SEC roundup: Tide, Mizzou, South Carolina pick up wins
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Returning to Southeastern Conference play was the only thing the Alabama men’s basketball team needed to get back to winning.
Jaden Shackelford scored 19 points as the No. 10 Crimson Tide beat LSU 78-60 on Wednesday night to remain unbeaten in league play. Alabama (15-4, 10-0) was coming off a loss at then No. 24 Oklahoma during Saturday’s Big 12/SEC Challenge, the Tide’s first defeat in more than a month.
Alabama held a six-point lead at halftime against LSU and opened the second half on an 11-2 run, and the Tigers could not catch up.
“We went 1-for-17 for a stretch there in the second half, which, we’re just not capable of overcoming that, especially on the road against a very good team,” LSU coach Will Wade said.
After setting a league record with 23 made 3-pointers in their previous matchup on Jan. 19, Alabama showed it has multiple ways to win, this time by holding LSU (11-5, 6-4) to its lowest scoring output of the season.
“We’ve got to find ways to win when we’re not hitting 23 3s,” Tide coach Nate Oats said. “I told our guys we might not do that. LSU came out and guarded us a lot better than they did the first time.”
Cameron Thomas scored 22 points for LSU, which shot 16 more free throws than the home team but struggled from the floor, shooting 31%. The Tigers came in averaging 82.9 points per game, and their previous season low in scoring was 69 in a loss to Kentucky.
Five players scored in double figures for Alabama, including Juwan Gary with a season-high 12.
› No. 18 Missouri 75, Kentucky 70
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Dru Smith scored a season-high 26 points, and Xavier Pinson added 14 as the Tigers withstood a second-half charge to beat Kentucky.
Smith had seven rebounds and five assists to go along with 6-for-11 shooting. The senior went 12-of-14 at the foul line, knocking down numerous key free throws late to help the Tigers (12-3, 5-3) hold on.
Smith has scored in double figures in seven straight games and 12 overall, both team highs. Mark Smith tacked on 11 points for Missouri, hitting three 3-pointers.
Down 40-27 at halftime, Kentucky went on a 15-3 run to start the second half and cut Missouri’s lead to one, but the Wildcats (5-11, 4-5) never got the lead, hurt by a scoring drought of more than three minutes, and couldn’t rally after being down by four with the ball and 1:15 left.
Davion Mintz led Kentucky with 18 points and made four 3s, and Brandon Boston and Keion Brooks Jr. tallied 10 apiece. Dontaie Allen, the Wildcats’ top 3-point shooter at 46% entering Wednesday, didn’t score in seven minutes as coach John Calipari elected not to play him for the entire second half.
Missouri won its fifth game in sixth tries, while Kentucky has lost five of its past six.
› South Carolina 72, No. 22 Florida 66
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — AJ Lawson scored 22 points and Seventh Woods added 12 as South Carolina potentially made the Gators’ return to the national rankings a brief one.
Keyshawn Bryant added eight points for the Gamecocks, including six in a decisive 13-1 run over the final 6:37 to close the game. That spurt turned a six-point deficit into an unlikely road victory.
Bryant scored on two dunks and a putback, a microcosm of Florida’s troubles all night. South Carolina (5-6, 3-4) dominated the Gators (10-5, 6-4) inside, outscoring them 50-30 in the paint and getting 13 offensive rebounds.
Florida was playing its first game as a ranked team in more than 14 months. The Gators snuck into the AP Top 25 after winning four in a row, including victories against No. 6 Tennessee and at No. 11 West Virginia but they looked nothing like the same team against South Carolina coach Frank Martin’s tough and scrappy bunch.
The Gamecocks pounded the ball in the lane early and often, so many times that Florida ended the game with 12 blocks. The strategy worked as Lawson shot 9-of-16 to go with eight rebounds, and Bryant added seven boards.
Tre Mann led Florida with 17 points and eight rebounds, and Noah Locke added 15. Colin Castleton chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and seven blocks, his fourth outing with at least five blocks in the past six games.