SEC Hoops: Blowout City on Upset Saturday

Eleven ranked teams lost on Saturday. It’s tied for the most in a single day in the long history of the AP Poll. Many of those losses, including Kentucky’s loss to Arkansas, happened in the SEC. The weird part is that none of the losses were particularly close.

Florida Falls HARD Against Short-Handed Tennessee

The Volunteers were in danger of losing their third straight game (and four out of five). They didn’t have Zakai Zeigler or Igor Milicic. It didn’t matter. The Tennessee defense completely controlled the game.

The game was close around intermission when Florida missed an open three, corralled the rebound, then got not one but two shots swatted at the rim. That felt symbolic. The Gators went 13-53 (24.5%), which is almost a mirror image of Tennessee’s 12-56 (21.4%) shooting performance in Gainesville earlier in the season. Tennessee lost that game by 30. Florida lost Saturday’s game in Knoxville by 20, 64-44.

Vanderbilt Lays Second Half Egg at Oklahoma

The Commodores used two Top 10 wins to jump into the AP Poll for the first time since the 2015-16 season. They followed that up with an all-time awful half of basketball.

Vanderbilt actually had a 40-36 halftime lead at Oklahoma. They lost the game by 30 points. Vandy was 1-12 from three-point land and turned it over ten times in the second half as the Sooners went nuclear. Oklahoma shot 73% over the final 20 minutes, outscoring Vandy 61-27. After losing their first four SEC games, Oklahoma has won three of its last four.

Miss. State Loses Another SEC Home Game

For the third time this year, Mississippi State lost as a home favorite. This might be the toughest loss yet for the Dentist and his Tooth Fairies.

No. 20 Missouri blitzed No. 14 Miss. State from the jump, taking a 14-point lead into the halftime locker room. They kept up the pace by shooting 55% from the field at The Hump and sinking 15 three-pointers. State let Caleb Grill cook. The sharpshooter came off the bench and hit six three-pointers to score 20 points and secure an 88-61 win. They only have one SEC loss in their last seven games.

Auburn Remains Unbeaten in SEC Play

I keep waiting for the game where Auburn will trip up in SEC play. Ole Miss had enough firepower to do it, but Auburn refused to miss shots in a 92-82 victory. Chris Beard’s squad kept it within reach for almost 40 minutes, but never could rally to overtake the top-ranked team in the country. That’s because Auburn sank 14-28 three-pointers, while National Player of the Year frontrunner Johni Broome had 20 points and 12 rebounds. When Auburn’s offense is humming, they aren’t getting beat.

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Wade Taylor IV is Back

Wade Taylor IV is one of the most prolific scorers in the SEC. He hadn’t looked like himself since he returned from a groin injury. That all changed on Saturday. The Texas A&M shooting guard sank seven threes to score a season-high 25 points as A&M held on for a 76-72 win at South Carolina.

SEC Standings

A few other scores from around the SEC: Alabama easily handled Georgia, 90-69, and Texas went to the PMAC and ran LSU off the court with an 89-58 win.

Team	SEC	Overall
Auburn	8-0	20-1
Alabama	8-1	19-3
Missouri	6-2	17-4
Texas A&M	6-3	17-5
Florida	5-3	18-3
Tennessee	5-4	18-4
Ole Miss	5-4	16-6
Vanderbilt	4-4	16-5
Kentucky	4-4	15-6
Mississippi State	4-5	16-6
Texas	4-5	15-7
Oklahoma	3-5	16-5
Georgia	3-6	15-7
Arkansas	2-6	13-8
LSU	1-7	12-9
South Carolina	0-9	10-12

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