SEC Starting Five: Closing out January with a bang
01/28/2025
By Chris Marler
SEC basketball returns to action for six midweek games on Tuesday and Wednesday. Vanderbilt, Florida, Arkansas, and Missouri all get byes during the midweek and rest up for the February gauntlet that awaits. However, the rest of the conference will be on display, including two big top 15 matchups on each night during the midweek slate.
- Tennessee and Kentucky meet in Knoxville
Tennessee is a 10.5 point favorite at home against No. 12 Kentucky. That may seem high, but the Vols are one of three teams in the SEC that are currently undefeated at home. Tennessee is 11-0 in Knoxville this season and 55-4 over the last four years. The winner of this game will retroactively be the SEC Champion from insert year from the 2010’s here.
- The gauntlet still awaits
For as much as we think we know throughout the first month of conference play, we are about to learn so much more. Prepare for the narrative that will inevitably start questioning whether or not the SEC is as good as the media and prognosticators have been saying all season. There are currently ten teams in the SEC ranked in the AP Top 25 and 13 projected to make the NCAA tournament.
All of that is great, but what’s coming in February is going to be a metaphorical bloodbath in the conference standings. It will make the red wedding look like, well a white wedding. Sorry not a great analogy. Regardless, every team has 11 or 12 games left in SEC play. Of the 16 teams in the conference, all but one are scheduled to play six or more games against ranked opponents.
SEC Basketball: Total games left vs current Top 25 teams
10 – OU
8 – Tennessee, Bama, Auburn
7 – Ark, UF, UGA, UK, LSU, Ole Miss, Vandy
6 – MSU, Mizzou, USC, Texas A&M
5 – Texas— Chris Marler (@VernDumbquist) January 27, 2025
That means 15 of the 16 teams in the SEC have a ranked opponent in at least half of their remaining regular season games. The only team that doesn’t is Texas. The shakeup is almost certainly coming and it’s most likely coming at the top of the league. Tennessee, Auburn, and Alabama all have eight games against ranked teams left on the schedule. Think about how difficult that is when you consider that those are three of the four highest ranked teams in the league and it’s not like they can play themselves.
- Will Auburn fans take over Baton Rouge
That may sound crazy but this fanbase is absolutely on fire right now for Auburn basketball. As of Monday night, tickets for LSU-Auburn were only $5. That’s roughly $495 cheaper than the average secondary market ticket price for Auburn vs. Tennessee this past weekend. Auburn fans probably won’t take over the P-Mac at LSU but expect to see more people in navy and orange than usual.
- Snapping streaks
What’s that old saying? The unstoppable force meets the immovable object. Whatever it is, think the opposite for both South Carolina vs. Georgia and Texas vs. Ole Miss. The stoppable force meets the very, easily movable object in Athens and Oxford Tuesday and Wednesday night. Those two games feature the three longest losing streaks in the SEC right now.
Ole Miss has lost three straight games since their big top five road win over No. 4 Alabama. Georgia has lost four games in a row since they were ranked for the first time in over a decade. South Carolina is the only team without a win in conference play this season, sitting at the bottom of the standings at 0-7.
- Who’s on upset alert?
No one is safe in this league. There are two possibilities this week and it just so happens that they’re both in the top 15 matchups. However, as was previously mentioned in this article Tennessee is 55-4 at home in their last three and a half years. Losing to Kentucky wouldn’t be a huge upset in Rupp Arena, but losing to them at home definitely would be.
Alabama is the team that is on the highest upset alert this week. They’ll have to hop on a bus and head 85 miles west on I-20 to take on No. 14 Mississippi State in Starkville. Alabama is 3-4 in their last seven trips to Starkville and the Bulldogs are 8-1 at home this season.