December 20 SEC Basketball Schedule: Time, TV, Streaming, Odds, and Picks

What Happened Last Night

• Clemson 64, South Carolina 48: South Carolina shot 19-of-54 from the field and committed 14 turnovers in a 62-possession game. That’s really all I need to say about this one. Chris Silva had 12 points and 9 boards for the Gamecocks.
• Ole Miss 85, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 63: Ole Miss shot 14-of-30 from three on their way to an easy win over the Islanders, who are now 0-7 against Division I competition. Senior Justas Furmanavicius got his second start of the season and rewarded Andy Kennedy by leading five Rebels in double figures with 15 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting.
• Texas A&M 64, Northern Kentucky 58: Texas A&M struggled to find much offense with Admon Gilder and Robert Williams out, scoring just 64 points in 70 possessions. That mainly had to do with a 2-for-20 performance on three-pointers. Tyler Davis had 14 points and 10 boards for the Aggies.
• Arkansas 104, Oral Roberts 69: When Arkansas shoots 59 percent from the floor (and 14-of-25 from three) and forces 27 turnovers, you get, well, this. Oral Roberts actually put up a decent rebounding and shooting performance and still lost by 35. Jaylen Barford had 18 points to lead the Razorbacks, and the senior also had 5 steals.
• LSU 80, Sam Houston State 58: Five Tigers scored in double figures and LSU shot 21-of-31 inside the arc as they scored a surprisingly easy win over Sam Houston State to improve to 7-3 on the season.
• Auburn 81, Murray State 77: Don’t overlook this win for Auburn, who improved to 10-1: Murray State is a pretty good team and this was at Murray. Auburn spotted Murray State a 12-2 lead but put away the Racers late in the second half behind 18 points and 9 rebounds from DeSean Murray.
• Georgia 80, Georgia Tech 59: Georgia used a 13-3 run to open the second half to turn a two-point game into a rout. The Bulldogs shot 58 percent from the floor and 9-of-19 from three; Yante Maten led the way with 24 points and 6 rebounds.
• Alabama 80, Mercer 79: Had Alabama lost, you’d be hearing a lot more about what happened in the game’s final 30 seconds. Alabama led 80-72 with half a minute to go and yet Mercer had a shot to win at the buzzer, which rimmed out. That happened because of some ... errors by Alabama, who suddenly couldn’t hold onto the ball. Braxton Key returned from injury but was held scoreless; Collin Sexton scored 21 points while missing much of the first half after a couple of early fouls.
• Missouri 82, Stephen F. Austin 81: Another near-collapse for an SEC team: with Missouri holding an 82-81 lead late, Kassius Robertson missed a couple of free throws. But then Robertson stole the ball away to prevent SFA from getting a potential game-winner. Robertson led Missouri with 23 points, and Jordan Barnett added 22.

Tonight’s Schedule

Tonight’s honestly not super-interesting; all four SEC teams in action have at least a 91% chance of winning per KenPom. Florida and Vanderbilt open SEC play facing each other on December 30, but tonight they’ll face the first of two tune-ups leading up to that game: Florida faces a 4-8 James Madison team, while Vanderbilt faces 4-8 Houston Baptist (who’s also 1-8 against Division I competition.)

At 8:00 PM ET, Mississippi State hosts Little Rock, who’s coached by former MSU assistant Wes Flanagan, and is 3-9 and ranked #319 in KenPom. It will probably be an upset if this game is even close.

The late game is at least mildly interesting. Tennessee hosts a 9-3 Furman team; Furman got blown out in its only games against top 100 teams (an 82-65 loss to Butler and a 92-63 loss to Duke) but could keep this one competitive.

Bad Gambling Advice

Last night: 3-4-1 ATS; Season to Date: 42-41-2 ATS

• James Madison (+24) at Florida: Florida has lost four of five and while I think they win this one, covering 24 points is asking a lot.
• Little Rock (+22.5) at Mississippi State: This is a mismatch, but I suspect Mississippi State will go easy on Wes Flanagan’s squad, winning easily but not covering.
• Furman at Tennessee (-14): After a near-miss against North Carolina, I expect Tennessee to be motivated and win this one convincingly.