SEC LAGGING behind in series with Big 12.

FAYETTEVILLE — Now would be a good time for the SEC to begin carving into its deficit in the Big 12/SEC Challenge if the league wants to propel more teams toward the NCAA Tournament.

The SEC has posted a nonconference winning percentage of 70.6%, lowest among the power conferences, heading into the seventh edition of the challenge Saturday.

Most national outlets are currently projecting five SEC teams into the NCAA Tournament, but that number could get a boost with a big showing against the Big 12. The Big 12 leads the nation with the highest conference RPI of .5979 according to RealTimeRPI.com, while the SEC is fifth (.5729), ahead of the Atlantic Coast Conference (.5723).

“I don’t think there’s any league that’s just way up there,” said Kentucky Coach John Calipari, whose Wildcats travel to Texas Tech for a 5 p.m. game. “We’re in good shape. My best guess would be we get anywhere between six and eight in [the NCAAs]. Some teams are going to have to do some things.”

Those “things” could include a victory in the challenge. The Big 12 owns a 35-25 lead through six years of the showcase event. The SEC has won the challenge once, a 6-4 advantage in 2018, while the Big 12 has won four, including 7-3 records in 2014 and 2016. There was one tie in 2017.

“I think we all understand the importance of when there’s conference challenges and what this weekend could potentially mean for the entire league once Selection Sunday comes,” said Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman, whose team will host TCU at 3 p.m.. “So big, big weekend, not only for Arkansas, but obviously the entire league.”

One of the top storylines for this year’s event is the suspensions handed down following an ugly bench-clearing fracas at the end of Kansas’ 81-60 victory over Kansas State on Tuesday.

The Big 12 suspended Kansas forward Silvio DeSousa 12 games for his role in the melee, while his teammate David McCormack received a two-game suspension. Kansas State’s James Love must sit 8 games after he recovers from injury for his role in the incident, while Antonio Gordon was suspended for three games.

Tennessee Coach Rick Barnes, whose team will face the No. 3 Jayhawks at 3 p.m. on Saturday, said he thinks Kansas Coach Bill Self will make the proper moves to overcome the suspensions.

“He’s been doing this a long time and whatever adjustments he has to make with what happened on their last game, he’ll make those adjustments,” Barnes said.

“I’ve been through something like this before, and when you go into a game where you don’t have guys that you normally have, you have to look at the other guys who may get more minutes and expect them to look at it as an opportunity that they can get better. It’s their time to help their team.”

All 20 coaches who take part in this year’s event will be sporting lapel pins to recognize the Mike Slive Foundation, as will the four SEC coaches not involved in the challenge.

Slive created the foundation after his retirement as SEC commissioner in 2015. He died May 16, 2018 from prostate cancer.

One of the more interesting pairings is LSU at Texas at 1 p.m. LSU Coach Will Wade served on the Clemson staff of Oliver Purnell with Texas Coach Shaka Smart, who later gave Wade his first assistant coach’s job on his staff at Virginia Commonwealth.

“I wouldn’t be in coaching if it wasn’t for him,” Wade said. “I certainly wouldn’t be a head coach and I wouldn’t have been the head coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga at such a young age if I didn’t work for him and wasn’t on his staff. … So I’ve known him for a long time and he’s had a huge, huge impact on my career.”

The four SEC schools who are not competing in the challenge will face each other on Saturday. Ole Miss will play at Georgia at 4:30 p.m., and South Carolina will host Vanderbilt at 7 p.m.