Early SEC returns

[Biggus Piggus]

South Carolina 81, Holy Cross 49 | South Carolina 85, Louisiana Tech 76

Cocks shot well, rebounded well, and played just enough defense to beat LaTech. Sindarius Thornwell had 18 points but also 6 TOs. Holy Cross shot and rebounded horribly, while SC made 68% inside, 50% outside; 20 for Thornwell. The combo of Thornwell and P.J. Dozier is tough, but their bigs are really shaky.

Florida 76, Mercer 54 | Florida 80, Florida Gulf Coast 59

FGC came back to take a 3-pt lead in the second half, but Florida was too strong inside. Florida also outscored FGC 20-5 at the line. FGC's guards outscored the Gators' backcourt 44-23; something to watch.

Mercer had a horrid first half, trailing 36-14. The Bears gave double-digit minutes to 12 players as Bob Hoffman (with lots of newcomers) groped for rotations that would function. Gators did not shoot well from any distance except the line, where they outscored Mercer 24-9. Florida won on fouls (31-18 difference), great rebounding and positive TO margin. Mercer guards scored 37 to Florida's 24.

After two games, Florida looks strong on defense/rebounding but absolutely primitive on offense (30% 3-pt, 46% 2-pt shooting).

Kentucky 93, Canisius 69 | Kentucky 87, SF Austin 64

Cats outscored SFA 52-36 inside the arc, 20-13 at the line despite a 32-19 foul advantage. SFA was surprisingly good at offensive rebounding and scoring inside. But they had 28 turnovers. Scoring was well distributed. De'Aaron Fox had 12 assists.

In a game against Canisius, Cal gave 30+ minutes to G Fox, G Isaiah Briscoe (both had 21 pts), and G Malik Monk (16 pts). Canisius led halfway through the first half, and UK was up only 44-35 at half. Second game in which the Cats had trouble with interior defense/rebounding, allowing 54% shooting and 14 offensive boards. Kentucky outscored Canisius 27-13 at the line, and had a 10-pt edge inside the arc.

Canisius has a first-year coach, Reggie Witherspoon (longtime coach at Buffalo). They were not expected to be much. In two games, UK shot 60% inside, 26.5% outside the arc, and allowed 54% 2-pt shooting, 41% offensive rebounding. They have some issues.

Texas A&M 72, Northwestern State 44

NSU is a bad program, the Aggies had a lot of new starters. Bad mismatch. Not a foul-fest at all; A&M actually was outscored at the line. But they beat the Demons 46-14 on scoring inside the arc. Playing time was spread around, and Tyler Davis led aTm with 16 pts, 10 boards. Two sore spots: 5-24 3-pt shooting, 50% at the line. Freshman forward Robert Williams had five blocked shots.

Ags started 6-10, 6-10, 6-9 and had 6-11, 6-9, 6-8 off the bench. Their guards are the big question mark.

Missouri 99, Alabama A&M 44

Alabama A&M lost by 34 to Missouri State and by 55 to Mizzou. Freshman guard Frankie Hughes scored 23 points for the Tigers. They absolutely pummeled the hapless Bulldogs, whose stats were across-the-board awful. Missouri made 68% from 2-pt range, 50% from outside, and dominated the boards. Main problems Mizzou will face = quality of its frontcourt.

LSU 91, Wofford 69

Wofford came in with experienced starters and a very green bench. LSU had an almost brand new lineup. The Terriers led 43-39 at halftime. The Tigers turned up their perimeter defense (gave up one trey vs. seven in the first half) and won the second half with ease. Sophomore forward Duop Reath piled up 23 pts, 14 reb. Fellow big Aaron Epps had 17 pts, 9 reb. Another SEC team with a strong frontcourt and questionable guards.

Auburn 83, North Florida 66

Auburn outscored UNF 39-18 from 3-pt range, 20-16 at the line. But the Tigers scored only 24 points inside the arc. Guard Bryce Brown had 19 points with five treys. Auburn was weak on the boards but +11 in turnovers. Also benefited from a 30-20 advantage in fouls. Two UNF players fouled out, as did Auburn starting forward Horace Spencer.

