SEC report

Ole Miss trending wrong way

LSU's Jordan Mickey, left, goes to the floor against Mississippi guard Jarvis Summers (32) to clear the ball from under the LSU boards in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Saturday in Baton Rouge, La., Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015. (AP Photo/The Baton Rouge Advocate, Travis Spradling)

FAYETTEVILLE -- Of the six SEC teams projected to make the NCAA Tournament field, only one -- Mississippi -- will enter the final week of the regular season on a slight downward trend.

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM

RANK (PREV);RPI;TEAM (RECORDS);COMMENT

1 (1);1;Kentucky (29-0, 16-0);Only Georgia, Florida can stop 31-0 regular season

2 (2);18;Arkansas (23-6, 12-4);Don’t want to finish end of season like last year

3 (3);33;Texas A&M (20-8, 11-5);Beat Florida tonight would be 4th SEC sweep

4 (5);45;LSU (21-8, 10-6);Looks to be peaking at a perfect time

5 (6);35;Georgia (19-9, 10-6);3 consecutive victories heading into Kentucky showdown

6 (4);48;Ole Miss (19-8, 10-6);Big games vs. Georgia, LSU this week

7 (10);97;Vanderbilt (17-12, 7-9);Commodores have won 4 of past 5

8 (7);84;Florida (14-15, 7-9);Not a Gator-like finish with 6 losses in past 8

9 (9);83;Alabama (17-12, 7-9);Has a chance to sweep A&M on Saturday

10 (8);105;Tennessee (14-14, 6-10);Struggling with losses in 7 of past 8

11 (11);95;S. Carolina (14-14, 5-11);Shooting a league worst 35.7 in SEC games

12 (12);202;Miss. State (12-17, 5-11);5 SEC victories best for under Rick Ray

13 (13);142;Auburn (12-17, 4-12);Home losing streak now at 5 games

14 (14);199;Missouri (8-21, 2-14);7 losses in past 10 games by 13-plus points

• The Ratings Percentage Index is a scale used by the NCAA Selection Committee to rank Division I basketball teams by their performance in light of strength of schedule. Low RPI ranking numbers denote strong teams; and high numbers, weaker ones.

Game of the week

Kentucky at Georgia, today, 8 p.m. (ESPN)

The Wildcats are 11 consecutive victories short of an undefeated season and a 40-0 record. No NCAA champion has gone unbeaten since Indiana went 32-0 in 1975-1976. Georgia is getting healthier and hotter with three consecutive victories, but the Bulldogs lost back-to-back games at Stegeman Coliseum to Auburn and South Carolina before that.

By the numbers

1 SEC games in which South Carolina has shot 50 percent or better

2 SEC teams Mississippi State has a winning record against (Ole Miss, South Carolina)

15 Triple-doubles in NCAA men’s basketball this season after LSU’s Tim Quarterman pulled off the feat Saturday

17.2 Kentucky’s average margin of victory against its six ranked opponents

Quotebook

“For the first time in eight weeks we’ve got everybody at practice. Hopefully now we can become the team we thought we could be two months ago.”

— Georgia Coach Mark Fox

“It’s been pretty crazy. I can tell you that tickets for home games this year are the toughest tickets since I’ve been here.”

— Kentucky Coach John Calipari

The Rebels (19-8) have lost three of their past five games, including home games against Arkansas and Georgia, and take a two-game losing streak, their first of the season, into tonight's game at Alabama.

"We had a rough week," Ole Miss Coach Andy Kennedy said on Monday's SEC coaches teleconference. "We played two really good teams. We played hard enough to win, but we just didn't play well enough to win."

Ole Miss needs one victory to post its seventh 20-victory season in nine years under Kennedy.

Undefeated Kentucky is projected as a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament by national analysts. ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi projects these other SEC teams will make the tournament: No. 5 seed Arkansas, No. 8 seed Georgia, No. 9 seeds Ole Miss and Texas A&M, and No. 10 seed LSU.

The Wildcats are 29-0 in pursuit of the NCAA's first unbeaten season by a men's team since Indiana in 1975-1976. Arkansas has won 10 of its past 12 games. Georgia and LSU have won three in a row, and Texas A&M has won 11 of 14.

Ole Miss' past three losses have come against other SEC teams projected to make the NCAA field: Arkansas, Georgia and LSU. The Rebels are 2-6 against those teams.

Kentucky is 5-0 against the other five heading into tonight's game at Georgia. The Bulldogs are 4-2, Arkansas is 3-2, LSU is 3-3 and Texas A&M is 2-4. Arkansas and LSU meet in a season finale on Saturday at Walton Arena.

Hot 'Cats

Kentucky won its past three games -- against Auburn, Mississippi State and Arkansas -- by leading wire to wire and Coach John Calipari's Wildcats are showing marked improvement in their quest to complete an unbeaten season.

The Wildcats improved to 29-0, the SEC's longest-ever season-opening winning streak, with Saturday's 84-67 victory over Arkansas, which also clinched the program's 46th SEC regular season title.

"I think it's remarkable, especially in today's day and age when there's so much parity," Florida Coach Billy Donovan said of Kentucky's streak. "It shouldn't be taken lightly.

"We live in a world that, in a lot of ways, they want to discredit or discount what happens in the regular season and put all the emphasis on the postseason. ... If they go undefeated, it's an incredible accomplishment."

Kentucky has trailed for a total of 149:01 out of a possible 1,175 minutes this season. The Wildcats have trailed for 22:11 out of 240 minutes against their six ranked opponents.

