Published Jan 13, 2022
SEC hoops roundup
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Bryan Matthews  •  AuburnSports
Senior Editor
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AUBURN | In today’s weekly SEC hoops roundup, we take a look at some huge midweek wins for the leagues top teams and look ahead to some key weekend matchups.

MIDWEEK ROUNDUP

Auburn and LSU both had the biggest wins. AU went to Alabama and came home with a 4-point win while LSU won by six at Florida without point guard Xavier Pinson. Kentucky also had a nice 12-point road win at Vanderbilt and Texas A&M remained one of only two undefeated teams in conference games with a 16-point win over Ole Miss.

Arkansas got its first SEC win Wednesday night with a blowout of Missouri. That leaves just Florida and Georgia as the only two teams without a conference win. The Gators three losses are to Alabama, Auburn and LSU, while UGA has lost to Texas A&M, Kentucky and Mississippi State.

DIGGING IN THE STATS

Kentucky and LSU hold the top spots in most SEC statistics. The Wildcats lead the conference in scoring offense, field goal percentage, rebounding margin and assist/turnover ratio. LSU leads in scoring defense, scoring margin, field-goal percentage defense, 3-point field-goal percentage defense and steals. Auburn leads in blocked shots, Mississippi State leads in free throw percentage, Texas A&M 3-point percentage, and Tennessee in assists and turnover margin.

The top three scorers in the league are Vanderbilt’s Scotty Pippen Jr. (19.2 ppg), Arkansas’ JD Notae (18.8) and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (17.0). Tshiebwe also leads with 15.1 rebounds per game and a .627 field goal percentage. UK’s Sahvir Wheeler leads with 7.3 assists per game, Notae with 2.8 steals, Auburn’s Walker Kessler with 4.0 blocks, Alabama’s Jaden Shackelford with 3.2 3-pointers and UK’s Kellan Grady with a .449 3-point percentage.

POLL WATCH

The SEC has five teams in the AP Poll led by Auburn at No. 4. The next four are No. 12 LSU, No. 18 Kentucky, No. 22 Tennessee and No. 24 Alabama. The same five teams are in the top 25 of the NET rankings: No. 3 LSU, No. 6 Auburn, No. 10 Tennessee, No. 12 Kentucky and No. 23 Alabama. The next highest teams are No. 46 Mississippi State, No. 50 Florida and No. 55 Texas A&M.

Auburn could be poised to move up even higher. CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish listed AU in his new top 25 Wednesday morning while ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has AU as a No. 1 seed and the No. 2 overall team in his latest bracketology. No. 1 Baylor lost to No. 19 Texas Tech Tuesday opening up the door for a new No. 1 in the AP Poll next week.

CURRENT STANDINGS

1. Auburn 4-0, 15-1

2. Texas A&M 3-0, 14-2

3. LSU 3-1, 15-1

3. Kentucky 3-1, 13-3

4. Mississippi State 2-1, 11-4

6. Tennessee 2-2, 11-4

7. Alabama 2-2, 11-5

8. South Carolina 1-2, 10-5

9. Ole Miss 1-2, 9-6

10. Vanderbilt 1-2, 9-6

11. Missouri 1-2, 7-8

12. Arkansas 1-3, 11-5

13. Florida 0-3, 9-6

14. Georgia 0-3, 5-11

SATURDAY’S GAMES (All times CT)

Tennessee at Kentucky, noon, ESPN

Florida at South Carolina, noon, SECN

Arkansas at LSU, 1 p.m., ESPN2

Texas A&M at Missouri, 2:30 p.m., SECN

Vanderbilt at Georgia, 5 p.m., ESPN2

Alabama at Mississippi State, 5 p.m., SECN

Auburn at Ole Miss, 7:30 p.m., SECN

The Vols at Wildcats should be the one of the better matchups this weekend while both Auburn and TAMU face road tests while trying to remain undefeated. Missouri is one of the leagues most Jekyll and Hyde teams, beating Alabama 92-86 at home last Saturday before losing 87-43 at Arkansas Wednesday night.