SEC Notepad - February 11

Photo by Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee remains No. 1 in the AP polls for the fourth consecutive week. That’s the longest the program has ever held the top spot in the rankings, consecutively. The Vols handled Missouri and Florida at home this week, winning each game by 12 points.

Missouri and Florida both kept close to Tennessee in the first halves of those games, but Tennessee proved to be too much in the end. The Vols led the Tigers by 6 at halftime, but Grant and Admiral scored 13 points apiece to grab the win. Then, on Saturday, the Vols also led Florida by 6 at the half, but extended their lead to as many as 19 points in the second half.

The fans executed the ‘Checker TBA’ on Saturday against Florida. That, along with the crowd noise from the opening tip created a tremendous environment.

Here’s what went down in the SEC this week.

POWER RANKINGS

1. Tennessee (—): Tennessee continued their winning ways with a pair of 12-point wins over Missouri and Florida this week. The Vols have won a program-best 18 consecutive games, improving to 22-1 (10-0) on the season.

2. Kentucky (—): The Wildcats picked up a 28-point home victory over South Carolina early in the week, before squeaking by Mississippi State, 71-67 on the road.

3. LSU (—): LSU had a great week, defeating a good Mississippi State team on the road by 4 points in overtime. They returned home to beat Auburn by 5.

4. Alabama (up 1): The Crimson Tide got much needed wins against the bottom 2 teams in the conference this week, beating Georgia by 15 and Vanderbilt by 10.

5. Auburn (down 1): Auburn defeated Florida on Tuesday, before falling to LSU on the road, 83-78.

6. Mississippi State (—): The Bulldogs lost 2 home games this week, by a combined 8 points. They fell to LSU in overtime, 92-88, and lost to Kentucky by a score of 71-67.

7. Ole Miss (up 3): The Rebels fended off Texas A&M and beat Georgia to improve to 6-4 in conference play.

8. Florida (down 1): The Gators lost to Auburn by 14 points and fell to Tennessee by 12.

9. South Carolina (—): South Carolina was throttled by Kentucky, losing by 28 points on Tuesday, before beating Arkansas, 77-65 on Saturday.

10. Arkansas (down 2): The Razorbacks did not look good this week, barley surviving a home matchup with Vanderbilt, winning by 3. They lost to South Carolina by 12 later in the week.

11. Texas A&M (—): The Aggies narrowly lost to Ole Miss on Wednesday, falling 75-71, before defeating Missouri by 9 points.

12. Missouri (—): The Tigers have lost 8 of their past 10 games, after losses to Tennessee and Texas A&M this week. They sit at 2-8 in conference play and 11-11 overall.

13. Georgia (—): Georgia has dropped 9 of 11 games, with this week’s losses coming to Alabama and Ole Miss.

14. Vanderbilt (—): Vandy is going nowhere fast. They have lost 11 consecutive games and sit at 9-14, 0-10 in the SEC.

Jotting down some notes…

Positive Aspects for the Vols:

Tennessee had a great week, as they continue to improve as much as possible at this point in the season. The Vols, as explosive as they are on offense, have been focusing on their defensive effort. On Monday, Rick Barnes commented on how the team has progressed in that area, saying, “An awareness for the details more than anything, and playing and understanding how we have to get better. We talked long and hard about guarding the ball and spent a lot of time working on that. We've talked about our ball-screen defense and rebounding. We are going to have to continue to emphasize. It goes back to what I always say. It's about today. Can we getter better today in those areas? And they have done that. They have embraced those things. Simply because they understand to be the team that we want to be, it's a difficult game to be perfect, we aren't going to be perfect but those things we have to be a lot more consistent with. That's probably where we have improved over the last couple weeks with our defense. We are a little bit more consistent then we were."

Need to Improve On:

At this point in the season, the Vols just need to enjoy the ride. They will need to stay focused, obviously, but appreciating their greatness and celebrating wins is something the team has talked about lately. They are finding the balance between having fun and winning. Rick Barnes spoke about this on Monday, saying, “I think that when you do have an attitude about getting better every day, what you do is want them to enjoy winning a game. The fact is that they've put the work in. They've done what they need to do, but the tough part is that you've got to let it go really quickly. You want them to enjoy it more than you want them to feel relieved. I think coaches probably feel more like that. We win a game, we're relieved we get the game, and now, you've got to get ready for the next one. You do want to enjoy it, but that's a hard thing to do when you're in the middle of a really competitive year/season. It's knowing that you've got to let it go quickly and move on to the next one because the enjoyment of it can't last long. You've got to get back to the grind and that's what you do. For a little bit, you can take a deep breath and enjoy it, then say, 'Okay, now we've got to do it again'. That's the challenge when you're in competition; everyone else can probably enjoy it longer than those that are really in the arena every day fighting because they've got to let it go quickly and get on to the next one."

Up Next for the Vols:

Tennessee has a home game against South Carolina on Wednesday, before traveling to Lexington for a top-5 matchup with Kentucky. It will be the second time the Vols have played the Gamecocks this season. In the first meeting, Tennessee won by 22 points. Yves Pons missed the Florida game after suffering a facial fracture in practice, but will be ready to play on Wednesday, as long as his mask arrives on Tuesday. Vol fans were disappointed about the injury, but are excited to see how intimidating he will look in a mask.

Then, Tennessee will battle the No. 5 Wildcats on Saturday night. It will be the first of 2 meetings for the teams this season, but the Vols know better than to overlook the Gamecocks. It should be another exciting week for the No. 1 team in the nation.