FAYETTEVILLE -- Bobby Portis' 32 points in Arkansas' 82-70 victory over Vanderbilt on Jan. 10 was the highest individual scoring performance in the SEC until Georgia guard J.J. Frazier went off at Mississippi State on Saturday.
FROM TOP TO BOTTOM
RK (PREV);RPI;TEAM (RECORDS);COMMENT
1 (1);2;Kentucky (19-0, 6-0);Leads nation in FG defense, blocks, scoring margin
2 (9);37;LSU (15-4, 4-2);Gave Florida its worst home loss since 1998
3 (6);23;Arkansas (15-4, 4-2);Winning without much fast-break production
4 (4);25;Georgia (13-5, 4-2);Five players averaging more than 10 ppg
5 (8);32;Texas A&M (13-5, 4-2);4 consecutive victories most since joining SEC
6 (3);55;Tennessee (12-6, 4-2);Only SEC home victory over Razorbacks
7 (2);84;Florida (10-9, 3-3);Donovan says mediocre year no big surprise
8 (5);46;Ole Miss (12-7, 3-3);No. 1 nationally in FT percentage (80.0)
9 (7);50;Alabama (13-6, 3-3);Only blowouts and nail-biters in SEC play
10 (14);210;Miss. State (9-10, 2-4);Snapped 22-game SEC road skid at Auburn
11 (11);147;Auburn (10-9, 2-4);FG shooting (40.9) last in SEC, 276th in NCAA
12 (10);114;Vanderbilt (11-8, 1-5);5-game skid tied for longest since 2003
13 (12);118;South Carolina (10-8, 1-5);Ninth in NCAA in FG defense (.370)
14 (13);161;Missouri (7-12, 1-5);5-game skid longest in nine seasons
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
Tennessee at Arkansas, 8 p.m. (ESPNU)
The Volunteers haven’t lost an SEC road game and notched their only conference home victory against Arkansas on Jan. 13. The Razorbacks would like to extend their winning streak to three games and gain redemption for their poor showing at Thompson-Boling Arena.
By the numbers
4 Winning streaks for Georgia and Texas A&M
15 Ties in Arkansas’ 93-91 overtime victory against Alabama last Thursday
22 SEC road losing streak broken by Mississippi State in its 78-71 victory at Auburn
64 Shooting percentage in the second half for Texas A&M in its 67-61 victory at Tennessee
96 Victories for John Calipari in his first 100 games at Rupp Arena as Kentucky coach
QUOTEBOOK
“We didn’t get the PG version of Kentucky. We got the unedited version.”
— South Carolina Coach Frank Martin
“Can we end the season right now on that?”
— Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy when told he was promoted as a strong candidate for SEC coach of the year
“We’ve been trying to develop a balanced offensive team, and we finally have one. We have five guys scoring in double figures and … it’s been a fun team to coach because we’ve got different places we can go to get scoring.”
— Georgia Coach Mark Fox
Frazier, who scored 37 points in Georgia's 72-66 victory, made 7 of 7 three-pointers and was 12 of 14 overall from the field. It earned him SEC player of the week honors.
The sophomore left-hander became the first 30-point scorer for Georgia since Kentavious Caldwell-Pope had 32 against LSU in the 2012-2013 season finale.
"I'll be honest with you, none of us really knew he had that many points," Georgia Coach Mark Fox said. "He was just being J.J.
"He was just playing out of our offense. We weren't having to run special things for him. That's how he practices all the time, so it really didn't catch us off guard that this guy's made seven threes."
Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray said Frazier's perimeter prowess came against a combination of missed assignments and in-your-face defense.
"I thought our zone defense was not very good as far as covering shooters," Ray said. "In hindsight, I probably should have played more man-to-man."
Arkansas players have two of the top three scoring games in the SEC this season, with Michael Qualls' 30 points against Alabama last Thursday ranking third.
Pearl's back
Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl will make his first appearance at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn., since he was fired as Tennessee's coach in the wake of admitted NCAA violations in March, 2011, when the Tigers visit the Volunteers on Saturday.
"It'll be a great environment up in Knoxville," Pearl said. "It very well could be a sold-out crowd. I'm excited about going back and coaching in Thompson-Boling Arena, a place that means a great deal to me with a program that meant a great deal to me."
Pearl said Tennessee Coach Donnie Tyndall has made the most out of a challenging roster with nine scholarship players.
"Obviously this game will be more important, at least to our fans, with Coach Pearl coming back," Tyndall said. "It should be a heck of an environment in our gym."
Pearl, while acknowledging that John Calipari's job with unbeaten and No. 1-ranked Kentucky cannot be overlooked, touted the coaches of his team's two opponents this week -- Texas A&M's Billy Kennedy and Tyndall -- as strong contenders for SEC coach of the year.
Pearl's back II
Auburn forward Cinmeon Bowers gave Coach Bruce Pearl a brief back and shoulder massage with 8:11 left in the Tigers' 57-55 loss at Alabama on Saturday after Pearl got hot under the collar protesting that guard K.T. Harrell was elbowed in the face by Alabama's Ricky Tarrant during a play on which Harrell was called for a personal foul.
