Murray State transfer and current LSU senior KJ Williams is closing in on 2,000 points.  

A look at news and notes from around the SEC

SEC Player of the Week – Texas A&M forward Julius Marble, a 6-foot-9, 245-pound junior from Dallas, Texas, averaged 17 points and 7.5 rebounds in wins at Florida and against LSU. His dominance in the paint helped the Aggies win for the first time in Gainesville with a 66-63 win over Florida and snap a 10-game losing skid to LSU with a convincing 69-56 victory over the Tigers. Marble connected on 57.7 percent of his shots as he posted 17 bruising points against both the Gators and Tigers. He narrowly missed his first career double-double with nine rebounds against LSU and had 15 boards in the two games.

SEC Freshman of the Week – Alabama forward Brandon Miller, a 6-foot-9, 200-pound freshman from Antioch, Tenn., averaged 18 points and six rebounds in wins over Ole Miss and Kentucky. He opened the week with 17 points, five rebounds and three steals at Ole Miss. Miller then had 19 points and seven rebounds against the Wildcats.

RANKINGS Seven teams are receiving mention in the January 9 Associated Press Top 25 highlighted by Alabama (4th), Tennessee (5th), Arkansas (15th), Missouri (20th), and Auburn (21st). Mississippi State and LSU are among the teams receiving votes.

Two teams rank in the Top 10 of the NCAA’s NET rankings (t-2nd nationally), six are in the Top 60 (3rd nationally), and 10 are in the Top 100 (t-2nd nationally).

Six SEC teams are rated among the top 25 defensive teams in the nation according to KenPom: Tennessee 1st, Alabama 6th, Mississippi State 7th, Arkansas 11th, Auburn 15th and Florida 22nd.

MILESTONES: LSU’s KJ Williams needs 37 points to reach the 2,000-career point milestone. He will have then reached both the 2,000-career point and 1,000 career rebound milestones.

Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe recorded his 1,000th career rebound on Dec. 28 at LSU. He now has eclipsed the 1,000-career point and rebound marks.

Four SEC coaches rank among the winningest active Division I coaches in the nation: John Calipari (4th with 778 wins), Rick Barnes (6th with 768 wins), Bruce Pearl (15th with 627 wins) and Kermit Davis (29th with 475 wins).

STREAKS: Alabama became the first team since the 1965-66 season to beat two teams ranked No. 1 (North Carolina on Nov. 27 and Houston on Dec. 10) before New Year’s Day.

Tennessee has won four straight games against Associated Press Top five opponents.

JANUARY MADNESS: The SEC, ACC, and ESPN announced on Nov. 28 the formation of the SEC/ACC Challenge for men’s and women’s basketball, which will begin as part of the 2023-24 season.

Kentucky was the favorite to win the 2023 SEC championship in a preseason poll of media from around the league and nation. Arkansas was picked to finish second and is followed by Tennessee, Auburn and Alabama. UK’s Oscar Tshiebwe was selected by the media as the preseason player of the year.

The SEC has had 27 NCAA Tournament selections over the last three tournaments.

14 of 14 SEC teams have made at least one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last seven tournaments.

The SEC has had at least one team advance to the Sweet 16 in 31 of the last 32 tournaments.

Nine different SEC teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 in the last five NCAA Tournaments. All 14 SEC members have advanced to the Sweet 16 since 1996.

The SEC has advanced at least one team to the Elite Eight in nine of the last 12 tournaments.

The SEC has advanced a team to the Final Four six of the last 11 tournaments.

GAMES THIS WEEK

Tuesday, January 17

*Ole Miss at South Carolina, SECN, 6:30 pm

*Tennessee at Mississippi State, ESPN2, 7:00 pm

*Alabama at Vanderbilt, SECN, 8:30 pm

*Georgia at Kentucky, ESPN, 9:00 pm

Wednesday, January 18

*Auburn at LSU, ESPN2, 7:00 pm

*Florida at Texas A&M, SECN, 7:00 pm

*Arkansas at Missouri, SECN, 9:00 pm

Saturday, January 21

*Ole Miss at Arkansas, ESPN2, 12:00 pm

*Vanderbilt at Georgia, SECN, 1:00 pm

*Texas A&M at Kentucky, ESPN, 2:00 pm

*Auburn at South Carolina, SECN, 3:30 pm

*Tennessee at LSU, ESPN, 4:00 pm

*Alabama at Missouri, SECN, 6:00 pm

*Florida at Mississippi State, SECN, 8:30 pm