JOCKEYING FOR POSITION
Where the Southeastern Conference basketball teams rank nationally in the Rating Percentage Index used by the NCAA:9th Kentucky (20-5, 10-2 SEC)10th Florida (20-5, 10-2)23rd South Carolina (20-5, 10-2)43rd Arkansas (18-7, 7-5)46th Tennessee (14-11, 6-6)53rd Georgia (14-11, 5-7)59th Ole Miss (15-10, 6-6)64th Vanderbilt (12-13, 5-7)67th Auburn (16-9, 5-7)74th Alabama (14-10, 7-5)94th Texas A&M (13-11, 5-7)121st Mississippi State (14-10, 5-7)149th LSU (9-15, 1-11)242nd Missouri (7-17, 2-10)
Mississippi guard Breein Tyree (4) is defended by Auburn forward Anfernee McLemore (24) during an NCAA college basketball game in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017. (Bruce Newman/The Oxford Eagle via AP)One of the wackiest yet most telling games of the Southeastern Conference basketball season took place Saturday night at Ole Miss.
Andy Kennedy’s Rebels jumped out to an 8-0 lead over Auburn, but Bruce Pearl’s Tigers countered with a 47-19 surge to take a 20-point lead into halftime. Auburn extended its sizable advantage to 23 early in the second half, but Ole Miss wound up compiling 63 points in the final 20 minutes to pull out a 90-84 triumph.
“We’ve had certain segments of games when we’ve looked like a quality team,” Kennedy said Saturday night in a news conference. “We’ve got to figure out a way to knit this thing together for 40 minutes.”
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