SEC basketball notebook: Hogs impress in defeat, better week for league

November hasn’t been exceptionally kind to the SEC. While 6 undefeated teams remain, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Arkansas have all taken early losses. But all November losses aren’t created equal … and the league in general had a better week than last week. Here’s a look around the conference in our weekly notebook.

Impressing in defeat

Arkansas played a heart-stopper Tuesday in Maui, losing to No. 10 Creighton 90-87. The Razorbacks are still without standout freshman Nick Smith but still went toe to toe with Creighton, largely behind 26 points from freshman Anthony Black and 24 more from transfer Ricky Council. Forcing 17 turnovers was good, but allowing the Blue Jays to shoot almost 59% shows that Arkansas still has some work to do defensively.

That said, many of the early reviews were positive.

Lots of teams in the mix as Final Four contenders.

Creighton was already there.

Arkansas in mix now for me after tonight.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) November 23, 2022

On the other hand …

Meanwhile, Kentucky had the most disappointing week in the league, falling to Gonzaga after losing to Michigan State on Tuesday. The Michigan State game was sloppy, but Kentucky could at least feel like it should have won. But Gonzaga dominated 88-72, as Drew TImme outplayed Oscar Tsheibwe in an early Player of the Year candidate matchup. Tsheibwe has been very good, which is more than can be said for Kentucky’s guards and power forwards. Freshman Cason Wallace is the real deal, but transfer CJ Fredrick and Antonio Reeves have been great at scoring against mid-majors, and not so much against big-time foes. Meanwhile, Daimion Collins, Lance Ware, and Chris Livington contributed 2 points, 3 rebounds and 6 fouls in 22 total minutes. Kentucky’s offensive woes aren’t new, and neither is the lack of apparent solutions for them.

Texas A&M also took a pair of tough losses, going 1-2 in the Myrtle Beach Invitational with losses to Murray State and Colorado. In Sunday’s game, Buzz Williams went small, not starting Henry Coleman or guard Wade Taylor, who had been particularly sluggish in the previous game. Coleman and Taylor combined for 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 steals off the bench, and it’ll be interesting to see if the small-ball lineup continues. In any case, A&M’s Top 25 ranking is history.

That said, South Carolina was the worst team this week, which will probably hold throughout the season. The Gamecocks lost 3 games in 4 days, falling by 32 to Colorado State, by 9 to Davidson and by 19 to Furman. GG Jackson has been solid (16.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game), but there’s just not much talent on the roster. It could be a long season.

An early SEC Player of the Year candidate

There have been plenty of standout players early, but nobody has meant more to his team than Florida’s Colin Castleton. Heading into Tuesday, his 25.3 points per game led the SEC. Castleton is also 5th in the SEC in rebounding, with 8.8 boards per game. He’s also 2nd in the conference in blocked shots, with 3.3 per game. Castleton was right on his usual numbers with 25 points and 9 rebounds in a 76-67 win over Florida State. Admittedly, the Seminoles have been awful, but if Castleton continues to play at this level, Florida could be better quicker than was originally thought possible.

Alabama rebounds

Alabama was a frustrating team last season, as their inconsistency from 3-point range made them hard to accurately rank. The Tide still take a lot of 3s (131 in 4 games, 2nd-most in the SEC), but they’ve definitely rededicated themselves on the glass. Through 4 games, Alabama is averaging 56 rebounds per game, and their +24.5 average rebounding margin is slightly better than the No. 2 and 3 teams in the league (Mississippi State and Ole Miss) combined. Thus, while Alabama’s 33.6% from 3-point range is 7th in the league, the Tide are currently undefeated. Freshman Brandon Miller leads the team with 9.3 rebounds per game.

It’s never too early

Bracketology? Before Thanksgiving? Yes, it’s too early. But yes, we’re also still going to look. Joe Lunardi has 8 SEC teams in his initial bracket, with the top SEC seed going to Arkansas as a No. 3. Kentucky is slated for a No. 4 and Auburn and Alabama each would be 5 seeds. Tennessee is a No. 6 seed right now for Lunardi, and the bracketology master has Mississippi State as one of the last 4 byes, Florida as 1 of the last 4 teams in, Texas A&M as the very last team in the field, and Ole Miss and LSU as the first two teams left out of the Big Dance.

Games to watch

The slate for next week has a few intersting matchups. Some of the highlights are:

Butler vs. Tennessee (Wednesday, in the Bahamas): Tennessee had that ugly loss to Colorado, and while the Bulldogs aren’t ranked, they are a perennial contender come NCAA Selection Sunday.

Utah vs. Mississippi State (Wednesday, in Fort Myers): State is one of the league’s unbeatens and will face a very decent 4-1 Utah squad.

Arkansas vs. San Diego State (Wednesday, in Maui): The Razorbacks can follow a top-10 loss with a top-20 victory against the Aztecs. We’re all waiting to see Nick Smith, although it probably won’t be this game.

Alabama vs. Michigan State (Thursday, in Portland): The Tide will put their undefeated record to the test against the No. 12 Spartans, who knocked off Kentucky in double overtime and lost to Gonzaga by a single basket. Should be an excellent challenge.

Auburn vs. Saint Louis (Sunday, at Auburn): The Tigers also are undefeated, and Saint Louis should be an interesting opponent. The 4-1 Billikens average over 81 points per game. They lost badly to Maryland but beat Memphis and Murray State earlier this season.

Joe Cox

Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.