Georgia gets another chance to knock off No. 13 Kentucky
Here are a few things to watch in Southeastern Conference basketball this week:
GAME OF THE WEEK: No. 13 Kentucky at Georgia: After producing one of its best all-around performances in an 83-58 blowout of Tennessee, Kentucky goes on the road Saturday to face a Georgia team in desperate need of a signature victory. Georgia has suffered plenty of close losses to ranked foes this season, including an overtime defeat at Kentucky on Jan. 31. The Bulldogs also lost in overtime at No. 15 Florida and lost by two at No. 21 South Carolina. Georgia has won two straight, and a victory over Kentucky perhaps could get the Bulldogs back into consideration for an NCAA tournament bid.
LOOKING AHEAD: How will Arkansas handle prosperity? At a point in the season when other potential SEC bubble teams such as Tennessee and Auburn have hurt their NCAA Tournament cases, Arkansas made a strong argument that it deserves an invitation by winning Wednesday at South Carolina. Now the Razorbacks must build on that success. Arkansas seemed like a pretty decent bet to make the tournament a couple of weeks ago before losing back-to-back games against Missouri and Vanderbilt. Arkansas can't afford to slip up again as it prepares to host Mississippi on Saturday and Texas A&M on Wednesday. At this point, Arkansas looks like the best bet for the SEC to earn a fourth NCAA Tournament bid beyond Kentucky, Florida and South Carolina.
NUMBERS GAME Florida's 114-95 victory over Auburn on Tuesday marked the most points the Gators have ever scored in an SEC game. The Gators have won seven straight games, but must play the rest of the year without starting center John Egbunu, who tore the ACL in his left knee at Auburn. ... South Carolina's Sindarius Thornwell has scored at least 27 points in three straight games. He has a total of 99 points during that stretch. ... Kentucky has won its last 46 home games against unranked foes. ... Tennessee has led by at least 13 points in five of its last nine losses.
PLAYER TO WATCH: Ole Miss guard Terence Davis. The 6-foot-4 sophomore has emerged for the Rebels over the past few weeks as they try to push into NCAA Tournament at-large consideration. He's scored 26 and 33 points over his past two games, setting career highs both time, and leads Ole Miss with 16.2 points per game in SEC play.
ON THE WOMEN'S SIDE: No. 23 Texas A&M's Curtyce Knox leads all Division I players in assists per game and is on pace to have the most assists per game off any player in SEC history. Knox is averaging 9.5 assists. The SEC record is held by Martha Monk, who had 8.9 assists per game for Auburn in 1980-81. Knox is on pace for the most assists per game of any Division I player since Gonzaga's Courtney Vandersloot had 10.2 in 2010-11.
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AP Sports Writers Steve Megargee in Knoxville, Tennessee, and David Brandt in Jackson, Mississippi, contributed to this story.