"There are not a lot of holes in that Kentucky team, I tell you," Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings said. "Playing the 'Cats this year is different than playing anybody else. ... John says this all the time, but they take everybody else's best shot."

Sportsmanship?

Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings is the subject of an internal review at the school after he was caught on camera screaming an obscenity at Commodores freshman Wade Baldwin IV near the handshake line after Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 73-65 on Thursday.

Baldwin clapped near the faces of some Tennessee players in the closing seconds of the game, prompting Stallings to pull the player out of the line and shout to Baldwin's back, "We don't do that! I'm going to f** kill you!"

Stallings took a jab at himself after Saturday's 73-66 victory over Alabama by saying, "Just got about 10 more minutes of work today without doing anything stupid and I'll be all right. Let's see if I can do it."

Baldwin defended Stallings on Twitter on Thursday and did it again after making four three-pointers against Alabama on Saturday.

"That's the ultimate [with] the beating in all the press about him," Baldwin told reporters. "And he's a great coach. I love playing for him. He's been nothing but great since this happened. He's definitely remorseful."

Tim time

LSU's Tim Quarterman had 18 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists in the Tigers' 73-63 victory over Ole Miss on Saturday to help him pull down SEC player of the week honors.

Quarterman's triple-double, the first of his career and the first in the SEC this season, made him one of 11 NCAA players to finish with 10 or more in three different statistical categories in the same game this year.

The 6-6 sophomore's move to starting point guard has helped LSU get hot at the right time.

"Offensively he's come on to where he's able to create opportunities for other players," LSU Coach Johnny Jones said. "He's done a good job taking care of the basketball."

Quarterman's triple-double was the first for LSU since Shaquille O'Neal did it against BYU in the 1992 NCAA Tournament.

Home not sweet

Auburn has lost six consecutive SEC games at Auburn Arena after opening conference play with a 2-0 home mark. The Tigers have been beaten by 10 or more points at home four times by SEC teams, including last week's 84-61 loss to LSU.

Mississippi State has lost four games in a row at Humphrey Coliseum and has won more SEC road games (3) than home games (2).

Missouri snapped its six-game losing streak at Mizzou Arena with a 64-52 victory over Florida last week. The Tigers are 2-6 in SEC home games and 0-8 in road games.

Blocked out

Arkansas, which had 23 blocked shots in its previous two games and had been averaging more than seven per game in its previous seven games, was credited with no blocked shots in its loss at Kentucky on Saturday.

The Razorbacks weren't the only SEC team to go block-less last week. Texas A&M had none during its 81-75 loss at Arkansas on Tuesday, while the Hogs had 12 blocks. South Carolina also came up empty in that department in its 59-51 loss at Alabama.

East vs. West

If the SEC still played in divisions, the West would hold a 32-26 lead in head-to-head matchups this season.

Four teams in the West have winning records vs. the East. LSU and Texas A&M are both 6-2, Arkansas is 6-3, and Mississippi is 5-3. Only Kentucky (8-0) and Georgia (5-3) from the East have winning records against the other division.

The worst cross-division records belong to Missouri (1-8), South Carolina (2-6), Alabama (3-7) and Tennessee (3-6).

Honoring Mason

Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl was effusive in his praise for Texas A&M officials, who held a moment of silence for Anthony Mason, father of Tigers player Antoine Mason, who died early Saturday before the Tigers' game at College Station, Texas.

Mason, Auburn's second-leading scorer, could miss the rest of the regular season while mourning with family members in New York. Anthony Mason, 48, had been struggling with heart problems following a heart attack in early February.

"What a nice, classy group to have that moment of silence for Anthony and Antoine and the Mason family," Pearl said on Auburn's post-game radio show.

The Texas A&M equipment staff also sewed ribbons on Auburn's warm-ups and jerseys to honor Mason.

"That's just the SEC family going above and beyond the call," Pearl said.

Sword play

Mississippi State Coach Rick Ray made the only unbidden pitch for one of his players to make the All-SEC team during Monday's coaches teleconference.

Ray's play was for guard Craig Sword, who ranks 10th in the SEC with a 14.0 scoring average in league games. Ray pointed out that Sword's scoring makes up one of the highest percentages of his team's scoring of any player in the league, and that Sword's 110 free throws attempted in league games is the best by 10 over Auburn's Cinmeon Bowers in the SEC.

Sword needed time to recover from October surgery to repair a bulging disc in his back and didn't start playing well until January. He ranks 31st in the SEC in scoring 10.4 points per game.

Worth noting

• Saturday's loss at Vanderbilt marked Anthony Grant's 300th career game as a head coach and his 100th SEC game. Grant's overall record is 192-108 and he's 53-47 in conference games.

• LSU clinched its first winning SEC record since 2008-2009 by beating Mississippi on Saturday. That was also the last time the Tigers played in the NCAA Tournament.

• Kentucky's Trey Lyles was named SEC freshman of the week Monday, giving Kentucky or Vanderbilt 15 of the 16 selections for that weekly award. Arkansas' Anton Beard took the honor last week.

• Vanderbilt Coach Kevin Stallings moved past Tubby Smith to take sole possession of sixth place on the SEC's all-time victory list with his 309th.

• Alabama has a 5-0 record on senior nights under Anthony Grant heading into tonight's game against Mississippi.

• Georgia's Juwan Parker returned from an Achilles injury for Saturday's 68-44 victory over Missouri after missing 11 games.

Sports on 03/03/2015