SEC basketball report: Road upsets, bracket watch and more
runner for player of the year.
The league’s coach of the year is up for grabs, with Auburn’s Bruce Pearl, Alabama’s Nate Oats, Florida’s Todd Golden and Missouri’s Dennis Gates among the contenders.
An all-freshman quintet: Texas’ Johnson, Georgia’s Newell, Oklahoma guard Jeremiah Fears, Alabama guard Labaron Philon and Auburn’s Tahaad Pettiford, with the caveat that Arkansas guard Boogie Fland would have been a shoo-in for the unit had he not undergone ligament surgery for his thumb. Fland is the SEC leader in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.68.
Sweeps and splits
Mississippi State and Texas A&M already own two-game sweeps this season while the Florida-Tennessee and Texas-Texas A&M two-game sets have been split.
Mississippi State dispatched South Carolina 85-50 in its conference opener at home and edged the Gamecocks 65-60 on the road. The Bulldogs will aim for a second sweep on Saturday at No. 19 Ole Miss, whom they downed 84-81 in overtime on Jan. 18 in Starkville, Miss.
Texas A&M took down Oklahoma 80-78 in the Sooners’ SEC debut and beat them again 75-68 in College Station, Texas.
Tennessee can pull off a sweep of Kentucky with a win on Tuesday night in Rupp Arena after the Volunteers trimmed the Wildcats 78-73 on Jan. 28 in Knoxville, Tenn. On Saturday, Vanderbilt will travel to Tennessee with a chance to sweep the Vols after a 76-75 court-storming home win on Jan. 18.
LSU would sweep Arkansas with a win on Wednesday night after the Tigers prevailed 78-74 on Jan. 14 in Baton Rouge.
Florida will go for a sweep of South Carolina on Saturday after the Gators came back from a 13-point deficit in the final nine minutes a 70-69 win on Jan. 22 in Columbia, S.C., on Will Richard’s driving layup with 4.8 seconds remaining.
Top players
Florida’s Alex Condon and Georgia’s Asa Newell were announced Monday as the SEC players of the week.
Condon pulled down the SEC player of the week award after the 6-11 sophomore from Perth, Australia, averaged 18 points, 9.5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 block in wins over Vanderbilt and Auburn. Condon, who shot 14 of 16 (87.5%) from two-point range in the games, had 17 points and 10 rebounds in the upset at No. 1 Auburn.
Newell was named the SEC freshman of the week after averaging 16.5 points, 4 rebounds and 2 steals in games against LSU and Mississippi State. The 6-11 forward from Destin, Fla., shot 61.1% from the field, including 57.1% from three-point range in the games.
