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Previewing Tuesday’s Big Games in the SEC

By Courtney Smith

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Ole Miss (19-10, 10-6) at Alabama (17-12, 7-9) 7 p.m. ET on SEC Network: The Ole Miss Rebels are looking for their seventh 20-win season under head coach Andy Kennedy. Ole Miss is coming into this game on a two-game losing streak with losses vs. Georgia and at LSU. During the two-game skid, junior guard Stefan Moody has averaged 17 points per game while shooting 25 percent from the field and has went 3-for-18 from 3-point range.

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Moody’s teammate, senior guard Jarvis Summers (12 ppg), has averaged 8.5 points per game while shooting 27.3 percent from the field. In Saturday’s loss to the Tigers, Summers became just the fifth player in Southeastern Conference history to score 1,500 points and dish out 500 assists.

The Rebels will need both of their top scorers to break out of their scoring drought with the SEC and NCAA tournaments coming up. Going up against Alabama, Ole Miss has won five out of its last eight games against the Crimson Tide. Alabama leads the series 118-55. Both teams split last season’s series with the home team notching the victories. Both teams have also split the season series in 12 of the last 15 years with the home team winning the last six match-ups.

The Crimson Tide will be led by Levi Randolph, whose averaging 14.8 points per game and is shooting 47 percent from the field in league play. Under head coach Anthony Grant, Alabama has never lost on Senior Night (5-0). The Crimson Tide will be without two of their top four scorers in Ricky Tarrant (13.1 ppg) and Shannon Hale (8.4 ppg).

Tarrant is out for the remainder of the season due to a ruptured plantar fascia in his left foot. Hale is out indefinitely with a left foot injury.

1 Kentucky (29-0, 16-0) at Georgia (19-9, 10-6) 7 p.m. ET on ESPN: The Kentucky Wildcats made a statement in Saturday’s 84-67 win over No. 23 Arkansas. Trey Lyles and Andrew Harrison each scored 18 points to lead the Wildcats.

Kentucky held the Razorbacks 12 points under their scoring average (79.5 ppg) and to 30 percent overall shooting from the field. The Wildcats’ 29-0 start is the best start in SEC history and are tied for the second-longest win streak overall in league history.

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Kentucky will face a hot streaking Georgia team that’s on a three-game winning streak. On Saturday, the Bulldogs snapped their two-game home losing streak by defeating Missouri 68-44, which earned them their 10th win in league play and also kept their NCAA tournament hopes alive. Cameron Forte and J.J. Frazier each scored 10 points off the bench for Georgia.

Nemanja Djurisic led the Bulldogs in scoring with 14. He went 5-for-9 from the field, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.

Texas A&M (20-8, 11-5) at Florida (14-15, 7-9) 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU: Texas A&M is 20-1 this season when Jalen Jones scores 10 points or more. The Aggies took sole possession of third place in league play with an 80-55 win over the Auburn Tigers Saturday inside Reed Arena. They also got to 20 wins for the 14th time in program history and the first since the 2010-11 season.

Texas A&M is 13-2 at home and 30-4 in the last two seasons. In their win over Auburn, the Aggies had four players to score in double figures: Jones (19), Danuel House (15), Alex Caruso (14), and Kourtney Roberson (12).

Florida’s head coach Billy Donovan is looking to join Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp and LSU’s Dale Brown as the only coaches ever to win 200 SEC games. On Saturday, the Gators defeated the Tennessee Vols in the swamp, 66-49, to give coach Donovan his 500th win as head coach.

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