SEC report

Bus trip witness to a 'miracle'

Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland, left, encourages guard Quinndary Weatherspoon to ice down his injured wrist in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Jackson, Miss., Monday, Dec. 19, 2016. Mississippi State won 86-44. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Mississippi State's men's basketball team had to scrap its plans of flying Friday for its road game at LSU after the de-icer on its plane failed to work. Then the Bulldogs' bus pulled over on slippery Interstate 59 and team personnel helped extricate a woman from her car after it spun on ice and overturned in a ditch.

Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said the "very nice lady" was wearing a cross around her neck and called her ability to walk away from the accident a "miracle."

"If you had seen that happen, you would have thought there was a good chance she wouldn't be able to walk from it," Howland said. "What a nice thing to have that miracle happen and for our group to be able to be there and help right away. Because we were worried about that car exploding the way it was smoking when it was turned upside-down."

The Bulldogs' trip turned into a big positive with a dominating 95-78 victory over the Tigers.

"We're going back in a plane tonight, so we're excited about that," Howland said.

Not so sweet

SEC home games: Enter at your own risk.

Home teams have been taking it on the chin in the early going in SEC play, with visitors holding an 11-8 edge through three playing dates.

The topsy-turvy trek for SEC home teams started before the New Year, as the league moved up the beginning of conference play to Dec. 29. Every SEC road team won on that date, by a whopping average of 12.2 points per game, including Kentucky's 99-76 victory at Ole Miss.

Only LSU, which lost 96-89 to Vanderbilt, and Arkansas, which fell 81-72 to Florida, managed not to lose by 10 or more points on opening day in SEC play.

Home teams bounced back Saturday with a 5-2 mark, with only Auburn, an 88-85 loser to Ole Miss, and LSU, which was routed 95-78 by Mississippi State, failing to protect the home court.

Nose to nose

Missouri assistant coach Steve Shields, the former UALR head coach, was on the front line of a standoff with Georgia assistants at the end of the first half in the Bulldogs' 71-66 home victory on Saturday.

The heated confrontation, in which no punches were exchanged, began when two players -- Georgia's Yante Maten and Missouri's Jordan Geist -- wrestled for the ball after the final shot of the half. A couple of Georgia players bumped Geist, then Missouri personnel hustled down to protect their players.

Tensions escalated when Kent Davison, Georgia's director of basketball operations, pushed a little too far into the Missouri group. Shields, who was trying to move Missouri players away, objected to Davison's interloping, pushing him and pointing a finger toward his face.

Smith out

Missouri's Mitchell Smith, a freshman from Van Buren, is out for the season after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during an 88-77 loss to LSU last week.

The 6-10 forward was averaging 2.4 points and 1.7 rebounds in eight minutes per game off the bench. Smith's injury leaves the Tigers with four scholarship players who are 6-5 or taller.

Allen wins

North Little Rock product KeVaughn Allen of Florida was named SEC player of the week Monday. The 6-2 guard averaged 18.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 steals and made 8 of 13 three-point shots in victories over Ole Miss and Tennessee.

Big freshman

Kentucky's Malik Monk, a Lepanto native who finished his high school career at Bentonville, leads the SEC in scoring at 21.9 points per game. Monk is trying to become the fourth freshman to lead the conference in scoring, the last being LSU's Chris Jackson with a 30.2 average in 1988-1989.

No call

The SEC has done away with the weekly coaches teleconference, at least on a temporary basis. The weekly call during conference play, which will now be held every other Monday, with a couple of exceptions, has been a staple for the league for a couple of decades.

Tip ins

• Arkansas leads the league with free-throw shooting (77.7 percent).

• Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox, who averaged 21 points, 5.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists in victories over Texas A&M and Arkansas, was named SEC freshman of the week.

• Missouri's 71-66 loss at Georgia was its 27th in a row on an opponent's home court.

Sports on 01/10/2017