SEC Basketball Scores

Tuesday, February 5

• Arkansas 80, Florida 69
• Kentucky 77 South Carolina 55

Wednesday, February 6

• Ole Miss 93 Mississippi State 75
• Georgia 68 Tennessee 62
• Auburn 49 Alabama 37
• LSU 57 Vanderbilt 56

Thursday, February 7

• Texas A&M 70 Missouri 68

Saturday, February 9

• Vanderbilt 67 Arkansas 49
• Kentucky 72, Auburn 62
• Missouri 98 Ole Miss 79
• Florida 83 Mississippi State 58
• Alabama 60 LSU 57
• Georgia 52 Texas A&M 46

Sunday, February 10

• Tennessee 66 South Carolina 61

It was the kind of result that comes out of the blue, the outcome that ambushes all the pundits and leaves experts speechless. It’s one thing when a No. 2 team loses to a No. 5 or No. 6 team, the general kind of scenario that’s been witnessed in the Big Ten Conference this season. It’s not all that shocking when a highly ranked team gets knocked off by another member of the top 25 or by a proven program whose team is going to make the NCAA tournament in 2013. It’s another matter altogether when a top team is bumped off by a middling member of a second-rate conference. The Southeastern Conference, sadly but undeniably, is a second-tier league this season, and so when the Arkansas Razorbacks hosted the No. 2 Florida Gators this past Tuesday, the notion of an upset did not register very prominently in many people’s minds. Those who have closely followed this college basketball season were not expecting much from the underdog. Florida, in command of its powers and slaughtering SEC foes left and right, figured to impose its will on the Hogs, who didn’t look anything like an NCAA tournament team through the first two and a half months of the season.

This is why games are played on hardwood, not paper.

Arkansas, a team that entered Tuesday’s tilt 0-4 on the road in the SEC, had lost only once at home all season, in a pattern similar the 2011-2012 team that formed a Jekyll-and-Hyde identity based solely on location. Basketball is basketball, but for Arkansas, the gymnasium seems to matter. Against Florida, though, the Hogs figured to lose. They played Syracuse close in December but fell by nine points. Florida had established itself as a better team than Syracuse, and was meeting Arkansas at a later point in the season, when rotations are more established and younger players have a better idea of what they need to do on the floor. If you asked a panel of 15 college basketball pundits, you probably would have gotten “Florida by 10 to 15 points” as a majority response.

That didn’t happen. Arkansas shredded a Florida defense that had allowed more than 60 points to just one SEC foe over the first month of conference play. The Hogs hit 49 percent of their shots, destroying Florida not at its weakest point, but its strongest one. Arkansas’s unproven guards did not falter in the face of Florida’s rugged man-to-man defense. The Razorbacks turned the ball over just eight times while accumulating 19 assists. Arkansas developed considerable flow in its halfcourt offense and was able to run the floor after forcing 16 turnovers from the rattled Gators. Arkansas head coach Mike Anderson loves to play at a fast pace and run a lot of players in and out of the lineup, precisely because the presence of more bodies removes the need for any one player to log extended minutes. No Arkansas player registered more than 28 minutes on Tuesday, but nine players gained at least 13 minutes. Some familiar faces contributed to the Hogs’ win, as B.J. Young scored 13 points and handed out 5 assists while collecting 4 rebounds. Marshawn Powell scored 11, grabbed 6 boards, dished out 3 dimes, and claimed 2 steals. However, the X-factor performance that really lifted Arkansas came from untested guard Michael Qualls. A freshman who had been getting minimal playing time to this point in the season, Qualls scored 11 points in 25 active minutes. He gained 4 rebounds and didn’t commit a single turnover. Excellence from proven and unproven sources made the difference for Arkansas, and as a result, Florida is no longer in the driver’s seat for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The other big game of the week came on Saturday, as Missouri stopped Ole Miss in a matchup that was extremely important for both teams. Ole Miss and Mizzou have struggled in recent weeks, so the loser of this game – while still probably in the NCAAs if the selections were made today – was going to fall to the good side of the bubble. Ole Miss became that team, as Missouri played its best game of the SEC season. The Tigers’ energy and clarity were in evidence for 40 minutes, and now, Ole Miss has a lot of work to do if it wants to make the NCAAs.

