25. Missouri Tigers (14-6, 7-6)
The absence of big man Jeremiah Tilmon continues to haunt the Tigers, with them losing at Georgia earlier in the week, despite 21 points from Kobe Brown. The good news is that Tilmon came back this weekend against South Carolina, coming off the bench to tie a team-high 17 points, going a perfect 5/5 from the field and 7/7 from the free throw line.
Missouri hopes to gain some momentum now that they’re fully healthy again, gong back home to take on Ole Miss and Texas A&M, assuming that the Aggies aren’t still dealing with covid issues. With just a couple of games separating teams 3-7 in the SEC standings, there is still plenty left to be taken care of outside of Alabama at the top.
24. Wisconsin Badgers (15-8, 9-7)
It’s hard to judge a team when playing a pair of top-10 teams in a week. But it proved that the Badgers are not top-10 good themselves, or maybe even top-25. Wisconsin lost both games, including by eight to Michigan and 15 to Iowa. In the loss to the Hawkeyes, Micah Potter came off the bench with 23 points and 11 rebounds.
Things will ease up a bit for the Badgers on Sunday, with a road matchup against Big Ten bottom team Northwestern. But after that is another big home game against Illinois. Just a couple of weeks ago, Wisconsin lost by 15 points on the road. They’ll look to even up the series with the return game at their place.
23. LSU Tigers (14-6, 9-4)
It’s a great sign of offensive talent when a team eclipses the 50-point mark in a half. LSU did that twice on Saturday, scoring 104 points in a 24-point victory over Auburn. Four different players had at least 16 points for the Tigers, with star freshman Cameron Thomas, who leads all NCAA Basketball freshman in scoring on the season, with 27 points.
LSU looks to extend its three-game winning streak with a pair of road games against Georgia and Arkansas, two teams who also can get into high-scoring bouts. The Tigers look to be in good shape to get an at-large bid but will do well to get at least a sweep.