SEC HOOPS UPDATE: Auburn rallies; Tennessee needs help for NCAA bid

Action from Saturday’s Auburn win over Tennessee at the Auburn Arena. (Photos by Eddie Olszewski)

By TIM GAYLE

AUBURN - Auburn rallied from a 17-point deficit on Saturday to defeat Tennessee, dealing the Volunteers’ NCAA Tournament hopes a serious blow while keeping alive the Tigers’ hopes of a Southeastern Conference championship.

Auburn finally took the lead on a Devan Cambridge 3-pointer with 1:38 to play, extending its winning streak to 18 games at Auburn Arena, including a 15-0 record this season. 

"We needed that one," Auburn coach Bruce Pearl said. "I got after my team at halftime. I was very upset with our lack of effort and energy, our toughness. I lit into them. We got after Tennessee and we turned them over, which created some transition. We got it turned around in the second half."

Auburn (23-4) remains two games behind conference front runner Kentucky (22-5) in the conference standings at 10-4, tied with LSU for second place, but has two home games with Ole Miss and Texas A&M sandwiched around a trip to Rupp Arena before closing out the regular season at Tennessee.  

"We have to play every day the rest of the way like we did in the second half,” Pearl said, “and if we do, we've got a chance.”

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, three teams remain in the hunt for the conference title while nine still entertain hopes of March Madness.

Kentucky has a two-game lead with games this week at Texas A&M and at home against Auburn that would all but seal the Wildcats’ SEC title hopes. The Wildcats close out the regular season the following week with games at home and at Florida.

LSU may have the toughest road of the three, traveling to Florida and playing host to Texas A&M this week before traveling to Arkansas and closing out the season with a home game against Georgia. Because the Tigers don’t play Kentucky in the final two weeks, they’ll need a lot of help to catch the Wildcats.

While still mathematically alive at 9-5, Florida would have to win its final four games – at home against LSU, at Tennessee and Georgia and at home against Kentucky – but at least the Gators do play two of the three teams ranked above them.

All four of the front runners are virtually assured of NCAA berths, while the next five in the standings are long shots at best.

The best of the lot is Alabama because of their NCAA ranking of 40, but the Tide has three teams between it and Florida and must win at least three of the four remaining games if not all four to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Crimson Tide travels to Mississippi State this week before returning home to play South Carolina, two teams that are ranked a game ahead of Alabama in the standings and are must-wins. 

Alabama closes out with a home game against Vanderbilt and a trip to Missouri. The Tide is coming off an impressive 103-78 win at Ole Miss on Saturday, scoring the most points in a regulation road game in school history. 

“We set the tone early by playing with a lot of energy and we showed leadership by the way we got ourselves ready to play,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I thought our start and the first half was really good. Defensively, we struggled in the second half. I didn’t think our defense was great but our offense kept us in it and kept them at bay.”

Alabama has now scored 80 or more points in 15 games, two shy of the school record. Kira Lewis, the Tide’s main sparkplug, has scored in double digits in 25 of Alabama’s 27 games.

If the Tide can’t hold up, three other teams have faint NCAA Tournament hopes based on their NCAA ranking – Mississippi State (56), South Carolina (63) and Tennessee (65).

Texas A&M is in a three-way tie for fifth in the league at 8-6, but the Aggies’ NCAA ranking (117) could only be improved by sweeping their final four opponents – at home with Kentucky, at LSU and Auburn and at home against Arkansas.

Tennessee is tied for seventh with Alabama at 7-7, but like the Tide, the Vols basically need a sweep of remaining games at Arkansas, versus Florida, at Kentucky and versus Auburn.

South Carolina and Mississippi State, like Alabama, face their top two competitors in the next two weeks. The Gamecocks travel to Alabama this weekend before hosting Mississippi State, while the Bulldogs host Alabama before traveling to Missouri and South Carolina.

Short of a team finding a two-week magical run, Kentucky’s two-game lead likely is too much for Auburn, LSU and Florida to overtake and the two-game distance in the standings between Florida and the seventh-place duo of Alabama and Tennessee likely is too great for either to make up.