A Saturday in SEC Basketball, recapped

LSU 82, Tennessee 80

Tremont Waters was out with the flu, but that did not stop the LSU Tigers grabbing a victory over the Tennessee Volunteers in an 82-80 overtime thriller at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Neither team lead by double digits at any point in the game. LSU did benefit however, but double digit advantage in free throw attempts and some calls, especially Grant Williams’ with 0.6 seconds remaining in OT, were controversial at times. The Vols finished 12-16 from the free throw line while the Tigers went 24-31. Scoring for the Vols was led by the usual suspects, Admiral Schofield and Grant Williams (27 and 18 respectively) and the stars for LSU were Ja’Vonte Smart and Skylar Mays who turned in 29 and 23. Don’t look now, but LSU is now tied for the conference lead with neither Tennessee nor Kentucky remaining on their schedule. — Julian Mitchell

Kentucky 80, Auburn 53

It was domination in Lexington. The Kentucky Wildcats thoroughly beat the Auburn Tigers 80-53. The story of this one was easy to follow. Auburn never really got out of first gear and Kentucky was hot for the entire contest. Keldon Johnson pulled in 17 rebounds while PJ Washington scored 20-plus for the eighth time in 10 games. The Tigers, who rely heavily on their 3-point game, went 8-for-27 from behind the arc while Kentucky went 11-for-24. But they also dominated inside, shooting 54.3 percent from the field overall on the day. The Cats will now look to avoid a look ahead let down on Tuesday night vs. Arkansas before traveling to Knoxville in a week. — Julian Mitchell

Ole Miss 72, Georgia 71

The Ole Miss Rebels escaped what would’ve been a troublesome loss on Saturday, as they edged the Georgia Bulldogs 72-71. This despite a very intense rally by the Bulldogs down the stretch, and the fact that the Rebels were trailing by five with 10:57 to go in the second half after leading by 12 with 48 seconds remaining in the first. Breein Tyree led the way with 17 points while Devontae Shuler was right behind him with 16. Jordan Harris went off for 15 points and was 5-for-5 from the field and the FT line in the loss. Rayshaun Hammonds led the Dawgs with 16 points on the afternoon. It’s Ole Miss’ fifth win in the last six games and they now have a mountainous task against Tennessee later this week. — Chris Novak

Mississippi State 76, South Carolina 61

The Mississippi State Bulldogs made it four in a row on Saturday as they defeated the South Carolina Gamecocks 76-61. After losing two in a row back in early February, the Bulldogs have now ripped off four victories in a row as they look to end the season on a high note. Freshman big man Reggie Perry had 21 points on 12 shots and went 7-for-7 from the FT line. Quinndary Weatherspoon put up 17 points meanwhile in 36 minutes of action. A.J. Lawson had 18 points while Maik Kotsar had 13 of his own. — Chris Novak

Florida 64, Missouri 60

The Florida Gators came from behind to avoid a bad loss to the lowly Tigers in Gainesville. Despite the Missouri Tigers boasting a 12 point lead with 17 minutes to play and looking like the better team for the first half of the game, Florida prevailed 64-60. KeVaughn Allen had a game-high 17 points, 14 of which came in the second half, as Keyontae Johnson added 13 points and seven rebounds. Jordan Geist led Mizzou with 16 points — Robert O’Neill

Alabama 68, Vanderbilt 61

The Alabama Crimson Tide had a fairly easy time with the Vanderbilt Commodores in Tuscaloosa on Saturday, despite winning by just seven. Alabama led by 23 with 11 minutes to go before taking their foot off the gas a bit down the stretch, but never enough to be in danger of losing the game. Kira Lewis was one of three Tide players in double-figure scoring with a game-high 19 (Donta Hall had 14 and Dazon Ingram had 13). Simi Shittu led the way for Vandy with 16 points and 11 rebounds. — Robert O’Neill

Texas A&M 87, Arkansas 80

Tasked with a “you can’t slip up” situation, the Arkansas Razorbacks... did exactly that. The Hogs lost 87-80 to the Texas A&M Aggies and have now dropped their last five games in a row. They’re 14-13 at this point and it looks like they’re firmly in auto-bid or bust territory unless something drastically changes at this point. The Aggies roared back after trailing 24-19 in the first half and led by as much as 11 with 1:35 to go in the second half. Savion Flag had 22 points and had nine boards to finish one rebound shy of a double-double. Wendell Mitchell continued his great play with 20 points on the night and missed just two shots from the field. Daniel Gafford had a double-double in the loss with 23 points and 13 rebounds.