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SEC Saturday Recap: SEC wins Big 12 Challenge

Kassidy Stumboby:Kassidy Stumbo•01/30/22•

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Photo by Todd Kirkland | Getty Images

Happy Sunday, BBN! While the ‘Cats were making a major statement last night in Lawrence, teams all around the league were squaring up with their Big 12 counterparts. Let’s see who got it done and who didn’t.

Oklahoma at No. 1 Auburn

Auburn will remain the No. 1 team in the country for another week after handling Oklahoma 86-68 at home last night. It was the first time the Tigers have ever played at home as the nation’s top team.

Jabari Smith and Walker Kessler powered Auburn to a win with 23 and 21 points, respectively. Smith added 12 rebounds to his stat line, as well as two steals and one block. Kessler wasn’t far behind with nine rebounds and four blocks of his own. That’s a total of 44 points, 21 rebounds and five blocks between the two of them. Not too shabby.

Auburn leads the country in blocked shots this year with 169 total. Exhibit A:

No. 4 Baylor at Alabama

This Alabama team is weird, folks. After losing to a (very) bad Georgia team just days ago, they upset No. 4 Baylor 87-78 in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night. It is the Tide’s fifth top-15 win of the season.

Jahvon Quinerly led ‘Bama with 20 points and five assists. Jaden Shackelford wasn’t far behind with 19 points of his own, along with nine rebounds, five assists and three steals. Shackelford has struggled with inconsistency a bit this season, but seems to perform his best in big games — as can be seen with last night’s big ‘Bama win.

Baylor was without leading scorer LJ Cryer, who sat out due to soreness in his foot. They trailed by as many as 15 in the second half but cut the deficit to four with under three minutes left. Alabama freshman J.D. Davison scored seven of his 14 in those final minutes, helping the Tide hold on for the win.

Mississippi State at No. 13 Texas Tech

This one was not quite as exciting or shocking. No. 13 Texas Tech easily handled Mississippi State 76-50 last night in Lubbock, moving them to 16-5 on the season. They are undefeated at home this season.

Adonis Arms led the Red Raiders with 16 points and seven assists. Arms is starting in place of Terrence Shannon, who is dealing with a back issue that has sidelined him for several games this season. Kevin Obanor added 13 points and six rebounds. Texas Tech shot a season-best 61.7% from the field and 38.5% from the three-point line.

The Bulldogs could not find that same offensive groove. Iverson Molinar, who dropped 30 in Rupp on Tuesday, led the team with 12 points. D.J. Jeffries added 11 and Rocket Watts put up 10 off the bench. The Bulldogs turned the ball over 22 times in the effort.

No. 18 Tennessee at Texas

All about conference pride, but I also don’t mind seeing the boys in orange lose — and that’s exactly what they did last night. The Vols traveled to Texas to take on the Longhorns, where they lost 52-51 after a gutsy comeback effort. It was Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes’ first time back in Austin since he left his gig there for Knoxville.

Courtney Ramey had 18 for the Longhorns, which shot 54.1% from the field and 43.8% from three. Timmy Allen and Andrew Jones each added nine points to the effort. It was their defense that was really impressive, though. The Longhorns held Tennessee’s leading scorer Santiago Vescovi to just three points.

Despite the loss, Tennessee put together a huge comeback late in the second half. Texas led by 16 points with a little over six minutes remaining — but that’s when something clicked for the Vols. Josiah Jordan-James had a chance to win it in the final seconds, but his 3-point attempt hit the back of the rim and bounced out, ending the game.

No. 19 LSU at TCU

The LSU Tigers have now lost four of their last five games after falling 77-68 to TCU last night in Fort Worth. It was TCU’s first win against an SEC opponent since 1954.

TCU was looking to seek revenge after a bad 23-point home loss to Texas this week — and that’s what they did. The Horned Frogs led by as many as 16 points early in the second half after senior Chuck O’Bannon hit three consecutive 3-pointers from the right-wing in less than two minutes. O’Bannon ended with a career-high 19 points — 16 of those coming after halftime.

LSU managed to go on a 10-point run after that, eventually bringing the game within one point. They were never able to take the lead, though. Tari Eason led with 16 points. Darius Days and Eric Gaines each added 14 of their own. Days snagged 12 rebounds as well, giving him his fourth double-double of the season.

Missouri at No. 23 Iowa State

No upset here. The Iowa State Cyclones won their part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge after beating Missouri 67-50 at home last night. It was a strong week for the Cyclones, who snagged an 84-81 win at Oklahoma State in overtime on Wednesday.

