December 17 SEC Basketball Schedule: TV, Tip Times, Streaming, How to Watch, Odds and Picks

What Happened (Thursday) Night

• Tennessee 92, Lipscomb 77: Lipscomb came out on fire in this one, taking a 58-49 lead at halftime on the back of some unsustainable shooting, and once their shooting came back to earth Tennessee was able to put this game away. Freshman Grant Williams had a career-high 30 points and Robert Hubbs III had 22 points and 10 boards in this one.
• Alabama 78, USC Upstate 61: Weirdly, Alabama doesn’t have a single player averaging in double figures this season as they’ve had a bunch of different players step up every night. The last two games it’s been Donta Hall, who’s earned his first two career starts and after posting a career-high 14 in Alabama’s last game, he bested that with 15 points in this one.
• Ole Miss 78, Murray State 73: This wasn’t as close as the final score makes it look, as a late run by Murray State made the final margin much closer. Deandre Burnett had 24 points, mostly thanks to 14-of-16 at the foul line. Sebastian Saiz posted his fifth double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 boards.
• Auburn 117, Coastal Carolina 72: Suffice to say, Auburn wasn’t bothered much by playing shorthanded. The Tigers made 21 threes — which set a new school record and tied the SEC record — and put this one away before halftime. Danjel Purifoy had 27 points for the second game in a row, and ten different Auburn players scored — impressive, given that Auburn only had eight scholarship players available.

Today’s Schedule

With football’s regular season over, teams are playing games on Friday instead of Saturday — and that means that really for the first time this season, we’ve got a full slate of Saturday games. Texas A&M and Arkansas are playing, respectively, Arizona and Texas in a doubleheader at Houston’s Toyota Center. South Carolina plays its first true road game of the season, but the Gamecocks are playing a South Florida team that hasn’t beaten any team ranked higher than 190th in KenPom. The real marquee matchup, though, is Kentucky’s showdown against North Carolina in Las Vegas; that’s can’t-miss TV.

Odds and Picks

Thursday: 1-1 ATS; Season to Date: 35-57-1 ATS

• Arizona vs. Texas A&M (-2): This is basically a home game for the Aggies, and while Arizona is a good team I think Texas A&M will be motivated and will come up with a win. I don’t feel too strongly about this one, though.
• South Carolina at South Florida (+12.5): No, South Florida isn’t very good. But given that (a) South Carolina is still without Sindarius Thornwell and (b) this is the Gamecocks’ first true road game of the season, I can see South Florida staying close enough to cover 12.5 even if they’re probably not going to threaten to actually win.
• Arkansas vs. Texas (+3.5): I learned a long time ago not to bet on Arkansas outside of Bud Walton Arena. This isn’t a true road game, but the game’s in Houston so the Longhorns will probably have a decent home-crowd advantage.
• Eastern Illinois at Missouri (-8): Missouri can’t shoot, but neither can Eastern Illinois, so I’ll take the team that’s decent (or better) at everything else.
• Charlotte (+19.5) vs. Florida: Charlotte isn’t very good, but 19.5 is a lot to cover. Take the points.
• Kentucky (Pick) vs. North Carolina: Yes, I will take Kentucky on a neutral-court against a team that almost lost to Tennessee.
• Texas Southern at LSU (-9.5): If you haven’t had a look at Texas Southern’s schedule, it’s a hoot. Anyway, the Tigers have lost five in a row in the middle of a stretch of 16 (!) consecutive road games to open the season, and after this game they’ll travel to Fort Worth to play TCU 24 hours later. Yes, this seems like the kind of game LSU might lose, but you sort of wonder how much the opposition will be mentally in this one.
• Chattanooga at Vanderbilt (-4): This looks like a trap! You’re probably scratching your head about why Vanderbilt would be favored in this one, so of COURSE Vanderbilt will not only win but cover the spread. Vegas always knows...