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SEC Basketball Heat Index: Vols continue to dominate, Rebels hit a rough patch

Adam Spencer

By Adam Spencer

Published:


Now that the calendar has flipped to February, it’s crunch time for many SEC teams. This is a great month to make an impression on the NCAA Tournament selection committee, and there are a several teams that need to pad their resumes.

However, not everyone is playing their best basketball. Tennessee looks like a juggernaut and Kentucky is coming around, but some other teams expected to be among the conference’s best are struggling.

This is the month where the contenders and pretenders separate, so here’s a look at who’s hot and who’s not this week:

Ice Cold

Team: Ole Miss

The Rebels have now lost 4 consecutive games, and last week’s 2 narrow losses will be tough pills for Kermit Davis’ crew to swallow. Ole Miss needed to make a statement, but instead lost at Florida and at home against rival Mississippi State.

Now that the Rebels are 4-4 in SEC play, this week’s games at home against Texas A&M and at Georgia are basically must-wins if they want to finish as one of the conference’s top teams. We’ll see what happens, but if the Rebels lose one of their next two games, the season could start to spiral out of control.

Player: Simi Shittu, Vanderbilt

Sometimes, freshmen who are relied upon heavily by their teams hit a wall this time of year, as the college season is much longer than high school ball. That might be the case with Shittu, who has struggled recently.

In a loss at Mizzou on Saturday, the 5-star freshman had only 4 points and 4 rebounds. That came after a loss to Kentucky where he was held scoreless with only 6 rebounds. Again, this is somewhat common among freshmen, but he’ll need to snap out of it soon if the Commodores are going to win their first SEC game of the season anytime soon.

Heating Up

Team: Auburn

The Tigers got off to a rocky start in SEC play, but Bruce Pearl’s squad had a good week. Auburn snapped a 3-game losing streak with a blowout win over Missouri and then picked up a nice victory over rival Alabama on Saturday night.

Horace Spencer is starting to make a bigger impact in the middle of the defense and showing some good moves on offense, too. Austin Wiley remains out, but once the talented big man returns, this team will be even more dangerous.

With games against Florida and LSU on the docket this week, the Tigers are looking poised to make a run.

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Player: P.J. Washington, Kentucky

Washington is really starting to look like a potential NBA Draft lottery pick. He put up 26 points and 12 rebounds in a blowout win over Vanderbilt and followed it up on Saturday with 15 points and 12 boards in the victory over Florida.

When Washington plays like that in the post, Kentucky can beat anyone. Now that Washington is getting more assertive, the sky is the limit for the Wildcats.

On Fire

Team: Tennessee

The No. 1-ranked Vols continue to dominate, and now have the nation’s longest winning streak after Hofstra lost on Saturday. Tennessee has won 16 consecutive games, and that’s a school record.

Games at home against Florida and Mizzou this week mean that streak should extend to 18 games, and it shouldn’t be particularly close. Now that LSU lost to Arkansas on Saturday, the Vols also have the distinction of being the last remaining team unbeaten in SEC play.

Player: Jordan Bone, Tennessee

Yes, we’ve already discussed the Vols, but the talented point guard deserves to be singled out for the way he has played lately. Everyone wants to talk about Grant Williams and Admiral Schofield (and rightfully so), but Bone is the one who makes the offense go.

Bone had 18 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds against Texas A&M on Saturday, and that was following a 19-point, 9-assist, 5-board effort at South Carolina. He’s really coming into his own, and with his elite speed, he is nearly impossible to guard in transition or in the half-court offense.

Adam Spencer

Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.

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