Welcome to the latest and greatest addition to HawgBeat's basketball coverage. Each week we’ll break down the conference and keep tabs on how the SEC is doing from Monday through Sunday.
Each team’s week is broken down below, followed by the latest KenPom rankings and the NCAA’s new NET rankings.
Alabama
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 6-3
The Crimson Tide followed up their first loss against a non-top 100 KenPom team by winning their first game over a top-50 team this past week.
On Tuesday, Alabama hosted Georgia State and squandered a 21-point halftime lead as the Panthers drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer. The win moved Georgia State to 2-0 against the SEC after beating Georgia on Nov 21.
A big first half and late-game heroics pushed Alabama past Arizona 76-73 on Sunday. Kira Lewis scored 20 points in the win and had 39 total for the week. It was Lewis’ fourth game of 20-plus points and the fourth time he’s knocked down multiple three-pointers in a game.
Arkansas
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 6-2
Arkansas extended its winning streak to six games and then saw it snapped. The Razorbacks went to Fort Collins and won at Colorado State 98-74 in Arkansas’ first true road game of the season. Arkansas now has two of the six highest scoring marks in the SEC this year.
Western Kentucky then paid Arkansas a visit on Saturday and became the first non-SEC team to win in Bud Walton since Akron in 2015 with a 78-77 win. Isaiah Joe had 19 points on five made threes in the loss. Joe has hit at least five triples in a game three times this season. Two of those times, though, were in losses.
Auburn
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 8-1
Bruce Pearl’s team continued to roll with a pair of non-conference wins over mid-majors. Auburn put 14 players on the floor in a 67-41 win over UNC-Asheville, but the Tigers attempted only 43 shots all game. Austin Wiley and Samir Doughty led the way with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
Bryce Brown found a groove against Dayton, carrying Auburn to an 82-72 win with a career-high 34 points. Brown is fourth in the league in scoring thus far, averaging 18 points per game.
Florida
Last week: 1-1
Overall: 5-4
The Gators split their two games this week as they continue to work through one of the SEC’s toughest non-conference schedules. Florida defeated West Virginia 66-56 on a neutral court on Tuesday and returned home to host No. 10 Michigan State and fell 63-59.
Florida forced West Virginia into 21 turnovers while Arkansas native Kevaughn Allen poured in 19 points as the Gators’ only double digit scorer in the game. Against the Spartans, only two players hit double digits as the Gators shot just 36.5 percent from the floor.
Georgia
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 5-3
Georgia played just one game last week, a 92-75 win over Texas Southern, and won’t play again until Saturday. Tyree Crump came off the bench to drop a career-high 25 points against Texas Southern on 5 of 7 shooting from deep.
Georgia pulled down 50 rebounds in the game while forcing Texas Southern into a 35.7 percent shooting clip.
Kentucky
Last week: 0-1
Overall: 7-2
The Wildcats played once and it was an 84-83 neutral court overtime loss to Seton Hall. The loss moved Kentucky to 2-2 against KenPom top-100 teams.
Keldon Johnson nailed a half-court heave to send the game into overtime, but a late Seton Hall bucket sunk the Wildcats. PJ Washington scored 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for his sixth career double-double.
LSU
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 7-2
LSU also played just once over the week and against lowly Incarnate Word. The Cardinals are 5-6 with four of those wins coming against non-Division I opponents.
The Tigers cruised to a 91-50 victory, with Naz Reid and Ja’Vonte Smart each scoring 16 points. LSU will face two top-75 KenPom teams this week when it plays at Houston and then St. Mary’s in Las Vegas. The Tigers are currently 0-2 against such teams.
Mississippi State
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 8-1
Mississippi State pushed its win streak to five with wins over McNeese State and Clemson during the week. Lamar Peters scored 27 points in the 90-77 win over the Cowboys and then followed that up with 28 in the Bulldogs’ 82-71 win over the Tigers.
Peters hit 16 three-pointers between the two games and still managed to dish out 10 assists.
Ole Miss
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 6-2
Ole Miss’ only game on the schedule last week was against Illinois State. It actually hit the road for this game but returned with an 81-74 win.
Breein Tyree scored 22 points and Terence Davis had 20 himself. Tyree stuffed the stat sheet, grabbing seven rebounds and handing out six assists while turning the ball over just once.
Missouri
Last week: 2-0
Overall: 6-3
Missouri handled a pair of filler opponents in UT-Arlington and Oral Roberts this week as it readies for a Tuesday tilt with Xavier. The Tigers used just nine players and for at least 13 minutes each in the 65-45 win over UTA.
Against Oral Roberts, Missouri played 14 players, six scoring in double digits, as it ran away 80-64.
South Carolina
Last week: 0-2
Overall: 4-5
It was a rough week for the Gamecocks as they dropped games at Wyoming and at No. 5 Michigan to fall below .500.
Frank Martin’s team had a sluggish start to its second half in the 73-64 loss to the Cowboys. South Carolina shot 34.8 percent from the floor in the game. The Gamecocks turned it around against Michigan, shooting 51.6 percent and turning the ball over just 10 times in the 89-78 loss. A 23-9 free throw advantage for the Wolverines was the game’s deciding factor.
Tennessee
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 7-1
Only one game this week for the Volunteers, but it was a big one. Tennessee knocked off previously undefeated and top-ranked Gonzaga in Phoenix 76-73.
Admiral Schofield dominated, scoring 30 points and pulling in six rebounds. Grant Williams added 16 and is currently leading the conference with 20.4 points per game. The win was just the SEC’s second against a KenPom top-25 team. The first was Arkansas’ 73-72 win over Indiana.
Texas A&M
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 3-4
Texas A&M hosted one of Division I’s lowest-rated teams in Northwestern State and won 80-59. Former Baylor guard Wendell Mitchell scored a career-high 18 in his fourth game as an Aggie.
The Aggies blocked 12 Demon shots with Savion Flagg and Josh Nebo each having three. Texas A&M gets a road game with 6-2 Oregon State next.
Vanderbilt
Last week: 1-0
Overall: 6-2
The Commodores hosted Middle Tennessee State and dismantled the Blue Raiders 79-51 on Wednesday. Canadian Simi Shittu has been a solid go-to for Vanderbilt, averaging 15.9 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. He scored 15 and grabbed six boards against MTSU.
