SEC Basketball Reaction: Kentucky Is STREAKING, Texas A&M Holds Off Mississippi State

Chris Lee, Blake Lovell, and Max Barr share their reactions to the Wednesday slate in SEC basketball with thoughts on the later games.

We highlight performances from Rob Dillingham, Antonio Reeves, Reed Sheppard, Tyrin Lawrence, Wade Taylor, Tyrece Radford, Josh Hubbard, and more.

0:00 Intro
1:13 Kentucky 93, Vanderbilt 77
11:25 Texas A&M 75, Mississippi St 69

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Order of tip off Kentucky and vanderwal comes first so that’s the one we’re going to hit vanderwal LED this game a good bit of the first half tyon Lawrence had one of the best games of his season 23 points nine rebounds but in the end guys this became the Rob Dillingham show

One of many Kentucky players who can just take over a game for a stretch uh Kentucky got out and running and kind of ran away from Vandy late actually Kentucky made a run in the final couple minutes of the first half and in that one other key figure Antonio Reeves who

Else Oho consistent uh for the cats Blake I’ll I’ll let you start this one off here Kentucky won the first one easily the second one wasn’t as easy might have been Kentucky playing down to the competition but nonetheless the cats needed bad loss avoidance and they got

It you made that sound a little more dramatic probably than it was in terms of the the beginning of the come from behind aspect like well it’s true it’s actually true no I was I was just about to say that you are factually correct like they did come

From behind to win this game but I I never got the sense past about the you know couple minute Mark in the for even then probably five minutes left in the first half that Kentucky wasn’t going to eventually kind of run away with this thing and and they really didn’t until

Late um but yeah I mean what they went up double digits with 10 minutes too and you just knew from there that it was trouble for Vanderbilt so uh yeah I mean Max and I talked about it in the preview I think I said max that you know the

Wild stat you’re not going to fully believe is the fact that ky’s only beaten Vanderbilt by double digits twice or once in Lexington since 2011 or n or something like that so not surprised at all this game was closed for a while because we did kind of bring

Up that that Trend if you wanted to bet it looked okay there um just because of Vander had played him close and of course had beaten him what two out of the last three times or whatever the the number was so um yeah but as always this

Is just you know matchup wise we saw how the first game went you just felt like eventually even if this was going to be a little bit of a grind for Kentucky they just the the matchups just are are not there for Vander bolt to to be able

To pull this off in a 40 game or 40 minute set and so yeah Kentucky winds up making the plays and um no surprise that this kind of played out the way that it did because as we’ve always said it’s just at some point in the game ky’s talent’s

Going to take over and that’s kind of what happened here and you know they’re back to hitting threes that that also uh helps I mean if you look at what they’ve done now remember that stretch we were talking about there a couple weeks ago they just weren’t making a lot of Threes

Um but now they’ve hit at least nine in what four straight games uh they go 11 to 27 last night and so yeah they shot 40 or 54% against Alabama 33% at Mississippi State 45% against Arkansas 41% now against Vanderbilt so that’s also uh an added bonus you got a lot of

Great offensive players the shooting seems to be back in effect although we’ll see if that stays intact at Tennessee on Saturday but yeah I’d say this game probably went about as you would expect not surprised to see Vandy make it interesting for a bit but Kentucky was going to pull away and they

Did the computers didn’t think it got all that interesting um looking at kenpom here and while it we might have thought it got a little shaky in the first half Kentucky’s lowest win probability of the whole game was 90.9% wow so I mean even though that first half looked pretty shaky there was

Never really a doubt the craziest thing that I’m looking at is 27 assists on 37 made baskets that I mean they’re just I don’t know why I’m surprised I’m not surprised I just think it’s a crazy stat um but what Al what I also saw I

Think it was on Twitter I saw it was John Cal Perry kind of talking about how they can afford front Court pieces to not play well me went with big Z later a little bit for more offense was going on yensu earlier a little bit for more defense

Has Bradshaw has had Mitchell in foul trouble has Theo so just the amount of pieces that uh caliper has in the front Court uh I know it’s Vanderbuilt but kind of on display Here Blake um can you consult your your big notebook of free throw shooting

Because I want to ask you a question um vanderbes Kentucky shot nine that’s got to be near an SEC low for free throw shot in a game this year maybe there have been some other games that have been played pretty clean not not the majority but there have been

Some other clean games I don’t know if it’s again 22 maybe lower uh might maybe by the end of this video I’ll have the number for you but look this game was played in under two hours anytime you can give me an SEC basketball game under

Two hours I love it I enjoy the sport it’s great theater but I also don’t like games to go two and a half hours which seem to be the norm sometimes in this league so one hour 51 minutes per Ken poms official timer so great great played

