Another week in SEC basketball, another impressive showing for Alabama. The Crimson Tide absolutely blitzed LSU on the road, winning 105-75 last Tuesday. They then did enough to pull out a win against Mississippi State to improve their record to 8-0, a full two games ahead of all other challenges.
Behind Alabama, things get a lot more jumbled. But no team helped itself more last week than Missouri. The Tigers won wire-to-wire against South Carolina then logged their biggest win since perhaps 2012, avenging a 20-point loss to Tennessee earlier this season by winning in Knoxville. The Tigers have now won three games in a row after going on pause due to a positive COVID-19 test. They'll try to keep that streak alive with another difficult test at Auburn Tuesday night.
This week is a unique one in the SEC, as 10 teams will play Big 12 opponents on Saturday as part of the SEC-Big 12 challenge. Missouri will host TCU. Without further ado, here's a look at the standings and more.
Risers and Fallers
Missouri's big week was enough to move the Tigers into solo second place in the conference standings. Senior point guard Dru Smith earned SEC player of the week honors as a result, the second time this season he's won the award. The team now in third, Florida, also went 2-0 last week to rebound from a mini slump. The Gators had lost three out of four games before trouncing Tennessee by 26 points and then beating Georgia on the road. Aside from Missouri, Florida and Alabama, the other teams that went 2-0 in conference play this week were Arkansas and Ole Miss, both of which really needed it. The Razorbacks had not just lost their prior two games, but gotten smoked by a combined 47 points. They fell behind big again versus Auburn but clawed back and won, then took care of business against Vanderbilt. Kermit Davis' squad had been one of the biggest disappointments in the league through three weeks, but they suffocated rival Mississippi State on the road, holding the Bulldogs to just 46 points, then did enough to beat Texas A&M. As a result, nine of the 14 teams in the league now have between three and five wins.
On the other end of the spectrum, two teams we highlighted last week as looking like they could separate themselves from the pack came crashing back down. Tennessee and LSU both went 0-2, and both trailed for virtually all of their respective losses. South Carolina might have had the toughest week, however, as the Gamecocks gave up an average of 95 points per game and lost by a combined 34 against Missouri and Auburn. Frank Martin's squad now sits at just 1-3 in SEC play.
Mizzou opponent tracker
Auburn continues to look like a different team with Sharife Cooper in the lineup. The Tigers did choke away a lead against Arkansas, but rebounded by scoring 109 against South Carolina on Saturday. They will make for a tough test, especially given that Missouri didn't have time to travel back to Columbia between games.
Missouri's following opponent, TCU, hasn't played since Jan. 12 due to COVID-19 positives within the program. The Horned Frogs have a record of 9-5 on the season and 2-4 in Big 12 play. They lost three games in a row before going on pause and have just one win over a top-100 KenPom team: Tulsa. As of this writing, TCU is still scheduled to play Kansas on Thursday before traveling to Missouri.
This week's schedule
Tuesday, Jan. 19
Kentucky at Alabama: 6 p.m., ESPN
Mississippi State at Tennessee: 6 p.m., SEC Network
Missouri at Auburn: 8 p.m., ESPN2
LSU at Texas A&M: 8 p.m., SEC Network
Wednesday, Jan. 20
Vanderbilt at Florida: 5:30 p.m, SEC Network
Georgia at South Carolina: 6 p.m., ESPN2
Ole Miss at Arkansas: 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
Saturday, Jan. 16
Alabama at Oklahoma: 11 a.m., ESPN2
Texas A&M at Kansas State: 11 a.m., ESPNU
Texas Tech at LSU: 1 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2
Florida at West Virginia: 1 p.m. ESPN or ESPN2
TCU at Missouri, 1 p.m., ESPNU
Auburn at Baylor: 3 p.m., ESPN
Arkansas at Oklahoma State: 3 p.m., ESPN2
Kansas at Tennessee: 5 p.m., ESPN
Ole Miss at Georgia: 5 p.m., SEC Network
Iowa State at Mississippi State: 5 p.m., ESPN2
Texas at Kentucky: 7 p.m., ESPN
South Carolina at Vanderbilt: 7:30 p.m., SEC Network
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