December 4 SEC Basketball Schedule: TV, Tip Times, Streaming, How to Watch, Odds and Picks

What Happened Last Night

• UCLA 97, Kentucky 92: Kentucky won’t be #1 next week. UCLA has one of the best offenses in the country, but still... seeing the Wildcats give up 97 points (albeit in an 83-possession game) is quite jarring. Malik Monk had 24 points, De’Aaron Fox had 20 points and 9 assists, and Bam Adebayo had 18 points and 13 boards in the loss.
• Ole Miss 85, Memphis 77: The Rebels still haven’t figured out their defensive issues; on the other hand, the MTSU game looks like a blip as far as the offense is concerned. Andy Kennedy shook up his lineup with Breein Tyree and Terence Davis both earning their first career starts; but as usual, the star was Sebastian Saiz with 20 points and 16 boards.
• Tennessee 81, Georgia Tech 58: Maybe the Vols were releasing some pent-up anger about Josh Pastner’s refusal to schedule them when he was at Memphis? The ten-day layoff didn’t affect the Vols as they easily dispatched Georgia Tech behind 14 points and 7 assists from Shembari Phillips, as well as a career-high 14 from freshman Grant Williams.
• Missouri 59, Western Kentucky 56: Mizzou won this game in spite of going seven minutes without scoring after leading 57-48 with seven minutes to go. Frankie Hughes had 18 points, albeit on 5-of-15 shooting, and Mizzou shot 35 percent for the game.
• Minnesota 56, Vanderbilt 52: Vanderbilt went ice-cold in this one, shooting 36.5 percent from the floor... though I guess it’s a positive that the game was close when the team was shooting that badly. Jeff Roberson had 12 points and a career-high 16 boards in the loss.
• Arkansas 99, Austin Peay 62: Oh, hello, Arkansas. The Razorbacks shot 51.9 percent from the floor (including an incredible 63.9 percent in the second half) and also grabbed 19 of their own misses, and that’s a recipe for a blowout. Freshman Adrio Bailey led the team with 14 points (after scoring 2 points — total — in the Razorbacks’ first six games) and this was a sign that a team that’s heavy on newcomers may be starting to come together.
• Auburn 74, UAB 70: Auburn improved to 6-1 on the season and picked up what could be an impressive road win over the C-USA favorites. Freshman Jared Harper notched a new career high with 21 points, and Auburn is looking like they could be a surprise team when SEC play rolls around.

Today’s Schedule

The marquee game (if you want to call it that) is a showdown between KenPom #35 Marquette and Georgia in Athens; the Bulldogs have a chance to add a quality win to their resume. South Carolina shouldn’t have too many problems with FIU, while Mississippi State hosts a dangerous Georgia State team, though as we learned on Thursday Quinndary Weatherspoon is back in the lineup.

Odds and Picks

Yesterday: 1-6 ATS; Season to Date: 26-41-1 ATS

(ouch. Right now you’d probably just be better off picking the opposite of how I do.)

• FIU at South Carolina (-20.5): The oddsmakers seem to be catching up to the Gamecocks, but 20.5 is a lot to cover even against an FIU team that’s 1-5 against Division 1 competition this season — and against a schedule that’s included no one ranked higher than 124th per KenPom. That said, I do think with the way South Carolina is playing right now, they should be able to cover this.
• Marquette at Georgia (-3): Marquette is an impressive 5-2 this season, but they’re 1-2 against power-conference competition and this is their first true road game of the season. And J.J. Frazier has to come alive at some point, right?
• Georgia State (+3.5) at Mississippi State: Even with Quinndary Weatherspoon back, Mississippi State’s still a young team that will have some hiccups... and in particular, an experienced Georgia State team that’s good at forcing turnovers doesn’t seem like a great matchup for the young Bulldogs. I like Georgia State to pull the upset here. I guess this would be an upset, right?