Game a wonderfully played game to go an hour and 51 minutes so other thing of note just hasn’t been a lot to to talk about with vable this year what they’re eight and 22 after last night in the in the in the conversation for Worst season ever in Vanderbilt basketball I think beating

Arkansas last week might have technically kept him out of that we’ll we’ll see I’d have to maybe maybe wake’s got that in his big notebook of stuff too but um vanable to the point where the season’s been pointless for a while except for the thought of potential coaching change I’ve heard

Various things I’ve heard that there’s a a buyout that’s a lot higher than it should be for a guy who hasn’t won many games in five years so uh any thoughts on that one Blake level nope I think if we saw a coaching change it you would think that that would uh

Perhaps happen over the weekend before the the tournament but we’ll we’ll see here’s why I’m I’m joking but like I don’t have any thoughts because I’m GNA say the same thing I say anytime any they’re not you think they’re not making a move about Vanderbilt’s coaching status in any

Sport over the past decade I don’t know it’s Vanderbilt that’s all I got so yeah anybody else if there were anybody else in the SEC I could give you a strong answer maybe yeah but the fact is I don’t know it’s Vanderbilt so I’m sorry whether yeah I’m in the same boat

For the record not all Vanderbilt fans want to hear that but I think a lot of them know that’s the reality is yeah you can think it should be this way you can think it should be that way but I don’t know it’s Vanderbilt so here’s a here’s

A quick question for you guys and it’s not coaching related but I’m looking at the schedules here and I’m I may have noticed something I don’t know if there’s anything to it but remember last year when Alabama had the regular season locked up they had one game left the

Regular season and they played a hungry Texas A&M team to finish the regular season out and Texas A&M beat Alabama after they had clinched right who does Tennessee play Kentucky and I’ve thought about that but I’m gonna I’m gonna give you a little little teaser here for for our preview perhaps uh

Tennessee’s got a lot more to play for okay than just uh I was just throwing it out there a clinched SEC Championship and pride no but I had that thought this morning too okay but then the other the other set of thoughts came into play makes sense so anything else yeah just

Quickly may we talk about consistency you’re not going to get a lot of recognition for it but I mean Vin Allen luin has been pretty consistent for Vanderbilt I would you know we talked about the big two all year but I think hey at least that’s something where he’s

Been consistent for them and then I think we also have a an obligatory like have to mention um you know Reed Shepard in any video we do and of course he had Max talked about 27 assists last night not Reed sheeper the team did although we wouldn’t be

Shocked if Reed Shepard had 27 assists seem like he he sees the floor as well yeah had 11 um but yeah so just and look I mean I think it’s it’s twoo you know it’s look at what they Max mentioned earlier kind of like the front Court

Guys and the rotations and all that and man that’s just a luxury Kentucky has and that’s where I I wish I knew right now who their matchup was going to be in the NCAA tournament because like you can just start to you see the wheels turning now

I think for this team and um yeah I mean again they they’ve been a different team since that lost to the zags what a month ago now um and if you don’t lose to the Buzzard LSU we talked about it before you think about how different the

Conversation is right now so just keep them out of Florida’s region it’s all I ask keep anybody out of Florida’s region anybody cuz Max got him in the final four if not beyond all right speaking of animals Mississippi State made a furious comeback in the second half um also

Known as Texas A&M quit scoring for a while amm did uh have what four guys 13 points or more but my goodness there was a score in drought there um I’d kind of tune this one out because I think A&M was up 22 points Josh hubber kept shooting the

Threes um amm hangs on and wins I think that lead got to two or three in the final two minutes um like I’ll hit you first what have you got here I’m surprised you would throw it to me this quickly for this game because you sound real thrilled about it um real

Prilled well look A&M had I was trying to do the math before we started recording but we know that’s not my strong suit uh A&M had 54 points with 17 minutes and 22 seconds left in the second half and that that in itself Mississippi State should just how do you

Give up 54 points in this team to 23 minutes um but yeah I mean but A&M is playing well at the time that’s what we say like they they’ve got the upside like it’s there if they just play well we know they got good offensive players

It just has not come together this year they’ve not been able to you know numbers wise to put it where where they needed to be to be a consistent team 54 points with 17 minutes and 22 seconds left and then you scroll all the way down the play byplay here you just keep

Going you just keep going they got 59 points with eight and a half minutes left that is almost 10 minutes where they score what Five Points um oh I mean that that’s it right there and it’s not like Mississippi state was like just going crazy themselves but that I think

