SEC basketball: Alabama will try to bounce back against red-hot Auburn on Tuesday
Some SEC basketball notes:
▪ The big game on Tuesday’s conference schedule has No. 4 Auburn at No. 24 Alabama at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN. Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes will be on the call for the World Wide Leader.
▪ Auburn climbed five spots in the AP college basketball poll to No. 4, its highest ranking since Jan. 13, 2020, and just the second time in 22 years it has been ranked that high.
▪ The Tigers improved to 14-1 overall and 3-0 in the SEC with its 85-73 win over Florida on Saturday. Georgia transfer K.D. Johnson scored 23 points in the win for the Tigers. Former Eastern Kentucky star Wendell Green had 13 points and four assists off the bench as Auburn shot 53.6 percent from the floor.
▪ Saturday’s big upset saw Missouri beat then No. 15 Alabama 92-86 in Columbia. Kobe Brown scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for the Tigers, who evened their record at 7-7 overall and 1-1 in the SEC. Alabama dropped to 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the league.
▪ Alabama coach Nate Oats called the loss “probably our worst defensive performance of the year.”
▪ By the way, Saturday’s win was Missouri’s first game since losing at Kentucky 83-56 on Dec. 29. Mizzou coach Cuonzo Martin missed that game after testing positive for COVID. And the Missouri-Mississippi State game scheduled for Jan. 5 was postponed.
▪ After beating a pair of ranked teams in Kentucky and Tennessee last week, LSU climbed nine spots to No. 12 in the AP poll on Monday.
▪ LSU got 24 points and 12 rebounds from Tari Eason in its 79-67 win over Tennessee on Saturday. Statistically the best defensive team in the nation, LSU held Tennessee to 38.8 percent shooting from the floor. That was four days to holding Kentucky to 36.2 percent in a 65-60 win over the Wildcats.
▪ Tennessee coach Rick Barnes was not happy with sixth-year forward John Fulkerson, who scored just three points in 17 minutes. “We need John to help us, or we need him to stop aside,” Barnes said. “He’s got to be tougher. We’re asking him to do what he needs to do.”
▪ Heading into Monday’s games, LSU was No. 4 in the NCAA NET rankings. Auburn was No. 6, Tennessee No. 11, Kentucky No. 16 and Alabama No. 22.
▪ Kentucky’s Tuesday opponent Vanderbilt lost 72-70 at home to South Carolina on Saturday. The Commodores had a chance to tie the game or win it at the end when they took over the basketball with six seconds left. But even with the ball in Scottie Pippen Jr.’s hands, Vanderbilt failed to get a shot off.
Vandy coach Jerry Stackhouse said afterward the play was designed for Pippen to penetrate and kick the ball out to Trey Thomas for a three-pointer.
“If [Pippen Jr.] catches it and he has a break, then he has plenty of time to execute what we want him to, but because they jammed him on the ball, it took a second or two for him to get into motion,” Stackhouse said. “It was not executed well because of the time and the jam, but it probably wasn’t the right call.”
▪ Stackhouse also took some ribbing for his suit, which looked very similar to South Carolina’s colors.
▪ South Carolina was just 3-of-17 from three-point range (17.6 percent), but made 25 of its 34 two-point attempts (73.5 percent) to improve to 10-4 overall and 1-1 in the league.
▪ Arkansas dropped to 0-3 in the league with an 86-81 loss at Texas A&M on Saturday. Quenton Jackson scored 16 points off the bench for the Aggies, who shot 56.4 percent to go 2-0 in the SEC. JD Notae’s 31 points were not enough for the Razorbacks.
▪ Matthew Murrell scored a career-high 31 points as Ole Miss knocked off arch-rival Mississippi State 82-72 in Oxford on Saturday. Murrelly was 10-of-11 from the floor, including a perfect five-of-five from three-point range. Murrell also made all six of his free throws. Both teams are 1-1 in the SEC.
▪ Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith did not play because of non-disciplinary reasons. Smith is averaging 14.2 points and 7.8 rebounds this season. Smith transferred to Starkville from Western Kentucky after the 2018-19 season.
SEC basketball schedule this week
Tuesday, Jan. 11
- 6:30 p.m. - South Carolina at Tennessee (SEC)
- 7 p.m. - Kentucky at Vanderbilt (ESPN)
- 8:30 p.m. - Ole Miss at Texas A&M (SEC)
- 9 p.m. - Auburn at Alabama (ESPN)
Wednesday, Jan. 12
- 7 p.m. - LSU at Florida (ESPN)
- 7 p.m. - Georgia at Mississippi State (SEC)
- 9 p.m. - Missouri at Arkansas (SEC)
Saturday, Jan. 15
- 1 p.m. - Tennessee at Kentucky (ESPN)
- 1 p.m. - Florida at South Carolina (SEC)
- 2 p.m. - Arkansas at LSU (ESPN2)
- 3:30 p.m. - Texas A&M at Missouri (SEC)
- 6 p.m. - Alabama at Mississippi State (SEC)
- 6 p.m. - Vanderbilt at Georgia (ESPN2)
- 8:30 p.m. - Auburn at Ole Miss (SEC)
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 2:50 PM.
