SEC Watch: Vols Go Down, Auburn Rolling, and Two Contenders Are 0-2

The Southeastern Conference completed its second wave of games Wednesday night, wrapping up the first mid-week slate on the league’s 2024 schedule. In Lexington, the Wildcats defended home court against Missouri in Kentucky’s first SEC home game Tuesday night. The SEC’s home teams were unbeaten everywhere else, too, as all seven road teams suffered losses after the road dogs won four of seven on opening Saturday last weekend. Let’s start with the most significant result of the week in this recap of the Game 2s around the South.

Tennessee Goes Down

The top-ranked team in the league and fifth-ranked team in the country, Tennessee, already dropped a spot in the early SEC race after last night’s result in Starkville. Tennessee went down to Mississippi and lost in the final seconds to Chris Jans’ Bulldogs in a wild game of runs. Mississippi State led by 15 in the first half, only for the Vols to erase the lead in the second with Dalton Knecht’s 26 second-half points. Knecht’s last bucket tied the game at 72 with only 34 seconds to go. That’s when Tolu Smith, who missed the first 12 games of the season, stepped up in his third game with a three-point play with 14.7 on the clock, giving State its final lead in the game.

🏀 What a game for Mississippi State men's basketball

The Bulldogs top 5-Tennessee, 77-72

It's MSU's first AP Top 10 win since 2002

MRA grad Josh Hubbard led with 25 points
Tolu Smith had 23

Here's the wild ending: pic.twitter.com/4aQwtHjXlC

— David Edelstein 🌐 (@davidzedelstein) January 11, 2024

Smith scored 23 points for the Bulldogs, second to Josh Hubbard‘s 25 off the bench. Hubbard, a true freshman, hit five three-pointers in the win.

For Tennessee, Zakai Zeigler added 26 points to join Knecht as the Vols’ high-scorers. Tennessee was the fourth top-five team to lose this week.

Arkansas In Trouble

The media picked Arkansas third to win the conference in the preseason poll, finishing one spot ahead of Kentucky in the early voting. Now, two games into the year, Arkansas finds itself at the bottom of the standings with two losses in the first two games, including its historic 32-point loss to Auburn in the league opener at Bud Walton Arena.

Last night, Arkansas suffered its second loss, 76-66, this time on the road at Georgia. The Razorbacks not only lost but never even held a lead in the entire game.

Justin Hill scored 19 for the Dawgs. Tramon Mark paced Arkansas with 24 and five made three-pointers in the loss.

Texas A&M, Also In Trouble

Joining Arkansas at 0-2 and the floor of the SEC standings, Texas A&M may have already removed itself from SEC contention. On Tuesday, A&M lost at Auburn by double digits, 66-55, due to an ice-cold shooting performance by the Aggies. A&M shot 29 percent from the field (18-for-62) and 15.8 from three (3-for-19) in the 66-55 loss.

Auburn’s Jaylin Williams, a senior, scored 22 points. KD Johnson added 14 off Bruce Pearl’s bench.

Auburn Is Rolling, No. 4 in KenPom

While some of the projected contenders struggle, Auburn has handled its business through two games. The SEC’s third-ranked team at No. 16, the Tigers haven’t been threatened in either of the first two SEC games, first at Arkansas and last night against A&M. Bruce Pearl’s team hasn’t lost a game since December 3 when App State surprised Auburn in Boone, North Carolina, in the seventh game of the year. Auburn also lost its season-opener versus No. 20 Baylor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but hasn’t dropped one at home.

The Tigers are fourth in the country in KenPom.

Florida Couldn’t Bounce Back At Ole Miss

Coming off a heartbreaking loss to Kentucky in an Orange Out in Gainesville, the Florida Gators traveled to Ole Miss in need of a bounce-back win, but the Rebels were too hot to take down. Ole Miss scored 103 points on Florida last night, led by Jaemyn Brakefield‘s 28 and Matthew Murrell‘s 23. They shot a combined 19-for-28 from the field and didn’t miss a free throw.

Defensively, Ole Miss set a school record for blocks with 16, including Jamarion Sharp, the former Western Kentucky Hilltopper, with nine blocks, a new individual record at Ole Miss.

LSU An Early Surprise

LSU was picked 13th in the SEC preseason voting but sits at 2-0 through two games. First, the Tigers shocked A&M with a 15-point win in College Station last weekend. Then, LSU scored 47 second-half points to beat Vanderbilt earlier this week. Guard Jalen Cook scored 28 to help Matt McMahon’s Tigers win a fourth straight game. LSU’s only losses since November were to Kansas State and No. 19 Texas.

Bayou Tough Tiger Of The Game: 𝗝𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗼𝗸@jalen3cook | #BootUp pic.twitter.com/4hjDeGSVOr

— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) January 10, 2024

Alabama’s Mark Sears Can Fill It Up

A couple of Saturday winners met Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa when Alabama hosted South Carolina. Alabama guard Mark Sears was the difference-maker in that one, dropping 31 points in the 74-47 win over the Gamecocks, bringing his season average to 20.2 points per game. Sears is the league’s high-scorer while also ranking fourth in field goal percentage at 54.8 percent. He shot 10-of-13 from the field Tuesday night, adding to his early case for SEC Player of the Year. Alabama is 2-0 in the standings.

SEC Scoreboard (Game 2)

Missouri	77	(6) Kentucky	90	Lexington, KY
Texas A&M	55	(16) Auburn	66	Auburn, AL
South Carolina	47	Alabama	74	Tuscaloosa, AL
Vanderbilt	69	LSU	77	Baton Rouge, LA
(5) Tennessee	72	Mississippi State	77	Starkville, MS
Arkansas	66	Georgia	76	Athens, GA
Florida	85	Ole Miss	103	Oxford, MS

SEC Standings Through One Game

	CONF	OVERALL	HOME	ROAD	NEUTRAL	STRK
Auburn	2-0	13-2	8-0	1-1	4-1	W8
Kentucky	2-0	12-2	8-1	2-0	2-1	W6
Georgia	2-0	12-3	10-0	2-0	0-3	W10
Alabama	2-0	10-5	7-1	1-1	2-3	W4
LSU	2-0	10-5	7-2	1-1	2-2	W4
Ole Miss	1-1	14-1	10-0	2-1	2-0	W1
South Carolina	1-1	13-2	9-0	1-2	3-0	L-1
Mississippi State	1-1	12-3	6-1	0-2	6-0	W1
Tennessee	1-1	11-4	8-0	1-2	2-2	L-1
Florida	0-2	10-5	6-1	0-2	4-2	L-2
Arkansas	0-2	9-6	7-2	0-1	2-3	L-2
Texas A&M	0-2	9-6	5-2	2-2	2-2	L-2
Missouri	0-2	8-7	6-3	2-2	0-2	L-2
Vanderbilt	0-2	5-10	5-5	0-2	0-3	L-2