This past week was a wild one in the world of SEC men’s basketball. A short-handed Kentucky team defended its home court against a hot Alabama squad. Auburn lost its second SEC game of the year, this time at Florida, keeping the Gators’ NCAA Tournament hopes alive.

Elsewhere, Arkansas’s defense held Tennessee to only 48 points in a 10-point win. And, South Carolina is making a late push for the tourney bubble.

With only 2 weeks left in the regular season, there’s still plenty left to play for if you’re a team not named “Georgia.” So, with that said, let’s take a look at this week’s SEC hoops power rankings:

14. Georgia (6-21 overall, 1-13 in SEC, Last week: 14)

The Bulldogs are an unmitigated disaster at this point. They’ve lost 7 in a row since a surprising upset against Alabama. They just lost by 17 at home against a bad Ole Miss team. And, now, coach Tom Crean has been caught ripping point guard Aaron Cook during a Zoom mishap. The Crean era might be coming to an end soon. We’ll see if Georgia can salvage another SEC win before the end of the year, or if the Dawgs simply limp to the finish line and make a quick exit in the SEC Tournament.

13. Ole Miss (13-14, 4-10, LW: 13)

The Rebels picked up an aforementioned big win at Georgia on Saturday, but I’m not going to give them too much credit for beating the dumpster-fire Dawgs. Prior to that win, Ole Miss had lost 4-straight games, including a midweek loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks in Oxford in overtime. The Rebels also face a tough game on Wednesday night, traveling to face an Auburn team that will be eager to get things back on track after some recent struggles.

12. Mizzou (10-17, 4-10, LW: 9)

Another day, another close loss for this maligned Missouri program. Despite leading 56-53 with 2 minutes left on Sunday night against Mississippi State, the Tigers couldn’t score another point as the Bulldogs came from behind to win 58-56. That was the latest in a long line of painful losses under Cuonzo Martin this year:

I take issue with the above tweet due to the fact that, at 14-13, no team’s resume is ever looking “promising.” This is a 10-17 team and some fans and media are trying to make the case that 14-13 would be a great record for a team like Missouri to have. It’s not. The Cuonzo Martin era might be on its last legs as we enter the stretch run of the season.

11. Texas A&M (16-11, 5-9, LW: 12)

Try as it might, Texas A&M couldn’t quite keep a good thing going last week. After snapping an 8-game losing streak with a gritty home win over Florida midweek, the Aggies turned around and lost at Vanderbilt on Saturday night, 72-67. This coming week is a make-or-break week for Buzz Williams’ squad. The Aggies host a bad Georgia team on Tuesday night. Then, on Saturday, they head to Oxford to take on Ole Miss. They absolutely have to go 2-0 this week to keep any microscopic hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth alive.

10. Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8, LW: 10)

Vanderbilt gave Auburn a scare on Wednesday night, hanging close with the Tigers before falling 94-80 at Auburn Arena. On Saturday, the Commodores bounced back with a 72-67 home win over Texas A&M. Scotty Pippen Jr. had a huge week, scoring 29 points against Auburn:

He added 24 more points in the win over the Aggies, including this impressive layup:

Vanderbilt is now 6-8 in SEC play. That’s a step up from recent years. We’ll see if the Commodores can pick up wins vs. Alabama on Tuesday night and at Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon. Getting back to .500 in league play would be huge for Jerry Stackhouse’s squad.

9. Mississippi State (16-11, 7-7, LW: 8)

After last week’s road loss to Alabama, a game the Bulldogs desperately needed for their NCAA Tournament resume, a home-and-home with Mizzou was exactly what they needed to get back on track. Mississippi State blew out the Tigers in Starkville on Friday, then turned around and escaped with a narrow 58-56 win in Columbia on Sunday night. Shakeel Moore played hero, making this difficult layup in the game’s closing seconds to give the Bulldogs the lead:

https://twitter.com/HailStateMBK/status/1495608278138695681

Now, Ben Howland’s team faces an absolute do-or-die week. The Bulldogs head to South Carolina on Wednesday night. The loser of that game is probably out of the NCAA Tournament picture, while the winner will cling to life for a little while longer. Then, Mississippi State hosts a dangerous Vanderbilt team on Saturday afternoon in another must-win affair.

8. South Carolina (16-10, 7-7, LW: 11)

Well, well, well. The Gamecocks are making some noise as of late, proving once again that you can never count a Frank Martin team out. South Carolina has now won 3-straight games, taking down Georgia, Ole Miss and LSU in that span. Jermaine Couisnard played hero on Saturday against LSU, scoring 23 points and making 5 of his 10 3-point attempts:

The Gamecocks suddenly have some life when it comes to the NCAA Tournament bubble, and this week provides 2 more big opportunities. South Carolina hosts fellow bubble squad Mississippi State on Wednesday night then travels to Alabama on Saturday night with a chance to pick up a major Quad 1 win for its resume.

7. LSU (19-8, 7-7, LW: 6)

LSU had a great chance to stay within striking distance of a top-4 seed in the SEC standings on Saturday. All the Tigers needed to do was beat South Carolina. But, instead, it was the Gamecocks who left that game with an all-important 77-75 win, dropping the Tigers into the 5-way logjam of teams with 7-7 records in SEC play.

LSU only made 13 of its 22 free throws in Saturday’s contest, prompting Will Wade to sound off on his team’s struggles from the line. We’ll see if the Tigers can turn things around, as they face a brutal 4-game stretch to close the regular season. This week, they travel to Kentucky on Wednesday night and host Mizzou on Saturday. Next week, they go to Arkansas and end the regular season with a home game against Alabama.

