SEC Basketball Recap: teams make final tweaks as SEC play begins
Though it was a quiet weekend in men’s college basketball due to the holiday, there was still plenty of action earlier in the week. Here’s what’s going on around the SEC:
No. 19 Tennessee knocks off No. 6 Arizona
The No. 19 Tennessee Volunteers put a big one in the ‘W’ column this week after handing No. 6 Arizona a 77-73 loss on Wednesday night. It was Arizona’s first loss of the season, pushing them to 11-1.
The Vols relied heavily on their veterans in this one. Super senior John Fulkerson (yes, he has been in Knoxville for six seasons now) ended with 24 points and 10 rebounds in the match. Juniors Santiago Vescovi and Josiah-Jordan James added 15 and 12, respectively. Sophomore Auburn transfer Justin Powell, a native of Prospect, KY, came off the bench to put up 11 of his own.
Despite the loss, the Wildcats put up an impressive fight. After falling behind 22-7 to start the game, they rallied to cut the Vol lead to just five in the latter part of the first half. They managed a 10-2 run in the second to cut UT’s lead to just four, but could never get all the way over the hump. The Vols had an answer for every run the Wildcats mustered up.
Much of that Wildcat fight came from sophomore Bennedict Mathurin. Mathurin led the ‘Cats with 28 points, just short of his season-high 29. He was pretty much the only source of offense for his team in the first half, as he scored 14 of their 21 points. Kerr Kriisa scored the second-most with just 11.
Georgia falls to ETSU at home
Georgia is now sitting comfortably at the bottom of the SEC after a tough 86-84 loss to the East Tennessee State Buccaneers on Wednesday night. The Bulldogs are 5-7 on the season heading into SEC play.
ETSU’s David Sloan hit a clutch 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining to give his team the slim two-point lead. Sloan, a senior from Louisville, ended with a career-high 24 points. His teammate Jordan King added 22 points to the Buccaneer effort. All but one of ETSU’s starters ended with double-digits in the points column.
Georgia senior Noah Baumann led the Bulldogs with 25 points in the effort. He had the opportunity to give the ‘Dawgs a three-point lead with 35 seconds remaining off an and-one play, but missed his free throw which led to ETSU’s go-ahead three. Baumann had another chance to win it with a 3-point try with less than a second left, but couldn’t connect.
The Bulldogs are hurting this season after losing their top six scorers from last season’s team to the transfer portal, including our very own Savhir Wheeler. The ‘Dawgs were predicted to finish last in the conference.
Vandy escapes Hawaii with narrow win over BYU
Good news for Vandy fans–even though your football team is terrible, your basketball team is at least a little less terrible! The Commodores handed BYU a 69-67 loss on Thursday night in Honolulu, their third straight win.
Scotty Pippen Jr. entered this season as the SEC’s leading returning scorer, averaging 20.8 points last season. Pippen ended Friday’s game with 23 points. Myles Stute and Jordan Wright added 14 and 13 points respectively. Wright opened the second half scoring eight straight, pushing Vandy to a one-point lead.
Pippen finished the job, though. After being benched due to foul trouble, he reentered the game with a little over seven minutes remaining. From there, he scored all of Vandy’s final 16 points. He is currently averaging 18.1 points per game this season and shooting 42.8% from the field.
The game featured 12 lead changes and five ties. Vandy should have played Stanford in the championship game yesterday in Honolulu, but the game was canceled due to COVID issues within the Cardinal’s program.
No. 12 Auburn races past Murray State
After an early-season loss to UConn in double-overtime, the Auburn Tigers look to be back on track. They recorded their eighth straight victory on Wednesday night after a 71-58 win over Murray State at home.
Wendell Green Jr. and Jabari Smith both ended the game with double-doubles for the Tigers. Green had 13 points and a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench, while Smith ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was his third double-double of the season. Auburn junior Allen Flanigan made his season debut after missing the first 11 games due to an Achilles tendon injury. Flanigan, a preseason first-team All-SEC pick, scored three points in his 12 minutes on the court.
Auburn’s bench was the big story in this one, though. Seven Tigers hit one or more shots from the field and eight recorded at least one assist. The bench scored 32 points in the match. After the game, Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl was very complimentary of their effort.
No. 17 LSU rolls over Lipscomb
LSU is still unbeaten after a dominant 95-60 win over Lipscomb on Wednesday night. The Tigers, who were picked to finish in the middle of the SEC, are currently leading the conference.
Senior Darius Days led the Tigers with 21 points. Xavier Pinson added 17 of his own, a season-high. Not to be outdone, sophomore Eric Gaines contributed 13 points, his career-best. All five of LSU’s starters scored in double figures and the Tigers never trailed.
Lipscomb struggled from start to end. Their leading scorer, Jacob Ognacevic, scored 12 points. Other than him, no other Lipscomb player scored in double figures. The Bisons committed 22 turnovers and shot just 39% from the field.
This is the first time that the Tigers will be undefeated heading into SEC play since 1999–22 seasons ago. They will travel to Auburn on Wednesday as they look to extend their streak.
No. 20 Wildcats dominate in-state Hilltoppers
It might not have been the Louisville game, but this one was still fun. After the Louisville Cardinals had to back out of the big rivalry game last Wednesday due to COVID issues within their program, the WKU Hilltoppers stepped up and made the trip to Lexington.
The ‘Cats dominated this one pretty much from start to finish. The Hilltoppers had a slight lead early in the first half, but it was all big blue from there on out.
Anyone who follows the sport closely knows that Kellan Grady can straight up score. Though the Davidson transfer has been a little inconsistent in his first few months with Kentucky, Wednesday night’s matchup might have been his big breakthrough. Grady hit six 3-pointers in the game, propelling him to a season-high 23 points.
He wasn’t the only one to put up some eye-catching numbers. Big man Oscar Tshiebwe posted his 10th double-double of the regular season, but this one was a little special. The West Virginia transfer snagged 28 rebounds against WKU–yes, you read that right. With the performance, his name will now be etched in Rupp Arena history forever, and it doesn’t look like he plans on stopping any time soon.
I won’t go into all the details, but this was a very impressive win for the ‘Cats, who have struggled at times this season. They are 9-2 as they head into SEC play, which will begin on Wednesday as they welcome the Missouri Tigers to Lexington. For more on what the blowout win over WKU means, check out this piece from Jack Pilgrim.
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