SEC steals the show

Good morning! Hope you stayed up late to watch all the West Coast college hoops … even though some of the most dramatic finishes happened in the early window.

Let's get to it.

1. Vandy loses, Kentucky, Ole Miss wins on buzzer-beaters

What was your favorite SEC game from Wednesday night?

Texas’ win over No. 10 Vanderbilt wasn’t the prettiest of the bunch, but it was the most impressive.

It gave the Longhorns (11-6, 2-2 in SEC) a marquee win after a sluggish start to the season and dropped Vanderbilt (16-1, 3-1) from the unbeaten ranks. That leaves Arizona, Nebraska and Miami (Ohio) as the only teams without a loss this season.

The Commodores missed shots (36.7% from the field and just 26.7% in the second half), and couldn’t contain Texas guard Tramon Mark, who scored 16 of his 21 points in the second half. For a team that has been so good this season, this was just a night when Texas was better. The Longhorns shot 53% from the field and scored 1.2 points per possession. That’s just the second time any team’s surpassed 1.2 this season vs Vandy.

"We weren't bad tonight,” coach Mark Byington said. “We played pretty well for a good portion of the game."

Or was your favorite SEC game Kentucky’s 75-74 win at LSU that saw the Wildcats overcome an 18-point deficit — the largest under coach Mark Pope — that ended with a buzzer-beater from freshman big man Malachi Moreno?

It wasn’t a standard comeback, either. Senior guard Otega Oweh committed a shot-clock violation with less than a minute to go, then missed a free throw with 4.5 seconds remaining. Yet LSU (12-5, 0-4 in SEC) missed two free throws with 1.6 seconds remaining, which gave Kentucky (11-6 2-2) a chance to set up the final play.

What’s wild is that Moreno wasn’t even supposed to get the pass.

Added drama for this game: LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry said before the game that if coach Matt McMahon “doesn’t make it (to the NCAA Tournament), we’ll have to reevaluate” his position.

That wasn’t the only buzzer-beater, either. Patton Pinkins made a tip-in off an AJ Storr miss that capped a wild 97-95 overtime win for Ole Miss at No. 21 Georgia.

This was despite Georgia guard Jeremiah Wilkinson scored a season-high 32 points in a game that featured 16 ties and a dramatic finish in regulation. AJ Storr led Ole Miss (10-7, 2-2 in SEC) with 27 points, while Georgia (14-3, 2-2) dropped its second game in its last three.

For a league that hasn’t been historically good like it was last year, it sure was entertaining for one night.

2. Okorie’s historic night lifts Stanford past UNC

Caleb Wilson (26 points, 9 rebounds) was great on Wednesday night. Ebuka Okorie was better.

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