The other main stories from the past week in the SEC were negative ones: Alabama lost at Auburn to severely hurt its NCAA hopes, while Arkansas – following its win over Florida – got crushed at Vanderbilt to move to 0-5 on the road in the SEC. There’s no way Arkansas can get to the Big Dance if it can’t win road games.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Weekly SEC Basketball Scores

Tuesday, January 29

• Tennessee 58 Vanderbilt 57
• Kentucky 87 Ole Miss 74

Wednesday, January 30

• Florida 75 South Carolina 36
• Georgia 57 Auburn 49
• LSU 73 Missouri 70
• Texas A&M 55 Mississippi State 49 (OT)

Thursday, January 31

• Alabama 59 Arkansas 56

Saturday, February 2

• Arkansas 73 Tennessee 60
• Kentucky 72 Texas A&M 68 (OT)
• Missouri 91 Auburn 77
• Georgia 67 South Carolina 56
• Alabama 58 Vanderbilt 54
• LSU 69 Mississippi State 68
• Florida 78 Ole Miss 64

In hindsight, this might be remembered as the week in which the Kentucky Wildcats shored up their season and got into the NCAA tournament after stumbling around for two and a half months. Kentucky is not a sure thing for March Madness at this point by any stretch of the imagination, but coach John Calipari’s crew is now in a much more favorable position after winning two road games, one of them against nationally-ranked Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss. Kentucky contained Mississippi shooting guard Marshall Henderson, the player with unlimited range and no conscience as a shooter who has given the Rebels a measure of scoring punch this season. Henderson scored 21 points against Kentucky, but he did so on 5-of-19 shooting, which is not particularly effective and therefore undesirable for Ole Miss head coach Andy Kennedy. Ole Miss trailed 73-56 with 10 minutes left but then uncorked a 16-0 surge to pull within one point at 73-72 with 4:22 remaining in regulation. A three-pointer by Kentucky’s Ryan Harrow stopped that run, however, and immediately threw momentum back to Big Blue, which closed the game on a 14-2 burst to put away the Rebels. Kentucky claimed the quality win that had proven to be elusive this season. It’s a good thing that the Wildcats won this game, too, because a weak SEC is not going to give Kentucky or anyone else a lot of chances to snag resume-building victories. Kentucky needs Ole Miss to win a lot in the coming weeks so that UK’s victory in Oxford retains its value. Nevertheless, a win over Mississippi, followed by a survival act against Texas A&M on Saturday, will undeniably improve Kentucky’s odds of making it to Bracketville.

The other team that is beginning to work its way into the SEC conversation is Alabama. The Crimson Tide still have a long, long way to go on the road to March Madness, but after winning a pair of defensive grinders against Arkansas and Vanderbilt, coach Anthony Grant’s team is 6-2 in the SEC and can play its way into the NCAA conversation. The win at Vanderbilt was Bama’s first in Memorial Gym since 1990.

Alabama suffered through a horrible non-conference slate, losing to Tulane and Mercer, but the Tide can still make their voices heard if they go 13-3 in the SEC and make the SEC Tournament final. Alabama will have to pick off high-end wins if it wants to go dancing. At least, however, this team has a chance to do something with its season, which looked dead a few weeks ago.

The main event in the SEC this past week was Saturday’s game between first-place Florida and second-place Ole Miss, fresh from its loss to Kentucky. Florida never trailed over the final 30 minutes of this game and did not lead by fewer than 12 points throughout the second half. The Gators established control early and never allowed the Rebels to come particularly close. Ole Miss pulled within 10 points at 35-25 late in the first half, but a three by UF’s Scottie Wilbekin at the first-half buzzer gave Florida a 40-27 lead at the intermission. The Gators cruised after that point in time. Henderson scored 25 points for Ole Miss, while his teammates were unable to generate enough offense in support. Florida’s defense allowed over 60 points for the first time this year in SEC play… and still played well in the course of producing a decisive victory that moved the Gators to 8-0 in the SEC, two games ahead of Ole Miss, Kentucky, and Alabama, with Missouri lurking at 5-3.

