SEC Tournament Opening Round Preview
by Ryan Glenn
No. 5W Alabama 20-10 (7-9) vs. No. 4E Kentucky 20-10 (9-7) – 1 p.m. EST
Perhaps the biggest match-up of day one, Alabama comes to Atlanta after losing their last game to Mississippi State. The loss sent them all the way down to a fifth seed and a possible rematch with Miss. State on Friday with a win. A big question for the Tide will be the health of Ronald Steele and Jermareo Davidson. Steele has sat out two straight games and Davidson has been recovering from a sore back that started bothering him in the second-half of the loss to Miss. State. Both are questionable for Thursday’s game. Kentucky comes in having lost five of their last seven games. Four of those losses, including a loss to Alabama, came on the road, which means the Wildcats should be looking forward to the neutral court and the many Big Blue faithful who will make the trip.
The Crimson Tide need this victory as they continue to fight for an NCAA Tournament birth. A win on Thursday will certainly be look good on their resume.
Kentucky should be in, regardless of this game, but a loss will certainly hurt their seed come Sunday.
In their previous meeting: Alabama won 72-61 – The Tide shot 47 percent (8-17) from behind the arc; the Wildcats shot just 23 percent (5-22)
No. 6E South Carolina vs. No. 3W Arkansas – 3:15 p.m. EST
In the second game of the day, South Carolina will look to play the role of spoiler as Arkansas clings to the chance of making the tournament field with some success this weekend. The Razorbacks will have one main mission – to contain Tre’ Kelley. Kelley has led the team in scoring in 13 of the 16 conference games and dropped a game-high 22 points in their first meeting.
Arkansas will have to win at least two, and most likely three games, in the tournament for the selection committee to even give them a look.
In their previous meeting: South Carolina won 66-60
No. 5E Georgia vs. No. 4W Auburn – 7:30 p.m. EST
In a battle of the teams “who could have been”, Georgia and Auburn will open up the night session. Auburn brings in a balanced attack that has all five of their starters averaging over 11 points a game. Georgia, in similar fashion, has three players averaging over 10 points a contest. Takais Brown, the JuCo transfer is currently leading the team in scoring and rebounds. Brown has stepped up in recent weeks to fill the void after the Bulldogs lost their leading scorer Mike Mercer on Feb. 10.
If Georgia is able to come away with a win against the Tigers, they will still most likely need a win against Florida to have a shot of getting in the tournament. The selection committee should take into account (but probably will not) that Georgia was in perhaps the toughest division in the country and still managed an 8-8 record.
In their previous meeting: Georgia won 86-79 – Auburn had five players foul out of the game; Georgia had none. Georgia out-rebounded Auburn 37-24.
No. 6W LSU vs. No. 3E Tennessee – 9:45 EST
In their first meeting, Chris Lofton returned after missing four games and saw limited action. Though Lofton has struggled at times, he is beginning to look like his old self. The good news for Tennessee is that rest of team has picked it up where Lofton has struggled. JaJuan Smith and Ramar Smith have contributed in nearly every game are a nice consistent scoring threat as freshmen Duke Crews and Wayne Chism continue to improve.
Tasmin Mitchell has led the Tigers in scoring in four of the last five games and scored a team-high 23 points against the Vols in Knoxville. The rest of the team, aside from Terry Martin who had 15 points, was not much help, missing shots all night.
The Vols’ frontcourt was able to control Glen Davis, allowing him just five points in the first contest. If they can contain Davis again or at least limit his impact, Tennessee should be able to move into the second round easily.
In their previous meeting: Tennessee won 70-67