Izaiah Brockington led Iowa State with 15 points, along with six rebounds, two assists and one steal. Tyrese Hunter added 14 of his own and Aljaz Kunc had 11 off the bench. The Cyclones shot 58.3% in the second half, but the first was not as pretty. They made just one of their first 10 3-point attempts and shot 34% overall in the first.

DaJuan Gordan led Mizzou with 15 points. Amari Davis contributed 11 off the bench and Jarron Coleman added 10. The Tigers just couldn’t find a consistent offensive groove. They missed 10 of their first 11 shots in the second half, putting themselves in a hole that was just too tough to climb out of.

West Virginia at Arkansas

Another impressive conference dub here as the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers 77-68 last night in Fayetteville. It was West Virginia’s fifth consecutive loss. Not looking good, Bob.

Au’Diese Toney scored 19 points, leading the Razorbacks offensively. JD Notae added 15, going 6-8 from the field. Stanley Umude and Jaylin Williams each added 12. Williams grabbed 15 boards as well, along with two steals and two blocks. Despite the win, Arkansas made just three of their 14 3-point attempts (21.4%).

Kedrian Johnson led the Mountaineers with his season-high 18 points. It was just his second game this season scoring double digits. Taz Sherman came next with 15 points. WVU shot just 38.4% from the field and 26.9% from deep. They managed to pull within five after falling behind by 19 midway through the second half, but couldn’t close the gap completely.

Kansas State at Ole Miss

Ole Miss got in on the winning fun yesterday too. The Rebels defeated Kansas State 67-56 at home, pushing them to 11-10 on the season. It was Ole Miss’ first win in the SEC/Big 12 challenge.

Daeshun Ruffin had 17 in the contest, 13 of them coming in the second half. Luis Rodriguez added 10 points to the effort for Ole Miss, who shot 45% overall and 33.3% from beyond the arc. Kansas State, on the other hand, shot just 30.2% overall.

Kansas State’s Mark Smith recorded his fifth double-double of the season with 20 points and 16 rebounds. Nijel Pack added 18 and made six of the 11 Wildcat 3-pointers. It was the third straight loss for the Wildcats, who faced a tough back-to-back Kansas and Baylor slate last week. They are currently sitting at 10-10 on the season.

Oklahoma State at Florida

This was one heck of a comeback by Florida. The Gators beat Oklahoma State 81-72 last night thanks to a big second-half effort from some senior leadership.

Tyree Appleby scored a season-high 21 points in the effort, 13 of them in the second-half rally. Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had 14 of his own, helping push the Gators to a much-needed win. They were down by as many as 16 in the first half, but outscored the Cowboys 49-27 in the second thanks to some hot shooting while forcing 12 turnovers.

Isaac Likekele led Oklahoma State with his 14 points while Bryce Thompson added 12. The Cowboys were on fire in the first half, shooting 63% from the floor and draining seven of their 10 3-point attempts. But the second half was a whole different story, as they shot just 29%. It was their third loss in a row.

No. 12 Kentucky at No. 5 Kansas

Yeah, I’m still pretty high off this one. The ‘Cats are dangerously back after they manhandled No. 5 Kansas last night on the road, leaving Lawrence with an 80-62 dub and a whole lot of new national respect. When this team is healthy, they can (and will) get it done.

The big story here is Keion Brooks Jr. After struggling a bit earlier this season, the junior big man stepped up in a big way last night. He scored a career-high 27 points in the contest and snagged eight rebounds to go along with them. After being named one of 15 finalists for the Naismith Men’s Defensive Player of the Year Award, Oscar Tshiebwe did what he does best: post another double-double. This one came with 17 points and 14 rebounds, along with four steals.

Kellan Grady added 12 points of his own, but it was his defense that impressed many. Grady was suffocating when covering KU’s Ochai Agbaji, who is also considered to be a Player of the Year candidate. After scoring 37 points in their double-overtime win over No. 13 Texas Tech on Monday, Agbaji was held to just 13 points on 4 of 14 shooting last night.

The Wildcats snagged 41 rebounds as opposed to 29 from the Jayhawks. Kentucky raced out to an 8-0 lead to begin the game and never let up from there. The Jayhawks went on a small 8-0 run to cut the UK lead to 14 midway through the second half, but couldn’t get any closer.

Following the win, the ‘Cats now lead the series 24-10 all-time. Kansas had won four of the last five meetings prior to last night’s game. It was the first time Kentucky had won at Allen Fieldhouse since 1985.

For more on the big win, check out Jack’s top takeaways or Zack’s thoughts on what this win means for our national title hopes.

Oh, and the SEC won the challenge 6-4. It really does mean more.

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2025-04-24