Before you ask: Basketball was called "the cage game" years ago and basketball players were called "cagers." This is how sports writers referred to basketball a few generations back — as recently as the late 1980s in my hometown newspaper, the Tulsa World — and I'm bringing it back. Sort of. Just for this particular segment. Thank you for your understanding.
Tennessee 87, Missouri 63
Kentucky 85, Texas A&M 74
LSU 88, Alabama 79
South Carolina 87, Mississippi State 82 (OT)
Wednesday, Jan. 9
Georgia 82, Vanderbilt 63
Ole Miss 82, Auburn 67
Florida 57, Arkansas 51
NOTABLES:
• Tennessee was too big and strong for Missouri Tuesday night. The Volunteers were +9 rebounding while SF Admiral Schofield and F/C Kyle Alexander combined to shoot 11-of-16 from two-point range. That explains why the visitors were +16 in paint points. SG Jordan Bowden led all scorers with 20 points despite going 0-for-4 from long range.
• Kentucky did two things well Tuesday — shot 60 percent (23-of-38) from two-point range and forced Texas A&M into 19 turnovers, which created several fast-break buckets. The Aggies actually shot pretty well (49 percent from two, 48 from three) yet succumbed to turnovers on approximately one-quarter of their possessions. Can't win like that on the road. PG Ashton Hagans was the Wildcats' top performer with 18 points — including a 10-of-11 performance from the line — and five steals.
He was up in A&M's passing lanes all night long ...
• South Carolina jumped to 2-0, easily the most surprising development of the early season, with an overtime victory Tuesday night. F/C Maik Kotsar had his best game of the season with 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting. The Gamecocks were +7 rebounding, +17 shots attempted and +26 bench points.
• LSU built a 15-point halftime lead and never really faced a major challenge after that. Alabama cut the lead to seven points with 3:06 remaining, but the Tide missed its final seven shots and was 1-of-13 from the floor to close the game. This was Alabama coach Avery Johnson's first loss to LSU in almost three years. LSU went 10-of-15 from three. PG Tremont Waters led the Bayou Bengals with 19 points, 7 assists and 4 — a performance that included some hot sauce:
