FAYETTEVILLE -- Texas A&M had to scrap its initial travel plans to Arkansas on Monday when winter precipitation prevented the team from flying out of Easterwood Airport in College Station. Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said the local airport does not have de-icer for planes, so the Aggies had to change plans and drive to Houston to catch a flight to Fayetteville for tonight's game.
"Right now it's getting pretty nasty here," Kennedy said during his 11:31 a.m. stint on the SEC's weekly teleconference. "So we've had to adjust to maybe getting out of Houston and do some different things. It's not a big deal fortunately. We'll get out of here this afternoon."
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
RANK;RPI;TEAM (RECORDS);COMMENT
1 (1);2;Kentucky (27-0, 14-0);Can anyone beat the juggernaut?
2 (2);20;Arkansas (22-5, 11-3);Won 9 of last 10 since home loss to Ole Miss
3 (5);34;Texas A&M (19-7, 10-4);Brings 5-2 SEC road record to Walton
4 (3);32;Ole Miss (19-8, 10-4);Big games vs. Georgia, LSU this week
5 (4);54;LSU (19-8, 8-6);Aiming for revenge at Auburn tonight
6 (6);37;Georgia (17-9, 8-6);Most injury prone team in league this season
7 (7);74;Florida (13-14, 6-8);5-year NCAA tourney streak in jeopardy
8 (8);87;Tennessee (14-12, 6-8);Short bench catching up to Volunteers
9 (9);79;Alabama (16-11, 6-8);Not a positive mojo now for Crimson Tide
10 (10);116;Vanderbilt (15-12, 5-9);Transition to younger roster has ups and downs
11 (11);192;Miss. State (12-15, 5-9);Mini-surge abated with 4 losses last 5 games
12 (13);100;S. Carolina (13-13, 4-10);Losing season would be 6th in a row
13 (12);132;Auburn (12-15, 4-10);Home losing streak now at 5 games
14 (14);199;Missouri (7-20, 1-13);Losing streak at program-worst 13 games
The Ratings Percentage Index is a scale used by the NCAA Selection Committee to rank Division I basketball teams by their performance in light of strength of schedule. Low RPI ranking numbers denote strong teams; and high numbers, weaker ones.
Game of the week
Texas A&M at Arkansas, today, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
This game could well decide who finishes second in the SEC behind Kentucky. The Aggies, who sport a 10-2 SEC record since opening 0-2, will be undaunted by playing on the road, where they’ve won five of their last six games. Arkansas, the second-hottest SEC team, has won 22 of its last 23 games at Walton Arena.
Quotebook
“It’s been good to see the teams are recognized and we’re hopeful on Selection Sunday that that certainly comes to pass.” — LSU Coach Johnny Jones on the projections of six SEC teams for the NCAA Tournament
“We’re getting closer to having every player be the best version of themselves. We’re really focused on that more than anything else we’re doing.” Kentucky Coach John Calipari
“You come off a screen in the SEC, you better come off that screen hard and you better come off tight or you don’t get a good shot.” — Missouri Coach Kim Anderson
By the numbers
1.2 Texas A&M guard Alex Caruso leads the SEC in assists by this average per game, with his 5.9 average well ahead of second place Ky Madden of Arkansas (4.7)
14 Consecutive weeks the SEC freshman of the week came from Kentucky or Vanderbilt before Arkansas’ Anton Beard won it on Monday
27 Consecutive victories for Kentucky, tying the 1995-96 team for the Wildcats’ longest single-season winning streak
Sweeps week
The last week has seen a lengthy array of two-game sweeps completed by SEC teams, led by Arkansas.
The Razorbacks polished off a pair of two-game sweeps of Missouri and Mississippi State last week after splitting with Tennessee and Ole Miss. The Razorbacks have an opportunity to sweep South Carolina with a March 5 date at the Gamecocks still remaining.
South Carolina completed one of the least-likely sweeps by knocking off Georgia 64-58 in Athens, Ga., on Tuesday.
Texas A&M potentially nosed past LSU in the NCAA Tournament pecking order by beating the Tigers for a second time, 68-63, in College Station, Texas.
Alabama completed an Iron Bowl sweep of Auburn with its 79-68 victory at Auburn Arena last Tuesday. LSU swept Florida with its 70-63 victory at the Maravich Assembly Center on Saturday. Mississippi's 71-65 victory at Mississippi State last Thursday gave the Rebels a sweep, the first over their in-state rivals since 1998.
In and out
ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi projected Arkansas as a No. 5 seed for the NCAA Tournament on Monday while keeping six SEC teams in his latest projection.