They went on a 20 to2 run whatever it was something like that um yeah I mean this was this was the kind of game we thought it would be minus one team getting a large lead like it winds up being where you just get fullon drought scenario for one team um

And it winds up being close which again I just I did not expect this to be a blowout either way and so but it’s like I don’t even I don’t know how you describe this game like this was one where we said Mississippi state has struggled on the road this year you

Can’t put yourself in that kind of hole getting down 23 or whatever it was they got down um and yet I can’t say like as I’m watching this that I’m thinking all right Mississippi state’s going to make the comeback but it is at least in my mind

To where I’m like okay well Mississippi State defends maybe not in this game um but could Texas A&M just you know go on a on a scoring slump here and Mississippi State find a way to make it interesting you’re like at least it’s in the back of your mind because again you

Just know the way these two teams play and ultimately it played out that way to where it gets as close as it did what got down to what you say CR three I think it was something like that yeah so yeah but hey here’s the here’s the story Texas A&M won the game

And that is something and you guys know I love my ESPN alerts because I don’t know what kind of vested interest ESPN has in the Texas a& Maggie making the tournament I’ll do I do know they got a little deal with the SEC from what I

Hear um I mean they may have him as a number one seed right now I don’t know because the alerts I get every time Texas A&M plays a game is they’re still there they’re still there they’re not going anywhere obviously this is a little bit different because they won this game and

So hey I mean they’re at least in the conversation so this we said every game’s a must-win for A&M the rest of the way um and this was a big one they got the one at Georgia they got this one and I mean they’re they’re at least hanging around

So they moved to A&M that is moves to 49th in the net after last night’s win um and also with some other obviously other results that get baked into it um but 49th to the net and be left out of the tournament I don’t have all those

Trends Chris but I feel like that’s that would be a pretty high exemption um do you have any of the do you would you know how high the highest is you’re muted Chris W Chris tries to get on sorry um I I was I was looking some things up and

Silencing the keyboard tap it tap but anyway yeah Warren Nolan is really slow this morning I was trying to pull that one up I mean they’re they’re what’s your take on their postseason their hopes I I have to reenter with everybody else because they’re not in a vacuum I

Mean look they got seven losses in Quad two and three yeah they do have six quad one wins guess have more than them usually that wins out but usually teams that win six games against quad that are six and six against quad one aren’t seven lost teams in Quad two and

Three I mean true but we we like to say oh well the committee I mean committees are different every year their priorities are different the bubble’s different I I don’t know I I’d have to spend some time on it and I haven’t as of this morning um maybe we’ll get there

Yeah so Henry Coleman update there’s not much uh all I know is that he didn’t travel with the team and was never in play for this game Williams yeah was never was never gonna play this game according to uh Travis Brown shout out get a lot of my Texas A&M news from him

Because you’re not gonna get it you’re not gonna get it from Texas A&M themselves uh yeah um so but here’s the crazy thing guys is isn’t tchm one of the most physical teams in the conference would you agree with that one of the most physical yeah I

Mean that’s that’s a that’s a large list of teams but right but they’re up there with one of the more physical styles of play Mississippi State shot Seven free throws last game Georgia shot six they’ve given up a total of 13 free throw attempts with the past 80 minutes of

Basketball that’s significant that is significant I don’t know if there’s just a complete change in in in defending Style but Buzz Williams said after the game he said we’ve gotten the most turkeys that’s three stops in a row Buzz always likes to talk about the turkeys he said they got the most

Turkeys in the past three games they they’ve had of any three- game stretch all year so something about this Texas A&M defense with whether they’re defending without following now or something about them I know they’ve played I think it’s the seventh eighth and Ninth offense in the SEC but still

Something about this Texas A&M defense that defense is given me a little bit of a a different vibe than earlier in the season I think something’s clicking here I think after that Arkansas game where those two teams combined to shoot about 842 free throws five and a half hour game I think

That changed everything um seriously it kind of has if you look at the numbers like since then like they’ve not really allowed a lot of teams to get to the free throw line Arkansas got there now of course that’s also the nature of just how Arkansas plays too but I I mean yeah

Since then though you mentioned I mean that’s a that’s a good stat cuz really since then they’ve been they’ve been in a position where they’ve not allowed a lot of teams to get to the line of ton even South Carolina only got there I think 13 times um in that game and so

Yeah um I mean look we we we have certainly had our fun with A&M this year but I’m going to tell you why and I know some A&M fans may see it as just like oh these guys just don’t like A&M it’s not true I think where where I come in with

This is I think it’s frustrating because yeah I think we came into the season having higher expectations and it’s been frustrating to see this team and I think that’s where our frustration comes in is like we don’t know what to make of A&M on a game in and game out basis and they

