SEC basketball notebook: Funny names, odd attendance and Opening Night phenomena
By Joe Cox
Published:
SEC Day 1 yielded several significant stories, many of which we’re catching up on after the fact. Buckle up and read on.
Did Wheeler get Wally Pipp’d at UK?
Kentucky’s Sahvir Wheeler missed their opening win over Howard due to minor injury. A year ago, Kentucky looked offensively out of sync without Wheeler at point guard. But in Monday’s opener, Cason Wallace ensured that UK’s point guard situation could be interesting.
Wallace will see plenty of minutes even with Wheeler, but the standout frosh nearly missed around and got a triple-double in Wheeler’s place, finishing his first game with 15 points, 9 assists and 8 rebounds. John Calipai got the message — and yet, defended the veteran Wheeler. Asked about Wallace’s play at point guard, Cal noted, “He’s a guard is what he is. And the best players I’ve had have been guards. They can play on the ball, they can play off the ball.” At the least, Wallace gives Kentucky a quality second option at point guard … and at most, he could be the Gehrig to Wheeler’s Wally Pipp.
Leading scorers? Portal dudes
SEC opening night’s top 2 scorers were portal additions. Arkansas’ Ricky Council was AAC Sixth Man of the Year last year at Wichita State, but Monday night, he shot 9-of-14 for the Razorbacks en route to an opening-night high 22 points. Council is Ricky Council IV. But his dad is Rick Council. Confused? So are his brothers, Ricky II and Ricky III. Seriously.
Kentucky’s Antonio Reeves tied with Council for high-scoring honors. While Council did most of his damage slashing to the hoop, Reeves hit 6 3-pointers en route to 22 points in 25 minutes in his first game at UK after transferring from Illinois State. Sadly, he’s not Antonio Reeves V or anything.
Double double-double
Alabama not only had 67 rebounds in their season-opening win, they had a pair of double-doubles in the game. Freshman Brandon Miller had 14 points and 13 boards in his first game, and Ohio University transfer Mark Sears had 12 points and 10 rebounds, despite shooting 2-for-11. “We had a great defensive game to start the year,” said Nate Oats after the game. With 4 of the SEC’s 9 opening-night double-figure rebound games coming from Alabama players, they certainly had a big game on the backboard. It’s still a way shy of the 82 boards Alabama had in a 1971 game against South Florida.
Opening night shooting winners? Kentucky, A&M, Tennessee
Opening night shooting leaders included Kentucky, which managed 54% overall from the floor to pace the SEC, despite playing without Oscar Tshiebwe, Sahvir Wheeler and Daimion Collins. The 3-point kings of game 1 were the Texas A&M Aggies, which shot a league-best 46% from downtown, making 12-of-26 shots. Tennessee hit more, but went 14-for-44, for a ho-hum 32% rating. On the other hand, the Vols were perfect at the foul line in their opening, shooting 9-for-9.
Attendance thoughts
Only Vanderbilt had any type of marquee matchup in their opener, with a loss to Memphis. The SEC averaged 10,854 in opening night attendance. It seems apparent that preseason expectations drive the attendance situation, as the SEC was led by Arkansas (19,200), Kentucky (18,750) and Tennessee (17,957). On the other hand, the league’s low figures were Ole Miss (5,990), Mississippi State (6,254), and Texas A&M (6,262). A&M kind of stands out as a surprisingly low total. Florida opening the Todd Golden era with 7,377 also was a little underwhelming.
Upcoming highlights
SEC Games we can’t wait to see over the next 7 days:
1. Kentucky vs. Michigan State (Nov. 15 in the Champions Classic in Indianapolis)
2. Tennessee vs. Colorado (Nov. 13, Vols play a P5 foe in a possible early test)
3. Georgia at Wake Forest (Nov. 11, UGA could boost SEC prestige early)
4., Vandy at Temple (Nov. 15, Jerry Stackhouse and Aaron McKie face off)
5. Mississippi State vs. Akron (Nov. 11, State plays an NCAA Tournament team from last season)
6. South Carolina vs. Clemson (Nov. 11, state rivalry in an early game)
7. LSU vs. Missouri-Kansas City (Nov. 9, LSU’s opener)
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.
