FAYETTEVILLE -- The SEC posted its best mark in four seasons of the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Saturday with a 5-5 record.
The conference's top victory was a slam dunk: Florida's 84-52 road rout of Oklahoma.
The Gators outrebounded Oklahoma 50-39 while delivering the Sooners' worst home loss since 1922.
"I can't think of another game this year where I felt that good about us, postgame, the way that we rebounded the ball," Florida Coach Mike White said. "We went after a bunch of them with reckless abandon, two hands, giving our bodies up."
The Gators have won back-to-back road games by 30-plus points, with the stomping of the Sooners coming on the heels of a 106-71 rout of LSU last Wednesday at Baton Rouge.
"To come to Oklahoma and to beat a Lon Kruger-coached team by one point would have felt great," White said. "We played really well this week."
Auburn also logged an impressive victory with an 88-80 decision at TCU. The SEC's road victories came via Tennessee (70-58 over Kansas State), Georgia (59-57 over Texas) and Vanderbilt (84-78 over Iowa State).
The SEC's worst performance came from Arkansas, which fell behind early in a 99-71 loss at Oklahoma State.
Texas A&M put up a strong fight in an 81-77 loss at No. 18 West Virginia, while LSU dropped a 77-64 decision at Texas Tech.
In the marquee game of the challenge, No. 4 Kentucky fell 79-73 at home against No. 2 Kansas.
The Wildcats and Ole Miss, which dropped a 78-75 thriller against Baylor, gave the SEC its two home losses.
The Big 12 now leads the Challenge by a 25-15 overall margin.
Two-time tally
Not all SEC league schedules are equal. Just ask Georgia and Alabama, who face the toughest and easiest slates, respectively, of conference games this season.
The teams that Georgia plays twice in the SEC -- Kentucky, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama and Auburn -- are a combined 29-11 in conference games at this point. By contrast, the Crimson Tide's two-time opponents -- Georgia, Mississippi State, Auburn, LSU and Missouri -- are 12-28 in league play. None of Alabama's two-time opponents has a winning SEC record, while LSU and Missouri are a combined 1-15 in conference play.
Arkansas has the second-easiest slate of double opponents, with Florida, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt, LSU and Missouri combining for a 13-27 league record.
The overall record of the SEC teams Arkansas plays twice is 51-51, the worst record for any conference team and a far cry from the combined 77-27 record of the teams Georgia plays twice.
The full list of conference marks for two-time opponents: Georgia 29-11, Florida 26-14, Vanderbilt 25-15, Tennessee 24-16, LSU, Mississippi State and South Carolina 21-19, Kentucky and Missouri 20-20, Ole Miss 18-22, Texas A&M 16-24, Auburn 14-26, Arkansas 13-27, Alabama 12-28.
Palm reader
CBSSports.com's Jerry Palm latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection includes four SEC teams. Palm is projecting Kentucky as a No. 3 seed, South Carolina as a No. 6 seed, Florida as a No. 7 seed and Arkansas as a No. 10 seed.
Palm said Kentucky's 79-73 loss to Kansas on Saturday was the Wildcats' final appeal to snag a No. 1 seed by the NCAA Tournament selection committee because of a lack of quality opponents in the SEC.
"This is kind of their last chance to get the kind of win that says, 'We belong on the top line of that bracket,' " Palm said.
Lunardi's picks
Joe Lunardi of ESPN.com also has four SEC teams in his latest NCAA bracket projection.
Lunardi lists Kentucky as a No. 1 seed, South Carolina as a No. 6, Florida as a No. 5 and Arkansas as a No. 9.
Georgia is among the teams included in Lunardi's "Next Four Out" section after his "First Four Out."
The SEC is tied with the Pacific-12 with four teams in his bracket, behind the Atlantic Coast Conference (10 teams), the Big Ten (8), the Big 12 (7) and the Big East (5).
Three disparity
Florida had its streak of consecutive games with a made three-pointer end at 850 when the Gators shot 0 of 17 behind the arc in their 57-53 loss at South Carolina on Jan. 18. Florida went a combined 8 of 42 from three-point range (19 percent) in back-to-back losses to South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
The past two games have been a different three-point story for Florida in road routs of LSU and Oklahoma. The Gators made a school record 19 of 33 three-pointers in their 105-71 victory at LSU last Wednesday, then went 8 of 21 from three-point range in their 84-52 thumping of Oklahoma on Saturday. The cumulative three-point shooting in those games is 27 of 54 (50 percent).
Top players
Tennessee guard Robert Hubbs III and Alabama freshman Braxton Key were named SEC players of the week by the league office Monday.
Hubbs, a senior from Newbern, Tenn., averaged 17.5 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in victories over No. 4 Kentucky and Kansas State. Hubbs scored 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the upset over Kentucky.
Key, a 6-8 forward from Charlotte, N.C., was named freshman of the week after averaging 22.5 points and 9.0 rebounds, and shot 45.8 percent from the field, including 50 percent from three-point range, in Alabama's victories at Georgia and against Mississippi State. Key had a career-high 26 points and nine rebounds in the Tide's 80-60 rout at Georgia.
Road update
SEC road teams went 5-4 in conference games last week to pull back to a .500 record (28-28) on the season.
A couple of the road victories last week were lopsided, with Florida slamming LSU 106-71 at the Maravich Assembly Center and Alabama stomping Georgia 80-60 at Stegeman Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Five SEC teams are 3-1 in conference road games: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and South Carolina. Georgia, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Vanderbilt are 2-2. Auburn, LSU and Texas A&M have gone 1-3 in SEC road games and Missouri is winless at 0-4.
LSU and Missouri are still winless at home in conference play. LSU is 0-4 at home with a game against No. 19 South Carolina looming on Wednesday. Missouri is also 0-4 in SEC home games, with an average loss margin of 7.5 points per game.
Tip ins
• Kentucky is No. 8, South Carolina is No. 19 and Florida is No. 24 as the only ranked SEC teams in The Associated Press released Monday.
• Vanderbilt guard Riley LaChance is shooting 52.4 percent (43 of 82) from three-point range and has a shot at breaking the SEC record of 52.9 percent (with a minimum of 100 attempts) set by Kentucky's Travis Ford in 1993.
• Since senior guard Sindarius Thornwell returned from a suspension, South Carolina is 7-1. The Gamecocks (17-4) are 13-1 with Thornwell in the lineup.
• Auburn Coach Bruce Pearl recently notched his 500th victory to join Kentucky's John Calipari (637) and Tennessee's Rick Barnes (631) as active SEC coaches to reach the milestone.
Sports on 01/31/2017