Tennessee, Alabama and Texas A&M only unbeaten teams in SEC men’s basketball play
It’s early, but Tennessee, Alabama and Texas A&M are the only three teams to break cleanly from the gate in SEC men’s basketball. Alabama and Tennessee are both 3-0 in league play. Texas A&M has won its first two games.
Bama bashed Kentucky 78-52 on Saturday in Tuscaloosa, of course. Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide held John Calipari’s Wildcats to just 28.8 percent shooting from the floor and lead by as many as 31 points in the second half. That blowout followed Alabama’s 11-point win at Mississippi State and 22-point win over visiting Ole Miss.
[Alabama is good enough to be a Final Four team]
Tennessee has been dominating, as well. After a four-point win at Ole Miss in the Vols’ SEC opener, Rick Barnes’ Volunteers drubbed Mississippi State 87-53 in Knoxville before annihilating South Carolina 85-42 in Columbia on Saturday. The Gamecocks made just 12 of 48 shots (25 percent) against the UT defense.
Texas A&M has conference wins 66-63 at Florida and 69-56 over LSU in College Station on Saturday. The Aggies jumped to a 34-23 lead at the half over the Tigers. They outrebounded LSU 38-27.
Here’s a look at the standings heading into this week:
As for this week, Alabama is at Arkansas on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Arkansas has faced a brutal early conference schedule. The Razorbacks lost by three at LSU 60-57 on Dec. 28, beat Missouri 74-68 last Wednesday, then lost 72-59 at Auburn on Saturday.
This coming Saturday, Kentucky travels to Tennessee. As we know, the Cats are 1-5 away from Rupp Arena, with four of those losses coming by double digits.
Here’s this week’s SEC men’s basketball schedule:
This story was originally published January 9, 2023 at 10:14 AM.