Pearl asked the officials for a video review and they complied, finding the elbow by Tarrant and assessing a flagrant foul, leading to Tarrant's ejection for drawing a second technical foul.
Squeezing by
Arkansas will take a two-game winning streak into its game against Tennessee at 8 p.m. today, and the Razorbacks have done it by narrow margins -- 93-91 in overtime against Alabama last Thursday at Walton Arena and 61-60 at Missouri on Saturday.
The last time Arkansas won back to back games by two points or less came two seasons ago when the Razorbacks downed Missouri 73-71 and Georgia 62-60 in back-to-back home games on Feb. 16 and Feb. 21.
Tight affairs
Arkansas isn't the only SEC team coping with extremely tight finishes. On Saturday, six of the seven conference games were decided by six points or less, and three by two points or less, including Ole Miss' 72-71 victory over Florida, which featured seven lead changes and four ties in the final 7:30.
Bully Dawgs
Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray said he thinks his team is playing its best basketball right now, which made him duly impressed with Georgia's 72-66 victory over his team at Humphrey Coliseum on Saturday.
"From what I've seen thus far in SEC play, I thought Georgia is the second-best team in the SEC, with the third-best strength of schedule in the nation and just such a physical team," Ray said. "Even with that loss ... our team is playing the best basketball we've played all season. I just think we're a few steps away from where we need to be at to be a consistent winner."
Hot Aggies
Texas A&M has won four consecutive conference games -- its most since joining the SEC in 2011-2012 -- since a 70-64 double overtime loss against Kentucky, which ranks as the No. 1 Wildcats' closest brush with defeat.
"You gain confidence when the No. 1 team in the country comes into your place, you've got a good crowd and you play well and you walk off the court thinking you should have won," Texas A&M Coach Billy Kennedy said. "I thought that game gave us a lot confidence that our team really needed at that point in the season."
The Aggies start three juniors and two seniors, giving them the oldest starting unit in the SEC.
Gator grief
Florida has lost three consecutive games to fall to 10-9 overall, tying its worst start in 19 games under Coach Billy Donovan, and putting the Gators' five-year streak of NCAA Tournament appearances in jeopardy.
The Gators are 2-5 in games decided by five points or less after going 7-1 in such games last season. Florida's last 10-9 start came in 1996-1997, Donovan's first season at Florida and the last time the Gators (13-17) didn't make the postseason.
"If there's one thing I take responsibility for, and hindsight is 20-20, our recruiting the last three or four years has been very, very challenging," Donovan told reporters last week. "I'm the one responsible for that."
Road ragin'
SEC road teams were 5-2 on Saturday, and the two losses were both decided in the final four seconds. Alabama outlasted Auburn 57-55 on Rodney Cooper's put-back with four seconds left and Ole Miss' Jarvis Summer hit two free throws with 3.5 seconds remaining to lead the Rebels past Florida 72-71.
Kentucky and Tennessee lead the league with 3-0 records in SEC road games, while Arkansas, Georgia, LSU and Texas A&M are 2-1.
The SEC teams without a conference road victory are Auburn, Missouri, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
Columbia blues
The two SEC teams situated in cities named Columbia -- Missouri and South Carolina -- are at the bottom of the league standings with Vanderbilt, each with 1-5 conference records.
Missouri's five-game losing streak is its longest since the Tigers lost the final six games of Quin Snyder's tenure during the 2005-2006 season before he was fired. Current Arkansas assistant coach Melvin Watkins took the reins on an interim basis and broke the six-game skid by beating Kansas State 74-71 on Feb. 12, 2006.
"Part of our job as coaches is to remain positive and encouraging," first-year Missouri Coach Kim Anderson said. "Even though we lost the game Saturday, I thought we did some good things."
South Carolina, which owns a quality nonconference victory over Iowa State, has beaten only Alabama, 68-66 on Jan. 13, in league play.
Milestone
Florida guard Michael Frazier broke Lee Humphrey's school record of hitting a three-pointer in 39 consecutive games last Tuesday, and he extended it to 41 consecutive games by making 6 of 8 three-pointers in the Gators' 72-71 loss on Saturday at Ole Miss.
Smash job
Alabama guard Ricky Tarrant had some violent hand to hand sanitizer combat after his ejection for a second technical foul with 8:11 left in the second half against Auburn on Saturday.
The TV cameraman following Tarrant as he was escorted off the floor of Coleman Coliseum caught Tarrant punching a hand sanitizer attached to the wall in a tunnel just off the court.
Worth noting
• Kentucky's Devin Booker won his third consecutive SEC freshman of the week honor. The 6-6 guard is shooting 50 percent from three-point range (34 of 68) and overall (58 of 116), and is second on the team with 10.4 points per game.
• South Carolina had a 40-28 rebounding advantage against Kentucky, which entered with a plus-9.8 rebounding margin per game, in its 58-43 loss to the No. 1 Wildcats on Saturday.
• Vanderbilt didn't score in the final three minutes of regulation in its 79-75 home loss to LSU on Saturday, and the Tigers went on a 7-0 run to force overtime.
• Arkansas' three turnovers in its 61-60 victory at Missouri were the fewest for the Razorbacks since they committed three in a 97-77 victory over North Texas on Dec. 5, 2000.
Sports on 01/27/2015