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What Happened Last Night
Georgia picked up a big road win, holding off Marquette by a 73-66 score. Yante Maten had 13 points and 7 rebounds for the Bulldogs, and William Jackson II had 11 points and 7 assists. The Bulldogs are flying under the radar, but they’re 6-1 on the season with a neutral-court win over St. Mary’s and now a road win over Marquette.
As for the other four teams that played today, well... it was iffy. South Carolina couldn’t put away a bad UMass team, winning 76-70 in Columbia behind a career-high 17 points from freshman Justin Minaya. Ole Miss lost in overtime for the second game in a row, dropping an 83-80 decision to Virginia Tech. That’s not a bad loss by any stretch, but the Rebels are now 4-3 and just missed an opportunity for a quality win.
Kentucky is now 7-1 but hasn’t really looked impressive at any point this season, and that was true Saturday as they held off a 3-6 Harvard team by the score of 79-70; Kevin Knox led the Wildcats with 20 points and 7 rebounds. And in the nightcap, Arkansas got drilled, 91-65, by a Houston team that’s admittedly pretty good — but the Razorbacks fell behind 11-0 in the game’s early minutes and basically didn’t threaten at all from there, trailing by as much as 30 in the second half.
Today’s Schedule
| Time (ET) | Game | TV/Streaming |
|---|---|---|
| 2:00 PM | UCF at Alabama | ESPNU/WatchESPN |
| 2:30 PM | Kansas State at Vanderbilt | SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
| 3:00 PM | George Mason at Auburn | SEC Network+/WatchESPN |
| 6:00 PM | Tennessee at Georgia Tech | ESPNU/WatchESPN |
| 8:00 PM | Dayton at Mississippi State | SEC Network/WatchESPN |
For a Sunday in December, this isn’t a bad slate. The highlight of the early games is Vanderbilt hosting Kansas State, in a game that will only be available on streaming (seriously, what are y’all doing, ESPN?) Also early, Alabama hosts UCF, which lost to Missouri earlier in the week; and Auburn hosts George Mason.
Later on, Tennessee travels to Georgia Tech, which sounds like a compelling matchup until you remember that Georgia Tech lost to Grambling on Friday. Finally, in the late game on the SEC Network, Mississippi State hosts Dayton.
Bad Gambling Advice
Yesterday: 1-4 ATS, which I cop to even though I didn’t post picks; Season to Date: 20-20 ATS
- UCF (+12) at Alabama: Alabama has been playing down to the competition to some degree (either that, or UT-Arlington and Louisiana Tech are, in fact, good), so I don’t expect them to be motivated enough to cover this number.
- Kansas State at Vanderbilt (-1): Vanderbilt is somehow 0-6 ATS this season (and 3-4 straight up), so this is dangerous, but this is basically betting that Vanderbilt won’t blow it at home against a decent but not great Kansas State team.
- George Mason at Auburn (-14): Auburn’s been pretty impressive against bad competition this year, and bad competition describes George Mason well.
- Tennessee (-5) at Georgia Tech: Did I mention that Georgia Tech just lost to Grambling?
- Dayton (+9) at Mississippi State: Mississippi State’s still unbeaten and I’m still not sold on them; I think they’ll win (Dayton, after all, isn’t great) but not cover.