November 23 SEC Basketball Schedule: TV, Tip Times, Streaming, How to Watch, Odds and Picks

What Happened Last Night

• Oregon 69, Tennessee 65 (OT): I’m really not sure what’s going on with Oregon, so we might not want to read too much into this for Tennessee. The Vols forced the Ducks into 21 turnovers ... but they committed 25 themselves and shot just 5-of-22 from three. Detrick Mostella had 22 points off the bench for Tennessee, though John Fulkerson — who had 12 points, 10 boards, and 5 blocks off the bench — might have been the real star for the Vols in this one.
• Auburn 67, Texas Tech 65: Auburn survived their first real test in the Cancun Challenge, building a 15-point lead in the first half and then holding on to improve to 4-0. Mustapha Heron led the Tigers with 15 points, and Auburn now gets a shot at Purdue on Wednesday.
• Minnesota 85, Arkansas 71: The Razorbacks’ road woes have been well-documented; here, Minnesota went on a 34-8 run in the first half and really never looked back, as Arkansas never pulled within single digits in the second half. Dusty Hannahs had 20 points, but 21 turnovers and a 1-for-8 shooting performance from beyond the arc doomed Arkansas.
• Kansas 65, Georgia 54: Yante Maten was an absolute monster, notching 30 points and 13 boards. The rest of the Bulldogs shot 22 percent from the floor and 2-of-17 from three-point range. This was a game that the Bulldogs could have won — they outrebounded Kansas and the turnover margin was even — but Georgia just couldn’t get anything to fall, and they’ll look back on this as a missed opportunity.

Today’s Schedule

Holiday basketball! It’s a Wednesday, but it’s the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so there are three afternoon games (or four, if you want to call a 5 PM ET tip “afternoon.”) LSU opens the Battle 4 Atlantis against a strong Wichita State team; Kentucky hosts 1-2 Cleveland State in what’s probably going to be a walkover; Tennessee closes out the Maui Invitational with the seventh-place game against Division 2 Chaminade.

The evening slate also has some good matchups, with South Carolina hosting Michigan in a battle of 4-0 teams and Auburn facing a top 25 Purdue team in the finals of the Cancun Challenge. Alabama faces St. Louis in the consolation game of the MGM Grand Main Event in Las Vegas.

Odds and Picks

Yesterday: 4-0 ATS (woohoo!); Season-to-Date: 13-18-1 ATS

• LSU vs. Wichita State (-10.5): LSU is 3-0, but Wichita State is a pretty big step up in class from what they’ve played so far, and the Shockers’ defensive prowess is bound to give LSU fits. LSU does have Craig Victor returning in this game but I still like Wichita State to win and cover.
• Cleveland State at Kentucky (-29.5): Large spreads like this always scare the crap out of me; no, Cleveland State isn’t very good, and Kentucky can probably name the final score in this one, but the difference between winning by 25 and winning by 30 frequently comes down to motivation. That said, Cleveland State doesn’t have a regular taller than 6’8” and likely isn’t capable of preventing Kentucky from doing what they want.
• Tennessee (-13) at Chaminade: Chaminade is a Division II team, and I think Tennessee will be motivated to get out of Maui with a win after a close call on Tuesday.
• Michigan at South Carolina (+3): Michigan has looked impressive so far, but I like the value with South Carolina getting three points here as the Gamecocks seem to be undervalued. This is Michigan’s first true road game.
• Auburn (+9) vs. Purdue: The oddsmakers still seem to be undervaluing Auburn, who’s now 3-0 ATS on the year and beat Texas Tech outright yesterday. It seems like a smart move to ride Auburn until the odds catch up with reality.
• Alabama (-12) vs. St. Louis: St. Louis is pretty awful, having lost to BYU by 30 on Monday here in the MGM Grand Main Event, and I don’t expect Alabama to have any trouble with them — they’ve beaten better teams than the Billikens by bigger margins than this number.