SEC report

Stars align for SEC's MVP award

South Carolina guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) shoots over Alabama forward Shannon Hale, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, in Columbia, S.C. Alabama defeated South Carolina 90-86. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)
South Carolina guard Sindarius Thornwell (0) shoots over Alabama forward Shannon Hale, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, in Columbia, S.C. Alabama defeated South Carolina 90-86. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Speculation on the SEC's men's basketball top individual awards will ramp up in the next week or two, and the league's most valuable player will likely attract the most attention.

The group of candidates is deep, and it figures to include South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, Kentucky's Malik Monk and De'Aaron Fox, Georgia's J.J. Frazier and Yante Maten, and others.

Thornwell ranks second in scoring in the conference with 20.8 points per game and is tied with Arkansas' Moses Kingsley for second in rebounding (7.5) behind Ole Miss' Sebastian Saiz (11.4). Thornwell leads the league with 2.3 steals per game. His candidacy could be impacted by the six-game suspension he served in December, during which the Gamecocks went 3-3.

Monk, the former Bentonville High School standout from Lepanto, leads the conference with 21.7 points per game and 41.4 percent shooting from three-point range.

Fox is the SEC leader with 5.4 assists per game and he ranks third in assist-to-turnover ratio, eighth in scoring (15.7).

Frazier is sixth in scoring (16.6), third in steals (2.0) and sixth in assists (4.3). Maten ranks third in scoring (19.2) and eighth in rebounding (7.1).

Kingsley, the SEC preseason player of the year, leads the league in blocked shots per game (2.6), but his scoring has dropped to 11.7 points per game after he averaged 15.7 per game as a junior.

Monk and Fox are likely to gain the most buzz for SEC freshman of the year.

Going for 7

Florida will aim for its seventh consecutive victory when it plays at Auburn tonight . The Gators' best stretch of victories under Coach Mike White has been six games.

Auburn leads its series against Florida by an 87-77 margin, but the Gators have won the past nine games since falling 61-58 in the 2009 SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Tampa, Fla. Florida has won in its past eight trips to Auburn, Ala., dating to a 79-65 Auburn victory on Jan. 11, 1997.

Tide out

Alabama might have had a shot at upsetting No. 15 Kentucky on Saturday if it had made more of its free-throw attempts. But the Crimson Tide were pathetic at the line, making only 9 of 26 free throws (34.6 percent).

No Alabama player made more than half of his free-throw tries, with the worst offenders being Jimmie Taylor (0 of 2), Bola Olaniyan (1 of 6), Avery Johnson Jr. (0 of 1) and Dante Hall (2 of 5).

3-way tie

Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina enter the final six games of the regular season in a three-way tie for first in the SEC standings with 10-2 records.

There are two remaining games between the three teams, and Florida is involved in both. The Gators host South Carolina on Feb. 21, then travel to Kentucky on Feb. 25.

The Gamecocks have previously beaten Florida at home (57-53) and lost to Kentucky on the road (85-69). The Gators ripped Kentucky 88-66 in Gainesville, Fla., on Feb. 4.

The next nine teams in the SEC standings are separated by just two games. Arkansas and Alabama lead that pack with 7-5 SEC marks, while Ole Miss and Tennessee are next at 6-6. There is a logjam of five teams at 5-7, with only Missouri (2-10) and LSU (1-11) below that.

Epic comeback

Ole Miss' 10th consecutive victory over Auburn on Saturday didn't come easy. The Rebels trailed by 23 points with 18:13 remaining.

The comeback, believed to be the biggest ever by Ole Miss, included a 63-point second half, which was 12 points more than the Rebels' highest-scoring half of the season, and more than they had scored in four full games this year.

Terrence Davis scored all of his career-high 26 points in the second half, and Cullen Neal had 20 points to lead the Rebels' charge.

Ole Miss made 10 of 10 free throws in the final minute and 27 of 31 in the game.

"This is the most disappointing loss I've had at Auburn," Tigers Coach Bruce Pearl said. "They deserved to win. They outplayed us, outrebounded us and turned us over."

Top players

South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell, Tennessee's Grant Williams and Texas A&M's Robert Williams received weekly SEC honors on Monday.

Thornwell was named the SEC player of the week after the 6-5 senior averaged 36 points, 12.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists against Alabama and Mississippi State. Thornwell scored 44 points in a 90-86, four-overtime loss to Alabama, in which he made 25 free throws, an SEC record for a conference game.

The Williams, who are unrelated, shared SEC freshman of the week honors. Grant Williams averaged 24 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 2 games. Robert Williams averaged 18 points, 14 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in 2 games.

Solid trend

The run of road victories by SEC teams has turned from an item of interest into a solid season-long trend. SEC road teams are now 42-42.

The road victories continued early last week with Alabama toppling SEC leader South Carolina 90-86 in four overtimes at Columbia, S.C., followed by Vanderbilt's 72-59 rout at Arkansas, during which the Commodores made 12 of 23 three-pointers.

"There's nothing we can really put our finger on as the one thing that changes," said Vanderbilt Coach Bryce Drew, whose Commodores are now 4-3 in SEC road games.

"We'll talk about things and see if we can bottle that approach. ... I can't really say that's a definite thing. Anytime you go on the road, it's like a you-vs.-the-world mentality in that arena.

Missouri is the only SEC team without a road victory.

South Carolina is an SEC-best 5-1 in league road games, while Florida is 4-1. Alabama, Arkansas and Kentucky are each 4-2.

Board butchery

LSU lost to Arkansas 78-70 on Saturday despite outrebounding the Razorbacks 50-30. The 20-rebound deficit was the worst for Arkansas this season.

"We were much better in the second half than we were in the first half," Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said. "I thought the first half we were so spread out. We didn't do a good job of putting a body on a body against a very athletic team.

"But I thought in the second half we did a much better job of really cutting down on the second-chance points and keeping them off the offensive boards. But it's still a concern. It's not one of our strong points, but we've done a pretty good job throughout the year.

Tip ins

• Texas A&M fell to 0-5 vs. ranked teams after its 71-62 loss at Florida on Saturday.

• Auburn has allowed 40 or more second-half points in eight SEC games, including 64 to Mississippi State and 63 to Ole Miss last week.

• Alabama, which had outrebounded 10 of 11 SEC opponents, was beaten 41-38 on the boards by Kentucky on Saturday.

• Kentucky has given up 50 percent or better shooting in the second half in nine consecutive games, including 57.7 percent (15 of 26) to Alabama on Saturday.

Sports on 02/14/2017

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