Ok, I didn’t get this series done by opening day like I wanted to, but oh well. I know this exercise feels a bit worse after Monday’s loss, but basketball season doesn’t end after one game, so we’re going to keep rolling through the end of the season.

After 25 games, I have the Tigers sitting at 18-7 overall and 7-5 in SEC play with six games left on the schedule. Let’s get into the first half of those final games as we look at matchups against Alabama, Arkansas and South Carolina.

So many mid-weed 8 p.m. games this year. I hate it.

Alabama is the favorite to win the conference coming in to the season according to the media after posting a 25-12 overall record with a 13-5 mark in SEC play last year. The Crimson Tide lost to Florida in the first round of the SEC Tournament, but went into the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed and beat Charleston, Grand Canyon and Clemson to reach the program’s first Final Four, where they lost to UConn.

Alabama enters the season as the No. 2 team according to the AP and the No. 4 team in the KenPom rankings.

Alabama played a very tough non-conference schedule last year with games against Wake Forest, Ohio State, Oregon, Clemson, Purdue, Creighton and Arizona.

They have a similarly tough road to conference play this year with games against Purdue, Illinois, Houston, North Carolina and Creighton again.

The Crimson Tide beat Missouri 93-75 in mid January last year for the teams’ only matchup. Alabama leads the all-time series with Missouri 15-7 and has won the past four matchups. Missouri’s last win came 92-86 on Jan. 8, 2022 in Columbia, which was the final win in a three-game Tiger winning streak in the series.

Leading scorer Mark Sears is back after averaging 21.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game last season. The 6-foot, 1-inch, 190-pound graduate guard was a first-team All-SEC pick and is on the Naismith Trophy Player of the Year watchlist.

The Tide also return graduate forward Grant Nelson (6-11, 230) who averaged 11.9 points and a team-high 5.9 rebounds per game, while blocking 62 shots.

Latrell Wrightsell, a 6-3, 190-pound graduate guard, is back after starting 12 games and averaging 8.9 points per game, as well.

Alabama brought in four transfers ranked in Rivals’ Top-150, led by Clifford Omoruyi from Rutgers. Omuruyi was ranked No. 16 in Rivals’ rankings, while Houston Mallette from Pepperdine was No. 68, Chris Youngblood from South Florida was No. 99 and Aden Holloway from Auburn was No. 149.

Omoruyi, a 6-11, 250-pound graduate center from Nigeria, played the past four seasons at Rutgers, starting every game the past three. He averaged 10.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game as a senior.

Mallette, a 6-5, 200-pound senior guard, started all but three games the past three years for Pepperdine and averaged 14.7 points per game last season.

Youngblood spent only one season at South Florida after playing three years at Kennesaw State. Last year, the 6-4, 223-pound graduate guard, averaged 15.3 points per game.

Holloway started 26 games as a freshman for Auburn last year, averaging 7.3 points per game and playing about 20 minutes per game.

The Tide also had the No. 3-ranked freshman class coming into the season.

Alabama brought in both five-star forward Derrion Reid (6-6, 185) and five-star forward Aiden Sherrell (6-10, 200) from Napa, California, as well four-star forward Naasir Cunningham (6-7, 175) from Santa Clarita, California and four-star guard Labaron Philon (6-3, 175) from Branson.

Alabama kicked off the season last night with a 110-54 win against UNC-Asheville.

Next up, the Tide will play Arkansas State on Friday.

I already mentioned the tough parts of their non-conference schedule, so let’s jump into SEC play where Alabama will open against Oklahoma. Auburn will be one of the two teams Alabama plays twice in the regular season this year, so Holloway will get a couple of chances for revenge games.

It’s going to be real tough to beat Alabama this year and I don’t think Missouri does it here.

I did all the team analysis about Arkansas here so I’m not going to do it all again.

This game might swing more toward Arkansas just because of home court and the team will have had more time for John Calipari to get them going.

So I’m going with Arkansas this time.

Again, an 8 p.m. weekday game. The way the scheduling worked out this year sucks.

The Gamecocks are coming off a 26-8 season where they compiled a 14-3 record in conference play. South Carolina won its first SEC Tournament game, then as a No. 6 seed, lost to Oregon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

South Carolina beat Virginia Tech and Notre Dame in non-conference play and lost to Clemson.

The Gamecocks needed overtime to beat Missouri 71-69 on Jan. 13, then beat the Tigers 72-64 on Jan. 27.

Missouri and South Carolina are tied at 9 in the all-time series with Missouri’s last win coming 83-74 on Feb. 7, 2023 at home.

South Carolina enters the season at No. 67 in the KenPom rankings.

The Gamecocks will have a fully new backcourt after losing Meechie Johnson and Ta’Lon Cooper who were both second-team All-SEC last year.

BJ Mack is also gone after starting all 34 games last season.

The most common starter returning for South Carolina is sophomore forward Collin Murray-Boyles (6-8, 245) who started 19 games, played 28 and averaged 10.4 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per contest.

Senior guard Myles Stute (6-6, 210) is back as well after starting 17 games and averaging 8.3 points per game.

South Carolina added three transfers, including a familiar face for Missouri fans in sophomore forward Jordan Butler (7-0, 240).

Butler was never able to get rolling as a freshman with the Tigers, but did play in 31 games and started 14 while averaging 2.3 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.

The Gamecocks also added Jamarii Thomas (5-11, 190) a senior guard from Norfolk State ranked No. 199 among Rivals’ Top-250, and Nick Pringle (6-10, 220) a graduate center from Alabama ranked No. 221.

Thomas was the MEAC Player of the Year last year, averaging 16.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game last season.

Pringle averaged 6.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last year while helping lead Alabama to the Final Four with 16 starts and 34 appearances.

South Carolina also added four-star freshman guard Cam Scott from Lexington, South Carolina, and three-star forward Okku Federiko from Finland in its freshman class.

The Gamecocks opened the season with a 74-71 loss to North Florida on Monday.

They will play Indiana, Xavier, Michigan or Virginia Tech and Clemson in non-conference play this season.

This will be the only matchup between the programs in the regular season.

I think this year is a big step back for the Gamecocks and Missouri ends up winning this one.

A 1-2 stretch for Missouri in these three.

After 28 games, I have the Tigers at 19-9 overall and 8-7 in conference play.

Only three games left on the schedule and we’re going to get through them!

Head on over to the Tiger Walk to discuss this and so much more.