A Crazy Weekend in the SEC: Basketball Gets Rolling. UK No. 1

The football hangover has finally passed. Although National Signing Day is just around the corner, SEC basketball is starting to heat up and is taking over the landscape of sports in the south.

And just as Alabama returned to glory on the gridiron, the University of Kentucky is now officially King on the hardwood. With two straight losses, the Texas Longhorns will no longer be the No.1 team in the country.

That title will now pass to the Kentucky Wildcats. They are the team to beat in the conference and on the national stage. They are the only remaining undefeated team in NCAA basketball.

And from the way they played this week, it doesn't look like they will lose a game in the regular season.

For a southerner and SEC sports fan, the stars have finally realigned. Alabama is back on the top of the college football world and Kentucky rules the court. Ain't it great!

Arkansas at Kentucky

UK was too much for the heavy legs of the Arkansas Razorbacks. With just 24 hours rest, after suffering defeat in a home loss against the Florida Gators, the Razorbacks took the court against the undefeated Wildcats. They may as well have stayed in Fayettville.

The Cats jumped out to a 26-7 lead in the first nine minutes and led by 30 at the half.

At one point in the second half, UK had a 46 point lead. The Cats cruised to a 101-70 victory in front of the raucous home crowd. John Pelphrey once again felt the shame of a redheaded step child on the floor of his college home court.

The facial he received on Saturday matched the embarrassing, eternal imprint that Christian Laettner laid on him in his final game against the Duke Blue Devils in '92.

Alabama vs MSU

Mikhail Torrence led the Alabama Crimson Tide with 20 points to knock off the MSU Bulldogs. The Dogs won 12 of their last 13 games and looked to dominate the west division of the SEC.

Before today, The MSU Bulldogs were the SEC's top 3-point shooting team. After going 2-18  beyond the arc against the Crimson Tide, and only 15-23 from the charity stripe, they lose their first SEC game of the season.

Auburn vs Vanderbilt

On the Plains, the Commodores fell way behind Auburn in the first half, trailing by as many as 16 points. During the halftime break, Stallings challenged his salty shipmen and they came storming back to overcome the Tigers midway through the second half.

With 11:39 left to play, John Jenkins nailed a three-point basket to give the Commodores their first lead of the game. A lead they never relinquished. Once the final seconds ticked off the clock, Vandy had four players scoring in double digits and Jenkins finished with nine points on the day (4-6, 1-2).

Vanderbilt pushed the ball into the post to slow the game down and methodically drain the energy from the Orange and Blue. Auburn had four players with over 35 minutes of playing time in the game. Vandy finished with an eight point victory on the road.

Tennessee at Georgia

The juggernaut that was UT basketball came to a screeching halt at Stegeman Coliseum. Georgia (9-8, 1-3 in SEC play) jumped on the Volunteers early and stayed on top to finish the first half with a score of 42-27.

In the second half, UGA matched the Big Orange machine point for point, maintaining the fifteen point margin by game end. The final score was 78-63, the victory is huge for the Georgia team.

The Bulldogs shot 55 percent from three point range while the (usually) deadly accurate Vols shot only 18 percent beyond the arc. Moreover, UGA outrebounded UT 36-26 on the way to claiming their first SEC victory of the season.

The Volunteers (15-3, 3-1) will meet the Comodores (15-3, 4-0) on Wednesday. The winner of that match up will be in position to challenge the Kentucky Wildcats for the eastern division lead.

Ole Miss at LSU

The LSU Tigers (9-10, 0-5 SEC) fought valiantly against the Rebels, but in the end, Ole Miss guard Chris Warren was too much to handle for the Tiger defense. After missing his first five shots, Warren got on track with 8:46 remaining, knocking down a trey to put the Rebels ahead 56-54.

LSU answered with a field goal, to knot the score at 56. Warren marched right back down the court and nailed another three pointer and the men from Oxford never looked back. Support off the bench was key for the Rebels victory. Together, reserves dropped in 28 points and collected 16 rebounds. LSU lost by a count of 73-63.

Tasmin Mitchell (16 pts, 11 rebounds) and Bo Spencer played 40 minutes each. Spencer had 22 points in the game. Freshman Storm Warren added 11 points (3-5, 5-6) while no other Tiger contributed more than six points.

The Rebels are now 15-4, 3-2 in SEC play.

South Carolina at Florida

The wildest finish of the weekend occurred at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainsville, FL. In a game that was never separated by more than six point, and with numerous lead changes throughout the contest, the Florida Gators outlasted the South Carolina Gamecocks for a 58-56 final score.

The game was tied at the half 25-25. In the second half, Gamecock Guard Devan Downey led all shooters, hitting on 4-11 from beyond the three-point line. More impressively, Downey was 12-25 from the field and 8-9 from the freethrow line for a total of 36 points in the game.

No other shooter for the Gamecocks had more than six points, nine points were contributed from the bench. Meanwhile, scoring from the Florida Gators came from every starter. Four of the five starters were in double digits for scoring, the trailer had seven points in the game.

Chandler Parsons was only 1-4 from the three-point line but hit the one that mattered the most for his team. With 11 seconds to play, South Carolina inbounded the ball and Downey dribbled the length of the court, spinning from right to left at the three point line, split three Florida defenders (carried the ball) and drove to the basket.

Downey laid the ball in the basket with 5.1 seconds left on the clock. UF immediately inbounded the ball to point guard Erving Walker. Walker dribbled the ball quickly down court and delivered a perfect pass to Parsons who was waiting at the three point line.

With less than a second to play, Parsons launched the trey, despite three earlier misses. The ball swished the net as the buzzer sounded for the Gator victory. South Carolina head coach Darrin Horn nearly collapsed at the sight of the made three pointer.

South Carolina had done nearly everything possible to achieve victory on the road but the 5.1 seconds remaining on the clock was .1 seconds too much. Florida is now 14-5 overall, 3-2 in SEC play while the Gamecocks fall to 11-8, 2-3 in the conference.