 88-79 win over Alabama and 94-88 overtime win at Arkansas. Tremont Waters filled up his stat sheet against the Tide, scoring 19 points, handing out seven assists and grabbing four boards.
Naz Reid was a game-changer for LSU against Arkansas, scoring 27 points and shooting a perfect 4 of 4 from deep. Waters tied a career best with 11 assists in the contest.
Mississippi State
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 12-3 (0-2)
It was a rude awakening for the Starkville Dawgs as they began conference play with two consecutive losses. Mississippi State lost in overtime 87-82 to South Carolina before losing to Ole Miss 81-77.
The Bulldogs' loss to the Gamecocks was their first against a team outside the KenPom top-100. Aric Holman scored 20 points and had 10 rebounds. The Bulldogs outrebounded Ole Miss 38-28 but could not finish down the stretch. Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 18 and recorded eight rebounds.
Missouri
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 9-5 (0-2)
Missouri opened conference play with an 87-63 home drubbing at the hands of Tennessee and then lost at South Carolina 85-75. The Tigers had allowed their opponent to reach 80 points just once heading into the week.
Coming off the bench, Xavier Pinson led Missouri against the Vols with 14 points. Javon Pickett scored a season-high 21 versus the Gamecocks, but the team turned the ball over 20 times in the loss.
Ole Miss
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 13-2 (3-0)
The Rebels are one of the SEC’s hottest teams in the early portion of conference play, upsetting Auburn 82-67 and then beating Mississippi State 81-77. Ole Miss hit 27 free throws against the Tigers while holding Auburn to 32.8 percent shooting.
Blake Hinson scored a season-high 26 against the Bulldogs while Breein Tyree added 19 points and five assists.
South Carolina
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 8-7 (3-0)
The biggest surprise thus far has been South Carolina. The Gamecocks followed up their win over Florida with wins against Mississippi State and Missouri last week.
A career-high 25 points from Maik Kotsar lifted South Carolina over the Bulldogs in overtime. He also had five offensive boards and is second in the SEC in offensive rebounding percentage.
A balanced offensive effort got the job done versus the Tigers as five players reached double digits in the win. The Gamecocks shot 29 of 35 from the free throw line in the game.
Tennessee
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 14-1 (3-0)
The best overall record in the SEC still belongs to Tennessee, which is coming off of wins against Missouri and Florida last week. Jordan Bowden dropped 20 points on Missouri and is averaging 11.8 points per game when coming off the bench.
Grant Williams filled it up against the Gators, having 20 points, nine rebounds and four assists in the game.
Texas A&M
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 7-7 (1-2)
The Aggies narrowly avoided an 0-3 start to conference play with a buzzer-beating win over Alabama followed an 85-74 loss to Kentucky. TJ Starks and Jay Jay Chandler combined for 36 against the Wildcats, but 19 turnovers hurt Texas A&M.
Starks missed his first five three-point attempts against Alabama, but hit one off the glass as the buzzer sounded to give the Aggies the 81-80 victory. Josh Nebo scored 21 on 10 of 12 shooting and added seven rebounds.
Vanderbilt
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 9-6 (0-3)
Vanderbilt did not avoid the 0-3 start. The Commodores fell victim to Georgia and Kentucky during the week, averaging just 55 points between the games. Vanderbilt hit 23 of 70 shot attempts in an 82-63 loss at Georgia.
The Commodores held Kentucky’s offense to just 44 field goal attempts in a slow game, but had another tough shooting night. Aaron Nesmith scored a team-high 11 points in the 56-47 loss.
