Through the first month and a half of the season, the quality of the 16 SEC programs has started to fall into place. We’ve seen teams such as Georgia and LSU completely outperform expectations, while teams such as Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Missouri have not lived up to them. For the first time since the Week One rankings, there is a new team atop the SEC. Vanderbilt has ridden an incredible offense to be the last undefeated team in the conference. Following a slow week, here are the latest SEC basketball power rankings:
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs (5-5)
The Bulldogs got back to even on the season by splitting their two games this week. A three-point loss to San Francisco was shocking to say the least, though you can explain some of it away with Josh Hubbard playing only two minutes due to injury. The eight-point win over Utah got Mississippi State back in the win column and handed the team its first P5 victory of the season. The Bulldogs still have yet to win consecutive games this year, which perfectly aligns with how bad this season has gone.
15. Ole Miss Rebels (6-4)
Ole Miss successfully ended a four-game losing streak with a four-point win over Southern Miss on Saturday. While it wasn’t a convincing victory, it did stop the skid, which is the important thing. After scoring more than 80 points in their first four games of the season, the Rebels haven’t surpassed 74 points in their last six contests. It’s important to note that Chris Beard has this team playing at a glacial pace, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that Ole Miss is only making 44 percent from the floor. It might be a long season in Oxford.
14. South Carolina Gamecocks (7-3)
South Carolina hasn’t been a great shooting team this season, but its struggles from the floor made the game against The Citadel much closer than it should have been. In the end, the Gamecocks beat the Citadel by 16 points. The offense still runs, exclusively, through Meechie Johnson, which is fine against lower-level competition. However, South Carolina is one of two SEC teams without a power conference win, so what’s working now might not hold up in SEC play. SC is winning the games it should; now it just needs to take down a quality opponent.
13. Texas Longhorns (7-4)
Texas had no problem taking down Southern to start the week, beating the Jaguars by 26. However, an eight-point loss to UConn, while shooting 38 percent from the field, should have the Longhorns kicking themselves. Texas hung with a top-five team on the road, and if it weren’t for some bad free-throw shooting, 19-28, it could have potentially picked up a great non-conference win. The game was close, but it did little to assuage concerns about the Longhorns’ guard play. Tramon Mark and Jordan Pope each finished with 15 points, so that’s a step in the right direction.