Speaking of Missouri, the Tigers lost at LSU this past week, as their seeding for the NCAAs in 2013 continues to plummet.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Weekly SEC Basketball Scores

Tuesday, January 15

• Kentucky 75 Tennessee 65
• Ole Miss 89 Vanderbilt 79 (OT)

Wednesday, January 16

• Missouri 79 Georgia 62
• South Carolina 82 LSU 73 (OT)
• Arkansas 88 Auburn 80 (OT)
• Alabama 75 Mississippi State 43

Thursday, January 17

• Florida 68 Texas A&M 47

Saturday, January 19

• Tennessee 72 Mississippi State 57
• Georgia 67 LSU 58
• Alabama 50 Texas A&M 49
• Ole Miss 76 Arkansas 64
• Florida 83 Missouri 52
• Vanderbilt 58 South Carolina 51
• Kentucky 75 Auburn 53

The 2013 Southeastern Conference basketball season is a tale of three stories at the moment: Florida is really good, Ole Miss is enjoying a magic carpet ride, and nobody else is particularly impressive at this point in time.

Florida made a supremely emphatic pair of statements this past week. The Gators, in a three-day span, laid waste to one of the hot teams in the league and one of the big-name teams in the conference, ironically, the two schools that joined the SEC last year. Yes, Florida took out one newcomer – Texas A&M – on the road before hammering the other newbie – Missouri – at home. The Thursday-through-Saturday dose of double domination leaves the Gators as the unquestioned kings of the conference.

Texas A&M, after winning by 12 at Kentucky, had every reason to think that a win over Florida would put the Aggies in legitimate position to gain an NCAA tournament berth. A&M would have been able to claim wins over the two most powerful SEC programs of the past 15 years. It also would have been able to say that the win over Kentucky was no fluke. Coach Billy Kennedy’s team turned heads with its win in Rupp Arena a week and a half ago, but it needed to back up that result with a win over Florida in order to consolidate momentum.

The Gators would have nothing of an Aggie ambush attempt. Florida’s defense, which has performed well this season even when the Gators’ offense has struggled, prevented A&M from gaining any sort of foothold on Thursday in College Station, Tex. Coach Billy Donovan’s team sucked the life out of a Reed Arena crowd that was reveling in the fact that it was hosting its first SEC basketball game of particular significance since the school moved from the Big 12 last year. Florida’s beatdown exposed the Aggies in so many ways, denying A&M the quality SEC win it needed in order to feel good about its prospects on Selection Sunday.

Two days later, Florida had to make a quick turnaround and play a Saturday game against the other Big 12 escapee in the SEC, the Missouri Tigers. It’s true that Missouri lost to Ole Miss on Jan. 12, but the Tigers were a No. 2 seed in last year’s NCAA tournament. They would have played Florida in the round of 32 had they not lost to Norfolk State in the round of 64. This was a time for Missouri to show that it was Florida’s equal in the SEC, ready to stay with the Gators in the race for the regular season league championship.

Instead, Florida’s defense remained in lock-down mode. The Gators, not content with one sterling defensive performance against A&M, limited Missouri to only five points more than what the Aggies mustered roughly 41 hours earlier. The Gators were never remotely threatened in a laugher that will only serve to diminish Missouri’s standing under head coach Frank Haith, who is not making the most of the talent he has on hand. Florida is the runaway favorite in the SEC after these two routs. With Kentucky muddling through at this point and A&M now a wounded team, the competition facing the Gators is not very deep.