No. 1 Kentucky is still on the top line of Lunardi's bracket, followed by Arkansas, then a projected No. 7 seed for Ole Miss and No. 9 seeds for Georgia and Texas A&M. LSU is a No. 11 seed in Lunardi's projections.
CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm projects the same six SEC teams in the NCAA field: No. 1 seed Kentucky, No. 5 seed Arkansas, No. 8 seed Ole Miss, No. 9 seed LSU, No. 10 seed Georgia and No. 11 seed Texas A&M as one of the last four teams in.
8 is enough
Arkansas will play its 11th game with a tip time of 8 p.m. or later tonight against Texas A&M. The Razorbacks have already played six of their 14 SEC games at 8 p.m. Central Time or later, and the game against the Aggies will mark their fourth 8 p.m. tip in their last five home games.
"We're used to it now," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "It's the thing that's coming down the pike when you talk about the SEC Network and just TV itself. ... We're not the only ones playing at 8 o'clock.
Anderson said the late starts are an inconvenience.
"But it's one of those deals that everybody does so you can't complain about it," he said. "TV is making that happen and what is behind TV is money."
Moody not so blue
Mississippi guard Stefan Moody earned SEC player of the week honors after averaging 25.5 points and 5 rebounds per game in victories over Mississippi State and Tennessee. Moody hit eight three-pointers, tops in the SEC this year, and scored a career-high 29 points in the Rebels' 71-65 victory at Mississippi State.
Hey, Mickey
LSU forward Jordan Mickey, the SEC leader with 3.8 blocked shots per game, posted his 200th career block in a loss at Texas A&M last week. Mickey became the 25th player in SEC history to reach the milestone, following Kentucky's Willie Cauley-Stein (207) into the club this season.
"He has a tremendous knack and a gift for being able to block shots," LSU Coach Johnny Jones said. "A lot of times he gets them when guys are releasing them from out of their hand, and he can come from the weak side and block it."
Gator gulf
Florida appears on the brink of failing to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for a sixth-consecutive year with five losses in its last six games to fall to ... The Gators' five-year streak of NCAA Tournament berths is the longest current run in the SEC.
"I've obviously been doing this for a while and I've been around some really, really good teams and some not-so-good teams," Coach Billy Donovan said. "As a coach, you try to pinpoint areas that you've got to get better in, and the players have to have a commitment level to those things. ... The one thing has been the commitment level has been overwhelming for them in what it takes to be a very good team."
Pearl wisdom
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl, asked about his team's lackluster start in Saturday's 110-75 loss at No. 1 Kentucky, elected to focus on another aspect of the game and less on the Wildcats' 30-4 lead to open the game.
"It was overwhelming," Pearl said. "We couldn't get a stop and we struggled to score at the rim. But I'm a glass-half-full guy. We scored 75 points at Kentucky and we scored the majority of them in the last 25 minutes of the game. They give up 51 a game and we score 75."
Pearl said he was proud of Antoine Mason's 29 points against Kentucky, a season-high in Rupp Arena.
Kentucky's 110 points was its highest total against an SEC opponent since a 120-81 victory over Vanderbilt on Feb. 7, 1996.
Dinged-up Dogs
Georgia has won its last two road games -- at Texas A&M and Alabama -- but it's the two games in between that suddenly pushed the Bulldogs closer to the NCAA Tournament bubble. Without guard J.J. Frazier, who was recovering from a broken orbital bone around his eye after taking a stray elbow against Auburn, the Bulldogs fell 64-58 at home to South Carolina last Tuesday. On the heels of its 69-68 home loss to Auburn, Georgia suffered its most damaging losses of the season back-to-back at Stegeman Coliseum.
Frazier, the third Georgia player to miss time due to a concussion, returned to the lineup wearing a laser-fitted mask for Saturday's 66-65 overtime victory at Alabama. Georgia has a total of 21 missed games due to injuries and illnesses, not counting Kenny Gaines' limited availability (mononucleosis) earlier in the season.
Tip-ins
• Kentucky Coach John Calipari has a 100-4 record at Rupp Arena
• Florida's Dorian Finney-Smith will be suspended for a third-consecutive game against Missouri tonight, Coach Billy Donovan said.
• Mississippi State's Craig Sword needs three points to become the eighth active SEC player with 1,000 points.
• Texas A&M guard Danuel House made five of his seven three-pointers in the first half and scored 17 of the Aggies' 34 first-half points in their 62-52 victory at South Carolina on Saturday
• Mississippi's two-game sweep of Florida this season was its first over the Gators since 1990
• Kentucky has overtaken Vanderbilt as the top shooting team in the SEC by improving to 46.9 percent shooting, just ahead of the Commodores (46.5).
Sports on 02/24/2015