6. Florida (17-10, 7-7, LW: 7)

Last week was the Mike White experience in a nutshell. Lose at Texas A&M against a team that was on an 8-game losing streak in brutal fashion (fouling a 3-point shooter in the game’s final minute). Rebound with a home win over No. 2 Auburn.

The Gators have been maddeningly inconsistent, but they do deserve credit for the defense they played on the game’s deciding possession on Saturday afternoon:

Tyree Appleby lit up the Auburn defense, scoring 26 points and making 5 of his 10 3-point attempts:

Next up for the Gators? A Tuesday night home game against Arkansas. Then, on Saturday, Florida heads to Georgia. Can the Gators build off the big win over the No. 2 team in the country? Their NCAA Tournament bubble hopes depend on it.

5. Alabama (17-10, 7-7, LW: 5)

Kentucky was without starting guards Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington on Saturday in Rupp Arena. It didn’t matter, as the Wildcats still put up 90 points on Alabama’s porous defense. The Crimson Tide scored 81 points in the loss, knocking down 14 of 40 3-point attempts (35%). Keon Ellis torched the nets for a game-high 28 points, making 7 of his 11 long-range shots. But, it didn’t matter, as the Tide’s defense hurt them. That prompted Nate Oats to say on Monday that players who don’t contribute defensively won’t see the court from here on out:

We’ll see if he sticks to that. On Tuesday night, the Tide head to Vanderbilt. If Oats is serious about focusing on defense, a couple of big-name players might see their roles drastically diminished.

4. Tennessee (19-7, 10-4, LW: 3)

Just when it looked like the Vols had finally figured things out defensively … yikes. Nothing was falling for Tennessee in Saturday’s 58-48 road loss to Arkansas. Those 48 points are the fewest the Vols have scored all season. They shot a pathetic 16.7% (4-for-24) from 3-point range and 27.1% (16-for-59) from the floor.

The defense played well, holding the Hogs to only 58 points on 30.5% shooting and 22.7% from 3-point land, but woof, that offense. This sort of inconsistency has bitten Rick Barnes’ teams the past couple of years. Is it rearing its ugly head again? The Vols have a Tuesday night road trip to get things figured out before Auburn comes to town on Saturday.

3. Arkansas (21-6, 10-4, LW: 4)

It wasn’t pretty, but it doesn’t have to be. A win is still a win, and that’s what the Hogs picked up on Saturday evening against a Tennessee team that entered the game red-hot. The Razorbacks’ defense had its best game of the year, which we discussed in the above section with the Vols’ embarrassing shooting numbers. Last weekend’s loss to Alabama is now firmly in the rearview mirror, as Arkansas has thumped Mizzou and Tennessee in its last 2 games.

Jaylin Williams continues to develop into a superstar in front of our eyes. No one had a particularly great offensive game on Saturday evening, but Williams had 13 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in the win, earning SEC Co-Player of the Week honors:

He has now taken 41 charges on the year, too, which is just a ridiculous number:

Oh, and his post moves have really improved over the course of the season. He does things like this regularly now:

https://twitter.com/RazorbackMBB/status/1495154356324233217

The Hogs face another tough week ahead, as they head to Gainesville to face a desperate Florida team on Tuesday night and host a talented Kentucky squad on Saturday afternoon.

2. Auburn (24-3, 12-2, LW: 1)

Should we press the panic button on Auburn? The Tigers still lead the SEC regular-season standings, but their road struggles are starting to become alarming. In their past 4 games away from Auburn Arena, they’ve beaten Mizzou by 1, escaped with a 2-point win over Georgia, lost by 4 in OT at Arkansas and lost by 1 to Florida. That’s not a great trend.

The good news? Jabari Smith Jr. continues to dominate. He had 31 points against Vanderbilt and followed it up with 28 points against Florida:

The bad news? Outside of Smith’s 4-for-5 mark from 3-point range, the Tigers went 1-for-9 from long distance, with Walker Kessler knocking down the only other 3. Wendell Green Jr. and KD Johnson combined to go 0-for-8. Kessler didn’t record a block for just the second time this season:

Auburn hosts Ole Miss on Wednesday night with a chance to regroup before heading to Rocky Top to take on Tennessee in a very important game in the SEC regular-season standings on Saturday. We’ll see how the Tigers look against a not-so-great Rebels squad.

1. Kentucky (22-5, 11-3, LW: 2)

In the Alabama section, I mentioned the Tide’s porous defense. But, when Kellan Grady is hitting shots like this, not even Herb Jones could have stopped him:

Grady made 7 of his 9 3s on Saturday, scoring a team-high 25 points. Now, he’s within striking distance of Kentucky’s single-season 3-point record:

Yes, it is a bit weird to bump Kentucky up to No. 1 in these rankings after the Wildcats lost at Tennessee last week. But, by beating a tough Alabama team without star guards Sahvir Wheeler and TyTy Washington (and putting up 90 points in the process), I’m much higher on this team’s chances once those guys return. Getting the rest of the team this confidence boost was huge.

Plus, if Kentucky and Auburn played tomorrow on a neutral court, both at full strength, I’d have trouble picking the Tigers to win based on what I’ve seen from them in recent weeks.

Kentucky has to keep grinding, though. This week, the Wildcats host LSU on Wednesday night before heading to Bud Walton Arena for a huge showdown against Arkansas on Saturday afternoon.