SEC report

Analysts say four from SEC

Kentucky's Malik Monk, right, shoots over the defense Florida's Canyon Barry during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/James Crisp)

FAYETTEVILLE -- With one week remaining in the regular season, the SEC has four teams targeted to reach for the men's NCAA Tournament by most national analysts.

The quartet of Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville have the strongest chances to make the field, and it has been that way since the Razorbacks bounced back from consecutive losses to Missouri and Vanderbilt and kicked off a five-game winning streak.

Jerry Palm of CBSSports.com projected Kentucky as a No. 3 seed, Florida as a No. 4, South Carolina as a No. 8, and Arkansas as a No. 10 in his latest bracket. He also lists Georgia as one of his first four teams out of the field.

ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi has Kentucky as a No. 2 seed, Florida as a No. 3, South Carolina as a No. 7 and Arkansas as a No. 9.

Ken Pomeroy of Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings has only two SEC teams -- No. 6 Kentucky and No. 7 Florida -- in his top 25. Also in his top 50 are South Carolina at No. 28, Arkansas at No. 41 and Vanderbilt at No. 43.

Kentucky, with a 14-2 SEC record, is one game ahead of Florida (13-3) in the standings with two games remaining. The Wildcats, who are seeking their 50th SEC regular-season championship, finish with a home game against Vanderbilt tonight and a road date at Texas A&M on Saturday. The Gators host Arkansas on Wednesday and travel to Vanderbilt on Saturday.

The Commodores, who have won four games in a row and are No. 48 in the RPI rankings, can make a strong play for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth with games against the SEC front runners to conclude the regular season.

Tourney look

Arkansas and South Carolina can secure double byes for the SEC Tournament with one victory in their final two regular-season games. Kentucky and Florida have both locked in for double byes for the tournament, which starts March 8 at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

On the bottom end of the bracket, Missouri (2-14) and LSU (1-15) are assured of playing in the opening round Wednesday, while Mississippi State (5-11) would need to win its final two games and have other factors fall in its favor to avoid the first-round games for the No. 11-No. 14 seeds.

If the tournament was held today, Arkansas (11-5) would hold the tiebreaker for the No. 3 seed over South Carolina, and Auburn (6-10) would join the bottom four teams.

Frazier wins

Georgia wants the ball in J.J. Frazier's hands late in tight games, even when he's sick.

Though it hasn't always worked in the Bulldogs' favor, they have shown the super-quick Frazier, who was named SEC player of the week Monday, needs to have his hand on the trigger at crunch time.

Twice in the past two weeks, Frazier's late-game performances have led to critical victories for Georgia, which is among a handful of SEC bubble teams.

On Saturday, a few hours after going to an urgent care clinic and testing negative for the flu, Frazier scored 29 points and had a season-high eight assists in Georgia's 82-80 home victory over LSU.

With Georgia trailing 80-79, the 5-10, 155-pound senior drove the length of the floor in the final 6 seconds, was fouled at the rim and made two free throws with 1.6 seconds left for the winning points.

Frazier scored 11 of Georgia's final 12 points in a 60-55 victory at Alabama on Thursday, the Bulldogs' first full game without standout forward Yante Maten. Frazier hit a high-arcing layup after a tough drive down the left block with 1:32 remaining to give Georgia a 56-53 lead. He then hit two free throws with 50 seconds left for a 58-55 lead and later added another free throw in the Bulldogs' road victory.

Bam named

Kentucky's Bam Adebayo was named SEC freshman of the week after averaging 20 points and 15 rebounds and shooting 65 percent from the field in victories over Missouri and No. 13 Florida last week. Adebayo, a 6-10, 260-pound forward, had 22 points and 15 rebounds in a 72-62 victory at Missouri. He followed that with 18 points and 15 rebounds in a 76-66 victory over Florida.

Marksmen

Two Arkansas guards -- Dusty Hannahs and Daryl Macon -- have a shot at finishing as the SEC's free-throw percentage leader, but they can hardly afford any more misses.

Hannahs is hitting 88.0 percent of his free throws (81 of 92) to rank third in the SEC behind Florida's Canyon Barry (89.9, 98 of 109), who shoots free throws under-handed, and Mississippi's Deandre Burnett (89.8, 176 of 196). Auburn's Danjel Purifoy is fourth at 87.7 percent (71 of 81), while Macon is fifth at 87.3 percent (110 of 126).

In SEC games, Barry is making 92.7 percent of his free throws, and he's followed in the top five by Florida's KeVaughn Allen (89.1), Burnett (87.5), Georgia's Juwan Parker (86.2) and Macon (85.2).

Monk rebounds

Kentucky guard Malik Monk, the former Bentonville High School standout, bounced back from a three-point first half against Florida on Saturday to score 30 points in the second half of the Wildcats' 76-66 victory over Florida to surge into sole possession of first place in the SEC standings.

Monk is on track to become the fourth freshman to lead the SEC in scoring and the first since LSU's Chris Jackson did it with a 30.2 scoring average in 1989.

Monk is averaging 21.5 points per game, just ahead of South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell (21.0).

Tight finish

Ole Miss has won six of its past eight games, including back-to-back nail-biters, coinciding with guard Deandre Burnett's improvement from a high ankle sprain.

The Rebels followed an 87-82 overtime road victory at Mississippi State on Tuesday with an 80-77 victory over Missouri on Saturday.

"I'm used to them," Rebels Coach Andy Kennedy said of the tight outcomes. "Our margin for error is just too small. Typically, if it's a blowout it's not going to be good for us. So I want them close."

Burnett scored 28 points, hitting 13 of 14 free throws and 5 of 8 three-pointer, in the victory against the Tigers.

Burnett suffered a high ankle sprain in January and the Rebels lost four of six games during his recovery. Burnett led the team in scoring in eight of its first 15 games, but did it once in an 11-game span after the injury before he scored 27 points in Ole Miss' 98-80 loss at Arkansas on Feb. 18.

The Rebels (18-11, 9-7 SEC), likely a fringe NCAA Tournament team at best, finish with a harder slate than they've been playing, with a road date at Alabama on Wednesday and a home game against South Carolina on Saturday.

Tip-ins

• Arkansas received one vote in Monday's Associated Press men's poll.

• Texas A&M's Robert Williams has blocked a shot in all 28 games this season, the longest active streak in the country.

• LSU's 15-game losing streak is a school record and the longest by a Power 5 team this season.

• Kentucky guard De'Aaron Fox sat out Saturday's victory over Florida with what Coach John Calipari said was a bone bruise on his right knee.

Sports on 02/28/2017