Auburn started three freshmen and two sophomores. They played two 6-8 guys, three at 6-7. Very shaky up front.

Alabama 70, Coastal Carolina 53

An ugly start for the Tide, which trailed by as much as 8 late in the first half. Bama dominated much of the second half, not allowing CCU to score a bucket for a long stretch. The margin narrowed to 4 late in the game before the Tide ran away with it.

Grad transfer Corban Collins scored 15 to lead the Tide, which is efficient but unspectacular on offense. Great defense won them this game, despite poor rebounding. Maybe it is early, but the Tide has bodies but seems to lack talent.

Mississippi State 78, Norfolk State 74

Remember when Norfolk State beat Frank Haith's Missouri team in the NCAAT? Long time ago, different coach. These days, NSU competes well within the awful MEAC but that's about it.

It's not good to see MSU struggle in this opener. The Bulldogs were outscored inside and at the line, needing an 11-23 night from 3-pt range to bail themselves out. Freshman guard Tyson Carter made 5-7 from long range, and soph guard Quinndary Weatherspoon scored 22 points. If NSU hadn't missed nine free throws, the Dogs would have had a harder time winning.

MSU played four bigs. Soph Aric Holman produced the most with 11 points, 11 boards, 5 blocks. The real problem was NSU's guards taking it to the hole. Visitors' bench outscored MissStake's 21-6.

Ole Miss 86, Tennessee Martin 83

OK. UT Martin lost to the Rebels by 3, then beat UT Rio Grand Valley () by 8.

The Skyhawks were 20-15 last season with one half-decent win over James Madison. Started four seniors against Ole Miss. UTM led 42-39 at half, fell behind by as much as 9, made it close at the end.

THE player for Ole Miss was Miami transfer guard Deandre Burnett, who scored 23 points including 10-10 at the line. Soph guard Terence Davis, who barely played last season, had 19 points on 9-11 inside shooting. Big man Sebastian Saiz fouled out with 5 pts. The Rebs are very short this season, relying heavily on tweeners. They were -7 on turnovers and gave up 21 offensive boards.

Clemson 74, Georgia 64

Of the three SEC teams that lost, this was the best defeat. Clemson is a good team. Yante Maten looked powerful against good opposition, with 19 pts, 12 reb. But the Dogs' backcourt was overmatched, and that decided the game. UGa failed to score for the last five minutes of the first half. Pulled within 3 midway through the second half, fell back from there. Looks like PG J.J. Frazier draws too much attention, and the other guards are not good enough.

Marquette 95, Vanderbilt 71

Marquette was a lower-division pick in the Big East. But they matched up well against the Commodores. C Luke Fischer and big G JaJuan Johnson outplayed Vandy's leaders, C Luke Kornet and G Matthew Fisher-Davis, outscoring them 39-27.

The glaring thing for Vandy was defense: Gave up 61% shooting inside, 42% outside.  Only thing that kept Marquette from a worse blowout = 23-10 foul disadvantage. That allowed Vandy a 17-4 advantage in FT scoring. Dores were -7 on turnovers.

New coach Bryce Drew does not have good options at PG, and the bench bigs are poor.

Chattanooga 82, Tennessee 69

UTC is favored to win the Southern Conference. The Mocs did go 29-6 last season. But they also did turn around and lose to North Carolina by 40.

Tennessee had a center plaster 22 pts, 11 reb on them, and a guard put up 21 pts, 10 reb.

Plus the Vols were 1-16 from 3-pt range, just 43% inside. A freshman guard, Jordan Bone, went for 21 points. On-again, off-again Robert Hubbs was off. But hey, the Vols' lineup is terrible. They have one player over 6-7, and the 6-7 guys can't play.

If Arkansas's going to go to the NCAAT this season, it's going to have to put together a great SEC record. The seven games against Florida, Kentucky, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Georgia are going to be very important.

[Hollywood_HOGan45]

And don't drop any games to teams that have no business staying on the floor with us.

Looks like margin for error isn't going to be very big at all in this league again.