Have the pre they had the player of the year in the SEC last year at the preseason Player of the Year in way Taylor and so I mean you’re just thinking all right like they’re they’re going to find a way to easily get to the NCAA tournament and then it’s like okay

You go on a five-game losing streak in February which includes losses to Vanderbilt and Arkansas and you’re like what do you do with this team they they’ve lost twice to Arkansas they’ve lost to LSU they’ve lost Old Miss these are all teams are not going to make the

Tournament sorry Old Miss I don’t I don’t think so um sorry Max too it’s okay but but but like you know they’ve beaten these other teams right that’s what we say like okay well they beat Mississippi State they blew out Tennessee they beat Florida they beat Kentucky um you know they beat Iowa

State who’s the Talk of the Town right now so yeah it’s just what do you do with this team that I you just never know so okay the the Coleman thing is interesting because I brought that up I don’t know a week ago how he’s just

Become less and less a part of things when I was looking early in the season I I mean and you’re kind of making your list of who’s the top 15 guys I mean he was in that conversation depending on how you wanted to wait this or that I

Don’t know what’s happened there when a team misses the mark as much as this one has and then you see a guy like that that’s not even did you say didn’t he make the didn’t didn’t even dress didn’t yeah I I don’t think I don’t think he

Traveled with the team I’ll double check but I don’t think he was even with the team yeah I’m reading I’m reading word for word right here Henry col was not with the with the team during warut and not on the Aggie bench he did not play or travel to

Georgia talented player started his career at Duke I mean you’ve got Wade Taylor I was making a list we’re trying to do our prep work for all SEC teams boy already Coman be in your top 80 84 Chris oh good he would not and that

Would be an upset but the other guy that would be in the top 84 for sure would be Wade Taylor he just not nearly as as high on the list as I would have thought and I don’t know if that’s his fault or the fault of the surrounding

Cast because they can’t score I mean you can you can parse that a bunch of different ways but the point being that’s that’s two that’s one guy I mean if we’d said who were A&M’s top three players preseason I I think it would have definitely been Taylor Radford

Coleman Coleman probably being the third now Coleman’s not even dressing and and Taylor’s not having anything close to the season that we would have thought again I’m not blaming way Taylor for that he’s having to take a high volume of shots on a team that can’t hit shots

Regularly which puts more attention on him but it just hasn’t fit together the way that we would have expected say are we I mean way Taylor’s not having the season we thought just from an an efficiency standpoint is that what you’re saying yeah well let me I’ll

Give you an example okay because the numbers are there well what what numbers are we talking about well I mean he’s he’s been pretty consistent scoring wise okay Blake you you’ve seen that you’ve seen the working list that I’ve got for our and last night I know you did well I

Mean just I’ve ranked 42 players and I’m not saying there couldn’t be more to rank I’m just trying to make sure we cover all our bases in those 42 players the lowest two true shooting percentages belong to Wade Taylor 48.8% and Tyrese ryford 48.7% okay I

Guess let me just let me give you a comparison of of guards above him um Dalton connect 60% Mark sear 67% Zion pulling 57% if you want to look at guards I’ve ranked ahead of those guys like the worst guard when it comes to True shooting percentage is probably zakai Ziggler at

55% but zakai Ziggler’s game is a little different than than theirs and that’s my point I’m not I don’t I don’t disagree with you I’m just I’m just saying I still think way Taylor’s had a a a highlevel top level season um maybe not would you put him top top 10

15 players in the league yeah okay I would yeah I think so I think more towards 10 or 15 for me but probably be in there I think he’s got to be in there um because I can’t just go that’s the thing we could have this conversation all day and we we’re just

Not going to do it but and we will well you will um but I get I think that’s the point you said okay the two guys with the two worst true shooting percentages yeah well I think you know you also compared them to guys that if you look at The

Supporting Cast around the other guys the DraStic difference in what Tennessee Kentucky and Florida have around those guys and that’s not taking I’m not again I’m not saying he should be the player of the year I’m just saying I think just going by the percentage I maybe a little bit unfair

To way Taylor that’s all I’m saying um oh I don’t I don’t disagree I just don’t know how much to weigh because you got to give a guy credit for things he doesn’t do and knocking for things he doesn’t do well and that’s where I have a problem because we know

The situation we watch this team play you know where the ball’s going when the shot clock runs down that that puts an unfair burden on him but you also got to be fair to the other guys in the conversation too I mean you can’t you can’t just go say ah well you

Know Wade Taylor went six for 27 from the field tonight but um but that’s okay and then we’re going to we’re going to he didn’t go Baker bizar because he’s got a better supporting pass all right we’re not having this discussion the rest I got I have two

