Southeastern Conference men's basketball will reach the midway mark of league play beginning tonight, and the fact Kentucky is in first place comes as no surprise.
Texas A&M standing alone in second, however, was not in the forecast.
Picked to finish ninth in the 14-member league, Billy Kennedy's Aggies won their sixth straight game Saturday with a 69-58 dumping of Vanderbilt. They are 15-5 overall and have rolled since starting 0-2 within the SEC, with the second of those losses coming in double-overtime to the nationally top-ranked Wildcats.
"They came in here a week ago and were very impressive," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said Monday. "They've got great size and skill level and depth and experience. They have the size and the depth to be able to look Kentucky maybe not in the eye, but they can at least stand up to Kentucky."
Texas A&M went 7-11 and 8-10 during its first two seasons in the SEC after a 4-14 league finish in its Big 12 swan song. The six-game streak has resulted in the Aggies being a No. 11 seed in Joe Lunardi's latest projected NCAA tournament bracket on ESPN.
Leading the Aggies are 6-foot-7 junior guard Danuel House and 6-7 junior guard/forward Jalen Jones, who each has averaged 14.2 points per game after transferring. House averaged 12.9 points per game in two seasons at Houston before arriving last summer, and Jones averaged 14.0 points and 7.7 rebounds at SMU during the 2012-13 season.
"We didn't have House the first few games of the year," Kennedy said Monday. "We weren't sure we were going to have someone bringing that kind of perimeter talent, and acclimating him to our team and our players took some time for him and for us. Jalen practiced with us all last year, so we knew he could provide us with some toughness and athleticism that we've lacked the last two years."
House and Jones joined a roster with an experienced point guard, 6-5 junior Alex Caruso, and a proven big man, 6-9 senior forward Kourtney Roberson.
"Caruso is kind of like a Tom Brady in that he doesn't make mistakes or turn it over much," Tennessee's Donnie Tyndall said. "He makes big shots when he has to and is just that veteran quarterback who knows how to win. Getting House eligible was big for them, because he can absolutely score.
"In these close conference games and come conference tournament time, games are won and lost in the half court. They are very good in the half court on both sides of the ball."
The Aggies will never know whether they could have taken Kentucky down with a healthy Jones, who sat out that game with a sprained ankle. There will be no rematch during the regular season, but Texas A&M now turns its attention to a potential seventh straight win Wednesday night at Ole Miss.
"When we started 0-2, I told our guys we were in last place," Kennedy said. "We didn't win some big preseason games but we played some people well, so we had not really accomplished a lot. Between that and the way we finished last season, when we lost four of our last five games, I think that has motivated us more so than being picked ninth."
No Thornton for Dogs
Georgia will be without senior forward and leading scorer Marcus Thornton for tonight's game at Kentucky. Thornton suffered a concussion last Tuesday against Vanderbilt and missed Saturday's trip to South Carolina, when the Bulldogs had their worst performance of January with a 67-50 loss.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.