The only team that looks as good as Florida does in the SEC standings is a team that nobody thought would amount to much in 2013. The Ole Miss Rebels, down by three points at Vanderbilt with 3.2 seconds left in regulation on Tuesday night, received a 35-footer from Marshall Henderson to send the game into overtime. Naturally propelled by that great escape, the Rebels allowed only one point to Vanderbilt it overtime and dumped the Commodores to remain unbeaten in the SEC. Ole Miss then polished off Arkansas on Saturday to move to 4-0 in the league, 15-2 overall. With so many non-Florida teams failing to find themselves, Ole Miss has become the one exception, making the Rebels the most pleasant surprise of the SEC season to date.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer

Weekly SEC Basketball Scores

Tuesday, January 8

• Missouri 84 Alabama 68

Wednesday, January 9

• Florida 77 Georgia 44
• Ole Miss 92 Tennessee 74
• Auburn 68 LSU 63
• Texas A&M 69 Arkansas 51
• Mississippi State 56 South Carolina 54

Thursday, January 10

• Kentucky 60 Vanderbilt 58

Saturday, January 12

• Mississippi State 72 Georgia 61
• Alabama 68 Tennessee 65
• Ole Miss 64 Missouri 49
• Auburn 74 South Carolina 71
• Arkansas 56 Vanderbilt 33
• Texas A&M 83 Kentucky 71
• Florida 74 LSU 52

Plainly put, this was a week in which all hell broke loose in the Southeastern Conference. Few things that one could count on in recent years can be trusted this season – at least, if anything from this past week is an indicator of the next two months of SEC competition.

By far, the most surprising development from the first week of SEC basketball was Texas A&M’s 12-point win in Rupp Arena against the defending national champion Kentucky Wildcats. Sure, Kentucky is a team that is going to require a long time to mesh and come anywhere close to fulfilling its potential. Yes, Kentucky is not a serious NCAA championship contender this season, with coach John Calipari’s focus already shifting to next season and the cultivation of the very unpolished talent that exists on his roster. Nevertheless, Texas A&M began this season without substantial credentials. The Aggies had been a regular NCAA tournament program under former coach Mark Turgeon, but they tumbled badly under new coach Billy Kennedy and had given no strong indication that they were ready to return to the Big Dance anytime soon. Kentucky looked ragged and disjointed for much of its two-point win at Vanderbilt on Thursday, but that game was on the road. This game was in Lexington, inside the “Big Barn In The Bluegrass” where Calipari had lost only once since taking the Kentucky job in 2010. Kentucky was supposed to get healthy in this game, but amazingly, its NCAA tournament health took a turn for the worse.

A&M’s Elston Turner threw down 40 points on an evening when the Aggies didn’t miss a field goal attempt over the final 8:16 of regulation, if you can possibly believe any of those stats. The Aggies didn’t just beat Kentucky in Rupp, they coasted in the final minutes, winning relatively easily. A&M, fresh off a Wednesday thumping of Arkansas, looks like more of an NCAA tournament team than Kentucky at the moment. Nobody ever could have imagined thinking or writing such a sentence two months ago, or even two weeks ago.

Speaking of Kentucky’s win over Vanderbilt for a moment, the game was shrouded in controversy because of a shot by UK’s Nerlens Noel in the final minute, which was allowed to count despite replay indications that it did not beat the shot clock. College basketball allows for replay reviews of shots released just before the end of a half, but it does not allow for replay reviews of shots released at the end of the shot clock. The incident might prompt college basketball to change its rules, and it might lead the SEC to make sure that Vanderbilt – whose shot clocks are not located above the backboards at Memorial Gym – makes relevant changes. The SEC might also consider the usage of tenths of a second on shot clocks, which would aid officials in making proper calls.

There is still much more news to cover from week one in the SEC. Mississippi State and Auburn, two teams that figured to have no business being anywhere near the top of the standings, both won two league games in two tries. Yes, they beat lower-division teams, but the Bulldogs and Tigers showed more resilience than a lot of pundits were expecting.

Last but certainly not least, the Mississippi Rebels – who have not made the NCAAs in six seasons under head coach Andy Kennedy – are making a legitimate push for a bid. Ole Miss whacked Tennessee by 18 points on the road and then followed up that conquest with a 15-point win over nationally ranked Missouri. The Rebels did a lot to boost their overall profile, and if they can avoid bad losses in the SEC over the next two months, the win over Missouri will be a substantial poker chip come Selection Sunday.

By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer