AUBURN, Ala. — Sharife Cooper had 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead Auburn to an 88-82 win over No. 12 Missouri on Tuesday night.
Cooper, a freshman point guard who missed Auburn’s first 11 contests this season, had his fourth 20-point outing in six career games. Bruce Pearl’s young Tigers, which also got 23 combined points from freshmen forwards JT Thor and Chris Moore, are now 4-2 since Cooper was ruled eligible by the NCAA.
“(Missouri is) one of the top teams in the country,” Cooper said. “It gives you confidence. We feel like we can compete with anybody.”
Auburn (10-7, 4-5 SEC) raced out to a 14-point lead early, thanks in large part to some tenacious defense and rebounding.
However, a veteran Missouri team clawed its way back late in the first half, when Cooper was forced to sit because of foul trouble. While Missouri led by as many as seven in the second half, Auburn battled back and took the lead for good with 7:34 left on a floater from Cooper.
“He’s an alpha dog,” Pearl said of Cooper. “He’s the biggest little man out there, period. Everybody knows it.”
Missouri (10-3, 4-3) was led by seniors Jeremiah Tilmon and Dru Smith, who scored 42 of the team’s 82 points.
“It’s shot selection in timely situations… we were up by seven in the second half by getting the ball inside and moving it,” Missouri head coach Cuonzo Martin said. “Then, all of a sudden, it was a quick shot here, a turnover there, a missed layup there. Those were momentum-killers.”
Alabama stays unbeaten, sweeps Kentucky
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In an unfamiliar situation trailing late, No. 9 Alabama came out of the under-four media timeout on a mission to get stops against Kentucky.
“We came to the huddle, and we just told each other that we know how to win these games and kind of rallied together and decided to get a steal coming out, and that’s what we did. We came out and got stops,” said Alabama guard Herb Jones.
Jaden Shackelford scored 21 points to help Alabama beat Kentucky 70-59 on Tuesday night and complete its first regular season two-game sweep over the Wildcats since 1989.
After a back-and-forth second half, Davion Mintz’s 3-pointer put Kentucky up 54-52 with 4:52 remaining in the game. The Alabama defense then made stops on five straight possessions which led to a 10-0 Crimson Tide run that essentially put the game away.
The Crimson Tide (14-3, 9-0 SEC) extended their winning streak to 10 games.
For a team that came in known for its 3-point shooting, Alabama made its first three attempts and then struggled for the rest of the game. The Crimson Tide didn’t hit their first 3-pointer of the second half till Shackelford made one with 9:48 to put Alabama up 47-43.
“We only got 20 3s up which is obviously not how we usually play, but figured out a way to win the game with defensive rebounding,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats.
Jones finished one rebound and two assists shy of a triple-double and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line down the stretch to help seal the game for the Tide.
Florida hands Vandy 6th straight loss
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Tre Mann scored 15 points, Colin Castleton added 13 and Florida beat Vanderbilt 78-71 on Wednesday night for its third straight victory.
Florida was ahead by as many as 22 points, with 9:52 remaining in the second half, but Vanderbilt pulled to 71-65 after making a three straight 3-pointers.
Back-to-back layups by Scotty Pippen Jr. cut Florida's lead to 73-69 with 37.7 seconds left, but Vanderbilt didn't make another field goal the rest of the way. The Gators hit enough free throws down the stretch, 5 of 8, to seal it.
Noah Locke and Tyree Appleby each had 12 points and Scottie Lewis, who missed the previous four games, added 10 for Florida (9-4, 6-3 SEC). Mann, coming off a career-high 24 points against Georgia, and Locke each had three of the Gators' 10 3-pointers. Florida has won six straight in the series.
Pippen and Dylan Disu combined to score 50 of Vanderbilt's 71 points. Pippen scored a career-high 32 points plus five rebounds and six assists. Disu had 18 points and eight rebounds. Vanderbilt (4-8, 0-6) made just 12 field goals through the first 30 minutes but finished 25 of 58 for 43%.
Florida is scheduled to play at No. 11 West Virginia on Saturday. Vanderbilt will attempt to snap a six-game losing streak on Saturday against South Carolina.
Gamecocks thump Georgia
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Keyshawn Bryant had his first double-double of the season and South Carolina's defense smothered Georgia in the Gamecocks' 83-59 win on Wednesday night.
Bryant finished with 19 points, a season-high 10 rebounds and a career-best tying three steals. Jermain Couisnard added 18 points, AJ Lawson scored 12 points and Justin Minaya 10.
Bryant scored all his 11 first-half points during a 21-4 run that gave South Carolina (4-5, 2-3 SEC) the lead for good, and made it 32-19 when Lawson hit a 3-pointer with 3:17 left before the break. Andrew Garcia made a layup to trim Georgia's deficit to 41-35 with 16:38 to play. Cousinard answered with a 3-pointer before Bryant made two free throws and Minaya hit a 3 in an 8-2 spurt, and the Bulldogs trailed by double figures the rest of the way.
Freshman K.D. Johnson scored 13 points and Garcia finished with 10 for Georgia (9-6, 2-6).
The Bulldogs made six of their first 13 shot and led 14-8 after Sahvir Wheeler hit a jumper with 11:33 left in the first half, but shot just 28% (15 of 53) the rest of the way. The Gamecocks defense contested jumpers, challenged shots at the rim and forced three Georgia shot-clock violations. The Bulldogs made just 4 of 26 from 3-point range in their lowest scoring game of the season.
Bryant, a 6-foot-6 junior who missed most of December and half of January for undisclosed reasons, is averaging 22.0 points in four games since returning.
South Carolina snapped a three-game skid.
LSU scores 18 straight to down Aggies
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Cameron Thomas finished with 28 points and LSU scored the final 18 points of the game to beat Texas A&M 78-66 on Tuesday night.
Texas A&M led 66-60 with 8:50 remaining and then missed its last 15 field goals plus a free throw.
The Tigers (11-4, 6-3 SEC) jumped out to a 17-point lead with about six minutes left in the first half and led 41-36 at the break. Quenton Jackson’s 3-pointer gave the Aggies their first lead of the game, 58-57 with 13:08 remaining.
Thomas was 8 of 21 from the field, made three 3-pointers and all nine of his free-throw attempts. Thomas scored a season-best 32 points in a 77-54 victory over the Aggies in the conference opener on Dec. 29.
Ja’Vonte Smart scored 19 points and had a season-high nine assists for the Tigers, who ended a two-game stretch of double-digits losses, each against Alabama and Kentucky. Trendon Watford added 13 points and Darius Days had 11.
Jay Jay Chandler matched a career high with 21 points to lead Texas A&M (7-7, 2-6). Savion Flagg added 17 points.
LSU has beaten the Aggies in eight straight contests. Texas A&M last beat LSU on Feb. 4, 2017.
LSU plays at Texas Tech on Saturday. The Aggies play at Kansas State on Saturday.
This game was much more tightly contested than the 85-65 Alabama win on Jan. 12, but in the end the Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) offense couldn’t convert in the final few minutes of the game until it was too late.
“We had our chances,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari. “We again got out toughed. Just makes me sick. Not throughout the game, we fought like crazy. The last three minutes we backed away, playing not to lose versus playing to win.”
The Wildcats were led in scoring by Mintz, Dontaie Allen and Olivier Sarr all with 12 points.
The 10-game win streak for Alabama is its longest since the 1996-97 season.
“Big win halfway through conference at 9-0,” Oats said. “Really proud of our guys and the culture that they’ve created for themselves and just winning some close games.”