SEC Weekly Betting: Logjam for Second Place
Tennessee ended the drama by securing the SEC regular-season outright title and the top seed in the upcoming SEC tournament with a hard-earned win over South Carolina. Now the focus turns to securing a No. 1 seed in the March Madness bracket.
When looking at the college basketball odds, Tennessee was the only road favorite among the four games on Wednesday’s schedule and the only road team to come away with the victory.
Will visiting teams have more success when it comes to the college basketball picks this weekend? Four teams are tied for second place in the conference with 12-5 records.
No SEC teams are still undefeated at home while Kentucky, South Carolina, and Tennessee all have winning records on the road.
Tennessee is fifth, Auburn is sixth and Alabama is seventh in the NCAA NET rankings, one of the tools used to select and seed the NCAA Tournament. No. 20 Kentucky is the only other SEC team in the top 20.
Tennessee remained at No. 4 in both The Associated Press poll and the USA Today coaches poll. No. 13 Auburn, No. 15 Kentucky, No. 16 Alabama and No. 17 South Carolina give the SEC five of the top 20 teams in the AP poll. Florida fell out of the top 25 in the Associated Press poll but it is still at No. 25 in the USA Today coaches poll.
When looking at the odds of winning March Madness, Tennessee leads the SEC with +1200 championship odds followed by Auburn at +2000, Kentucky at +2200, and Alabama at +2500.
Keep on reading for more on the top games in the SEC as the regular season comes to an end on Saturday.
1. Texas A&M (17-13 SU, 13-17 ATS) vs Ole Miss (20-10 SU, 14-16 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m. ET
- Texas A&M vs Ole Miss Live Stream: TBS.com
Ole Miss is coming off a three-point loss to Georgia as the road woes continue for the Rebels. Jaemyn Brakefield and Jaylen Murray each had 19 points in the loss, but the other three starters combined for 13 points. Leading scorer Matt Murrell was limited to two minutes of action due to food poisoning.
Texas A&M snapped a five-game losing streak with a 70-56 win over Georgia as Tyrece Radford had his fifth 20-point game over the last nine games.
Ole Miss snapped a three-game losing streak to Texas A&M with a 71-68 win as an eight-point road favorite in late January behind 16 points from Jaylen Murray. It was the third straight win by the road team in the series.
The game fell short of the 143½-point total as seven of the last eight meetings between the Aggies and the Rebels went under the total.
Texas A&M is 5-6 against the Las Vegas odds on the road this season with Ole Miss 8-9 ATS at home.
2. South Carolina (24-6, 21-9 ATS) vs Mississippi State (19-11 SU, 14-15-1 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, March 9, 2:30 p.m.ET
- South Carolina vs Mississippi State Live Stream: TBS.com
South Carolina is looking to sweep the season series from Mississippi State for the first time since 2017 after winning 68-62 as a three-point home underdog in early January.
Mississippi State had won the previous three matchups.
Five of the last six games between the Gamecocks and Bulldogs went under the total.
South Carolina never led at home in Wednesday’s huge clash with Tennessee despite 18 points from Meechie Johnson. The Gamecocks had a chance to cover as six-point underdogs before Tennessee went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 27 seconds.
Mississippi State surrendered 45 points in the first half in Wednesday’s road loss to Texas A&M. Freshman Josh Hubbard could be an enticing prop option as he has topped 20 points in each of his last four games.
South Carolina not only has the best record against the spread at home among SEC teams, but the Gamecocks have covered in eight of their 10 road games. Mississippi State has a 6-7-1 ATS record at home.
3. Kentucky (22-8, 17-13 ATS) vs Tennessee (24-6, 16-13-1 ATS)
- Date/Time: Saturday, March 9, 4 p.m. ET
- Kentucky vs Tennessee Live Stream: TBS.com
Even though Kentucky is not in contention for the SEC regular-season title, there will still be plenty of eyes on this matchup in Knoxville.
Dalton Knecht’s 26 points and five 3-pointers led Tennessee past South Carolina as the Volunteers wrapped up the SEC regular-season title. He goes after his 16th game with at least 20 points in the regular-season finale.
Is Dalton Knecht the best player in the country? @wallyball thinks so.
“Right now, [Tennessee is] playing better than UConn.” pic.twitter.com/xzLE3EVMDL
— CBS Sports College Basketball 🏀 (@CBSSportsCBB) March 7, 2024
Freshman Rob Dillingham had 23 points in 26 minutes as Kentucky had no problems with an eight-win Vanderbilt team.
Josiah-Jordan James and Zakai Zeigler each had 26 points to lead Tennessee to an entertaining 103-92 win over Kentucky last month in a game when each team drained 12 3-pointers.
After the previous four meetings between Kentucky and Tennessee went under the total, this game went over the 158½-point total with 3:20 left to play.
Tennessee’s 10-4-1 record against the college basketball spread at home is the second-best mark in the SEC. Kentucky is 6-3 against the spread on the road.
Questions Of The Day
Which SEC teams have the best record against the spread against ranked teams this season?
Kentucky is 5-1 against the spread when facing teams in the Top 25 in the national polls this season while South Carolina has covered in four of its six games versus ranked teams.
Which player is the leading scorer in the SEC?
Alabama’s Mark Sears is averaging 21.1 points and is followed by Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht at 20.7. Antonio Reeves of Kentucky isn’t far behind at 20.0 PPG.
