What Happened Yesterday

The Tennessee Volunteers kicked off the Battle 4 Atlantis with a big upset, knocking off the Purdue Boilermakers in overtime. Grant Williams had 22 points and Kyle Alexander had 13 points and 11 rebounds in the victory.

Mississippi State improved to 4-0 on the year with an 80-75 victory over Stephen F Austin. This is the first time since 2014-15 the Bulldogs have won their first four games of the season. Tyson Carter had a career-high 25 points in the victory and Quinndary Richardson flirted with a triple-double, scoring 20 points to go along with seven rebounds and six assists.

LSU’s Maui Invitational trip ended with a whimper as they took a 94-84 loss to Marquette in the third place game. Tremont Waters had 39 points in the loss, as the freshman continues to look incredibly impressive for Will Wade’s bunch.

Ole Miss bounced back from their loss against Utah with a win over Rice in the MGM Resorts Main Event, winning by a 79-82 margin over the Owls. Deandre Burnett had 18 points and eight assists.

Kentucky defeated Fort Wayne. Nick Richards had 25 points on 9-10 shooting.

Today’s Schedule

Feast Week kicks into overdrive as six SEC teams are in action today.

First, the Missouri Tigers begin life without Michael Porter (technically they’ve been doing that, but now that it’s official this is the date we’ll be going with), as they’re in the Advocare Invitational in Orlando against Long Beach State. This is a game that Missouri needs to win, and a game it should win. The 49ers have struggled mightily this year with the two power five teams they’ve played, falling to Oregon State and West Virginia. Their three-point percentage is about three percent above the national average, but it’s hardly something for Missouri to be overly concerned about. Mizzou’s biggest opponent will be itself on Thursday. Can Jeremiah Tilmon stay out of foul trouble? Can Jontay Porter step up and take on a primary scoring role without Michael?

Tennessee’s reward for their aforementioned huge win over Purdue? The Villanova Wildcats. Villanova is almost a boring team to watch at this point. They do everything well, and have basketball down to a science. While the Vols are certainly off to an impressive start to the season, they likely don’t have the manpower to take down the Wildcats. If they do take Villanova down just 24 hours after beating Purdue, we could be looking at a top 25 Tennessee team come Monday.

Vanderbilt is in Brooklyn to face Virginia as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Ever watch Virginia play? It’s like having teeth pulled. Vanderbilt plays slow, too. This game could very well have a final score in the 50s or 60s. Yikes.

Arkansas is in Portland for PK80 as they face a very intriguing Oklahoma team. Both of these schools have lost a lot of talent over the past couple years, but there are nice pieces left on both sides to make this an interesting matchup. Oklahoma’s Trae Young is one of the nation’s top freshmen, and watching he and Jaylon Barford go at it should be a thrill.

The other SEC PK80 matchup? The Florida Gators take on the Stanford Cardinal. After blowing the doors off their first two opponents, Florida struggled a bit with New Hampshire in their final tuneup before PK80. There’s no reason to believe it was anything more than a bad game, but the Gators certainly need to put it behind them and come out strong against the Cardinal.

Rounding out the night’s action, Georgia heads to Fullerton to face Cal State Fullerton as part of the Wooden Legacy. The Bulldogs are one of the best teams in this tournament, and are considered a favorite as they head in, despite having one of the farthest distances to travel of any team in the field. Will jetlag come into play for Georgia? Probably not. But you never know.