SEC Hoops: Top 10 Teams Dealing with Injuries, Including Kentucky's Next Opponent

It’s never good when arguably the biggest story in college basketball is an injury. That’s the case after Saturday’s exciting slate of SEC basketball action.

Poised to take the top spot in next week’s AP Top 25, No. 2 Auburn had to deal with a pesky South Carolina team in Columbia. Collin Murray-Boyles was dealing, scoring a game-high 25 points for the Cocks, who had the Tigers on the ropes.

Things looked even more dire when Johni Broome landed on a South Carolina player’s foot in the second half. Bruce Pearl described it as a “significant” injury after the game, but The Athletic’s C.J. Moore reports it’s just a low-ankle sprain, which is better than the alternative.

Broome is probably the leading candidate for National Player of the Year. It’ll be tough to continue this momentum without him, but credit to Auburn for rallying to a 66-63 win on the road in SEC play.

Texas A&M Playing Well Without Its Star

Wade Taylor IV is Buzz Williams’ best bucket, averaging 15.7 points and 4.8 assists per game this season. The Aggies have been without their leading scorer for the last two games. There are no details about this undisclosed injury, so it’s unclear if he might play Tuesday night at Rupp Arena. Even if Taylor IV is out against the Cats, A&M proved this week they are still a very dangerous team.

On Tuesday night, Zhuric Phelps scored 34 points in a Top 25 road win at Oklahoma. He had 24 points on Saturday and Pharrel Payne had 23 off the bench, but the fifth-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide were too much for Texas A&M to handle in College Station. They trailed by double-digits in the first half before clawing back and cutting the deficit to three with three minutes remaining, but Mark Sears and Co. were able to salt away the game and leave Reed Arena with a win.

For a moment, it looked like another one of the SEC’s best big guys was going to be sidelined by an ankle injury. Cliff Omoruyi was in a lot of pain on the ground early in the second half. He returned later in the game and finished with 10 rebounds in just 16 minutes of action.

“I’ll say a lot about Cliff, man,” Nate Oats said after the game. “A lot of guys would have just sat that one out after they rolled their ankle like he did. And he manned up, wanted to play, wanted to be there for his teammates.”

Rick Barnes Briefly Benches Lanier in Victorious Return to Texas

Rick Barnes returned to Austin, a place where he coached for 17 years, a few days after his team was embarrassed at Florida. The top-ranked Vols only made 12 shots in that loss. That might be why Barnes put star Chaz Lanier on a short leash. Lanier was subbed out 11 seconds in the second half.

“I took him out the first play of the second half because he didn’t shoot the ball,” Barnes said during his postgame press conference. “That play was designed for that shot. And I told him, I said, if you’re not going to do what you’re getting paid to do, you sit over here. Because he is getting paid to do that.”

It still sounds weird to hear from a college coach, but he’s not wrong. He’s paid to shoot the rock in the SEC. Lanier took more shots later in the game but only finished 3-11 for 10 points. He was 1-9 against the Gators.

Even without the North Florida transfer firing on all cylinders, they got enough offense from Zakai Ziegler. The point guard’s bucket with a minute to go provided enough cushion for a 74-70 win. Texas’ freshman phenom, Tre Johnson, led all scorers with 26 points.

Arkansas Still Stinks

The Razorbacks led by as many as nine points in the first half, but spent almost the entire second half trailing Florida by 7-11 points. The Gators didn’t have their best game — Clayton, Richard, and Martin shot a combined 13-37 from the field — but it didn’t matter. Arkansas shot an abysmal 30% from the floor in a 71-63 loss. This was the John Calipari quote that had Arkansas fans enraged after starting SEC play 0-3.

Someone has got to tell John Calipari that his “Aww shucks, I don’t even know our schedule” schtick is not as endearing as he thinks it is.

“I didn’t even know when we play.” Who talks about their job like that? pic.twitter.com/A8ct1ao6zt

— Chet Lemond (@ChetLemond) January 12, 2025

Other SEC Scores: Georgia Might Be Good

Mike White’s team ripped off its second ranked win of the week on Saturday in similar fashion to what Kentucky fans saw on Tuesday. Georgia went 27-37 from the free throw line, while Oklahoma was just 7-9. The Dawgs won 72-62 at Stegeman Coliseum.

Former Kentucky Wildcat Daimion Collins had one of the best games of his career. He went 6-8 from the floor to score 14 points, but LSU didn’t have enough offensive firepower in a 77-65 loss to Ole Miss.

Jason Edwards scored 20 points off the bench for Vanderbilt, but the home team held serve. Mizzou defeated Vandy 75-66 as Mark Mitchell put up 19 points for the Tigers.