Wednesday night in SEC basketball only had one upset, so that counts as a pretty quiet night these days.
It could've been more interesting had the Texas A&M Aggies not held off the Mississippi State Bulldogs 68-66 in College Station. State has been biting some of the better teams in the conference of late, and it very nearly got another one right here. It was a letdown spot for TAMU after the weekend's big win over Kentucky, but the team just squeaked by.
A&M carried a meager four-point lead into the half, but it wasn't able to open up more than a nine-point advantage after the break. Craig Sword made one-of-two from the foul line with 1:01 on the clock to cut the Aggies' lead to one point at 65-64. Quinndary Weatherspoon fouled Danuel House on the ensuing possession with 38 ticks to go, but House could only make one shot as well. Sword tied the game at 66 with a shot with 24 seconds left, and Texas A&M tried to run out as much clock as possible next. Weatherspoon again fouled House, this time with 2.1 seconds left, and this time House made both foul shots. Tonny Trocha-Morelos then stole MSU's inbound pass to seal the win.
The South Carolina Gamecocks also held serve on their home court against a team from the bottom of the SEC standings, only they left considerably less doubt. Carolina walloped the Tennessee Volunteers 84-58, with the win keeping the team within a game of Kentucky for the league lead. The Gamecocks hit 52.5% of their field goals while holding UT to just 34.9% shooting.
The one upset of the night came from the Georgia Bulldogs once again faltering on the road and losing to the Auburn Tigers 84-81. AU dominated early, running up as much as a 19-point lead in the first half before settling for a 39-23 advantage at intermission. UGA chipped away at the lead throughout the second half, but it took a heroic effort from Kenny Gaines to really pull close.
Horace Spencer made one-of-two from the charity stripe with 54 seconds left to give the Tigers a 74-65 lead. Gaines rebounded the miss on the second shot and made a three pointer with 43 seconds left to cut it to 74-68. After a pair of Jordon Grainger free throws, Gaines made another triple with 33 seconds on the clock to make it 76-71. T.J. Dunans only made one foul shot for AU, after which Gaines made a third shot from deep to make it a one possession game at 77-74 with 23 seconds to go.
The teams traded free throws for a bit before J.J. Frazier hit a three to make it 82-81 with six seconds left. Bryce Brown made a pair of free throws with three seconds left to push the lead back out to three, and Auburn fouled Frazier with one second to go before Frazier could get off a desperation heave. He missed both, the second intentionally, and Cinmeon Bowers corralled the rebound off of the second one to seal the game.