The latest round of the SEC's weekly gauntlet brought us to College Station, where the No. 6 Tennessee Volunteers faced a stiff top-10 road test against the No. 7 Texas A&M Aggies. And while Buzz Williams' squad threw plenty of punches in a back-and-forth affair, in the end it was the Vols that made the big plays down the stretch, with the star duo of Zakai Zeigler and Chaz Lanier shooting Tennessee to a huge 77-69 win.
It's the second loss in a row for Texas A&M, which shot just 5-of-30 from 3 in a performance that will again have people wondering whether this team can be consistent enough offensively to make a deep tournament run come March. And it's the fifth win in six games for the Vols, who have rebounded nicely from a midseason swoon that corresponded to Zeigler's absence due to injury.
It's tough to overstate how big a game this was, both for NCAA Tournament seeding and for the SEC Tournament in Nashville two-plus weeks from now. While Auburn, Florida and Alabama have been jockeying atop the league for most of the month, Tennessee and A&M were atop that second tier, which, in addition to conference title implications, also carries major significance for the conference tournament bracket. Let's reset how the standings look following Saturday afternoon's results.
Updated SEC standings after Tennessee holds off Texas A&M
1. Auburn Tigers (12-1)
2. Florida Gators (10-3)
3. Alabama Crimson Tide (10-3)
4. Missouri Tigers (9-4)
5. Tennessee Volunteers (9-5)
6. Texas A&M Aggies (9-5)
7. Ole Miss Rebels (8-5)
8. Kentucky Wildcats (7-6)
9. Mississippi State Bulldogs (7-7)
10. Texas Longhorns (5-8)
11. Vanderbilt Commodores (5-8)
12. Arkansas Razorbacks (4-9)
13. Georgia Bulldogs (4-9)
14. Oklahoma Sooners (4-10)
15. LSU Tigers (3-10)
16. South Carolina Gamecocks (0-13)
Auburn put the conference's top overall seed in a choke hold with that win at Alabama last weekend, and it's still very much the Tigers' race to lose. But A&M, entering Saturday at four losses, had an outside path to snatching the No. 1 spot, although that's evaporated now. Instead it's Tennessee that improves to 9-55, just a half-game back of Missouri for the coveted fourth spot — and the final double bye in the conference tournament.
There's plenty still to be decided, and Missouri could either consolidate their grip on the fourth spot or cede it with a loss later tonight at rival Arkansas. Ole Miss and Vanderbilt are also in action on Saturday in a game with major seeding implications, while Kentucky travels to Alabama in a game that could more or less salt away the Wildcats' chances of earning a double bye in Nashville.