Names have two names for you and it’s almost I didn’t get I did not get many things right in my preseason rankings did nail Tennessee got a few others way off I I had text an& M nth I had two names for you Julius marble Dexter Dennis insert those two names into this

Lineup they’re not losing five in a row in February they’re not even there’s not even a shadow of a doubt if this is a tournament team um so I know Dennis was a senior I’m just saying his loss was was big but Julius marble not being with

This team is huge and we just completely fly over that fact that like end of the summer just gets announced oh no Julius marble oh okay well if if you know Marble’s not going to play the whole season and Coleman’s not even getting dressed at the end of the year you you

Will have known something went really wrong there right right all right see Blake’s top 84 way Taylor the 47th best player in the Chris Lee spreadsheet that is not what I’m saying before this gets taken out of I’m just saying you got a lot of stuff to

Consider and you got a lot of really good players in you make you make fun of me for ranking that many guys there’s a lot of really good players like if if I ranked my top 20 and I told him to you right now you could be like well that

Doesn’t include this guy this guy this guy and that’s the kind of year this league is is having I agreed I just we we have different approaches to how we view players I we have different approaches that’s all I’ll say I I still think way Taylor is a top 10 to 15

Player in the league I full confidence can’t wait he may make your eighth team but for me he’s going to probably W one of my top three teams so okay I’m I’m going to do a quick exercise oh boy oh boy Wade Wade Taylor or ton Cooper don’t do this

Now going do it now okay but you’re looking at a spreadsheet that has about 84 different categories of stuff we don’t have that spreadsheet in front of oh excuses okay you you’re making fun of you’re already preemptively criticizing me for ranking Wade Taylor t l I’m going

To I’m going to put you on trial judge you didn’t I’m going to do it right now little bit of it well yeah but you’re putting me on trial based on your 19 colorcoded spreadsheet that I just do not have in front of me and I I do not

Want to look at right now to be honest you disregard the stats anyway you know it don’t use that as a gosh all right give give me another name who who else you put you didn’t answer my first question no who else you putting in this category Wade Taylor ton Cooper who

Else uh Walter Clayton Josh Hub I’m not arguing should be among Walter Clayton I said here’s what I said yesterday I think you have Walter Clayton too low on your spreadsheet so I think you got him too low I think you have every Florida player too low I

Agree with that we go I agree with that too we’re gonna go we’re gonna go to war Sunday night’s your Dan again why why don’t you like Florida Chris you don’t I mean we know you don’t like way Taylor why don’t you like Florida huh huh Judge Judy I’m not on trial

Here wait I don’t know who’s on trial anymore we appreciate your hard Eastern 14 some of us don’t but some of us do okay I know it’s been a trying season in College Station you’ve had to do everything but we still appreciate your hard work as the reigning SEC player of the

Year we spent 30 minutes on Mississippi State Texas and Kentucky Vandy that’s where you went wrong Max we went about 10 minutes on way Taylor we spent about um the other 20 minutes on the two games so jeez five on Chris’s spr cheat Blake level’s gift is he can he can

Um he can knock the other people without having to answer the question it’s a tactic all right all right here we go ton Cooper give me another one all right uh Mei Johnson or Wade Taylor me Johnson give me another one all right you answered Walter Josh

Hubard Josh hubber give me another one Matt Morel Matt Morel give me another one Chad what Max Chad B bzar give me another one Rob Dillingham Rob Dillingham give me another one um Allan Flanigan Allan Flanagan give me another one now you’ve gone too far come on you’re not getting a

Straight answer from me on any of these get out of here way Taylor your award will be sent in the mail on Sunday when we do our live SEC awards show Sunday night that’s the plan right now just letting you guys know so you heard it

From the man himself bluee there you go there we go bluee was not on the list but we could we could we could devise a a scheme to get in there name value best name Chris le7 on Twitter see what this man’s doing he’s an instigator and an agitator and a non-question answerer

He’s an voider that’s what he is I just I answered your questions on about eight straight players yeah either you’re sarcastic you prove my point and I think we know the answer I don’t I don’t think we know Max and I are not sure what you mean by that

So all right thanks for watching we appreciate you all southe 14 15,000 subscribers now um you guys are great a lot of live streams coming your way as we said we’re going to do our SEC basketball Awards on Sunday and um yeah we’ll do our usual Saturday night stuff

The live streams a big hit with the audience out there so we appreciate you guys SCC tournaments next week it’s March Southeastern 14 where sometimes we engage in serious discussion and sometimes we put off the difficult questions that we can’t answer hope you enjoyed it get the

Disney song in the background round let it go let it Go we were presented by B online thanks for watching