January 31 SEC Basketball Schedule: TV, Tip Times, How to Watch, Streaming, Odds and Picks

Tonight’s Schedule

The midweek window marks the ninth game of the 18-game conference schedule for each team, and there’s a seven-car pileup in the middle of the conference standings — seven teams are either 4-4 or 3-5 in SEC play, and all seven of them are playing tonight. The Georgia-Kentucky game is mostly noteworthy for being Brent Musburger’s last game, ever, but Kentucky has suddenly lost two in a row and get Georgia at a good time, as the Bulldogs haven’t been playing all that well either losing two in a row before squeaking out a win over Texas on Saturday.

As for the other three games, well, perhaps the pileup will sort itself out — or perhaps it will get even messier. Should Tennessee, Georgia, and Mississippi State all lose -- and all three are playing on the road — there will be six teams tied for sixth place at 4-5 in the conference. Tennessee goes to Auburn on a three-game winning streak, but all three have come at home, and Bruce Pearl’s team has now won three of four. In College Station, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M both look to be turning things around over the past week and a half: Vanderbilt would be on a three-game winning streak if they’d held on against Arkansas, and the Aggies very nearly came all the way back from a 20-point deficit at West Virginia.

And then there’s the basketball Egg Bowl at 7: Mississippi State has lost 3 of 4 with the only win coming against Missouri, and Ole Miss has lost two in a row after they couldn’t hold on against Baylor on Saturday.

Either way, at least three games tonight figure to be competitive, even if there aren’t a ton of NCAA Tournament implications.

Odds and Picks

Season to Date: 81-98-1 ATS

• Mississippi State at Ole Miss (-5): One of these teams will get a badly-needed win. Ole Miss is finally back to full strength and Mississippi State, after looking promising in a 3-1 start in SEC play, is coming back to earth a bit. I like the Rebels to win and cover here.
• Tennessee at Auburn (Pick): This is suddenly a highly interesting matchup after Auburn’s win at TCU; now, the Tigers have won three of four and Tennessee might be the only team in the league that’s hotter right now. Austin Wiley’s finally figuring his way around the college game and I don’t think Tennessee has anyone to match up with him, so I like Auburn here.
• Vanderbilt (+5) at Texas A&M: Both teams have looked sketchy on the defensive end in conference play, but only one of these teams has an offense... and that team is the underdog.
• Georgia (+16.5) at Kentucky: Again, the premise of this series requires me to make a pick here and I don’t feel strongly either way. What is Kentucky’s mental state after two straight losses? There’s the side question of whether Kentucky’s bigs can stop Yante Maten, but the first question is why I would lean Georgia and the points.