SEC Basketball Race Remains Tight Ahead of Final Stretch

While “It Just Means More” may be the Southeastern Conference’s overall motto, it could not exemplify the state of Men’s Basketball more correctly than now. With less than a month remaining until the closure of regular season play, the battle for conference leverage rages on. Seven teams are two games over .500 in SEC basketball play and the conference tournament looms large, so where do the SEC standings lie?

Auburn Tigers (23-2, 11-1 SEC)

Auburn sits atop both the SEC basketball standings and the AP Top 25 Poll, continuing its stronghold of the sport on Saturday. In one of the most anticipated and important matchups of this season, the No. 1 Tigers traveled on the road for a tilt with the previously-No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide. Auburn prevailed 94-85, notching one of its most important wins of its dominating season. With a loss, Auburn would have slipped from the conference ceiling and perhaps lost its now six-week streak at No. 1 in the nation. Instead, the Tigers sit comfortably as the best team in both spheres and prepare for a three-game home stand of projected wins.

Auburn now has *6* players averaging double-digit PPG

1. Johni Broome (18.1)
2. Chad Baker-Mazara (12.3)
3. Tahaad Pettiford (11.6)
4. Miles Kelly (10.9)
5. Denver Jones (10.7)
6. Chaney Johnson (10.4)

they all scored 13+ vs. Alabama, taking advantage of a paint-focused defense pic.twitter.com/ct00j1N0Na

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) February 18, 2025

Alabama Crimson Tide (21-4, 10-2 SEC)

No. 4 Alabama’s loss to its aforementioned rival proves treacherous in perspective to its remaining schedule and conference prospects. With a win, the Crimson Tide would have rolled to the golden spot in the standings and received a major résumé boost for the No. 1 overall seed come March. However, Alabama was on the losing end of the Iron Bowl of basketball and now puts itself in jeopardy of leaving the top seed line for the rest of the season.

The deflated Crimson Tide stand only two games ahead of fifth-place Missouri and face ranked opponents in every remaining game, including a brutal stretch at No. 6 Tennessee, vs. No. 2 Florida and at No. 1 Auburn to end the season. The team from Tuscaloosa will need to shake off the loss quickly in order to maintain its standpoint as one of the best, both in the conference and in the nation.

Florida Gators (22-3, 9-3 SEC)

Florida remains one of the most intriguing teams in college basketball and could very well have the best shot at overtaking Auburn within the SEC basketball standings. Minding the noise of injuries and returns throughout a tumultuous week, Florida coach Todd Golden’s squad rolled to a 88-67 win over conference floor South Carolina. What will be crucial for the Orange and Blue is health down the stretch, as sophomore forward Alex Condon and junior forward Sam Alexis remain out and Micah Handlogten needs more game experience after his injury in the SEC Championship last year. The Gators take on an even split of ranked and unranked teams to finish the regular season.

Florida's Alex Condon (ankle) and Sam Alexis (undisclosed) are probably "10-14 days away from returning", per Todd Golden.

Both DNP on Saturday against South Carolina.

Condon averages 10.6 PPG and 7.8 RPG.

Alexis averages 4.9 PPG and 3.6 RPG.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 17, 2025

Texas A&M Aggies (20-5, 9-3 SEC)

The No. 7 Aggies remain fully in the hunt to rise in the standings, mostly as a result of Wade Taylor IV’s heroics throughout the season. The graduate guard notched his fifth game with 15 or more points and five or more assists in A&M’s eight-point victory vs. Arkansas on Saturday, a mark that the rest of the Aggies roster has only done once. With all that said, Texas A&M’s wins have been narrow and it faces four ranked opponents the rest of the way. If the Aggies want to remain fourth in the conference or perhaps rise higher, they will need to play their best basketball in the remaining six games.

The Rest of the Pack

While the top four may look this way now, the field will look to change that and may have a legitimate case to do so. No. 15 Missouri, No. 6 Tennessee, and No. 24 Ole Miss are all within a game of Texas A&M and find themselves at five through seven in the standings. Those three teams each have a win over a top-5 team, proving that they can hang with the best of the best and have a puncher’s chance at improving on their current placing. While Tennessee ranks highest in the nation out of the group, Missouri may have the best chance to break into the top four based on remaining schedule and current standing.

On the outside looking in, No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 17 Kentucky and Vanderbilt all have work to do if they want to be in the top echelon of the SEC. The most surprising team to within the trio is certainly Kentucky, which has had nearly every high and low possible this season. Kentucky has beaten the best of the best, but has also struggled badly against teams they should handle, leaving a large question mark on how the Wildcats will finish out SEC basketball play. As for the other two, a perfect ending to the regular season is a necessity to have a remote chance of breaking into the next tier.

Kentucky's "worst" loss of the season, per the NET Rankings, came against #42 Arkansas.

There are only 6 teams in college basketball who have NOT lost to a team ranked lower than #42 in the NET.

Alabama, Auburn, Duke, Florida, Tennessee, Wisconsin. UK is 4-1 against that group.

— Brandon Ramsey (@BRamseyKSR) February 18, 2025

Coming Up

Three key SEC matchups take place Tuesday, with a crucial battle between ranked teams taking the court:

• Oklahoma vs. No. 2 Florida (7 p.m. on ESPN 2)
• No. 7 Texas A&M vs. No. 21 Mississippi State (7 p.m. on SEC Network)
• South Carolina vs. LSU (9 p.m. on SEC Network)

Another three pivotal games on Wednesday close out midweek action, with all eyes on a top-15 matchup that could shake up the SEC standings:

• Vanderbilt vs. No. 17 Kentucky (7 p.m. on SEC Network)
• Arkansas vs. No. 1 Auburn (9 p.m. on ESPN)
• No. 4 Alabama vs. No. 15 Missouri (9 p.m. on SEC Network)