2018–19 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

2018–19 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season
2018–19 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season
League	NCAA Division I
Sport	Basketball
Number of teams	14
TV partner(s)	CBS, ESPN, SEC Network
Regular season
2019 SEC Champions	LSU
Season MVP	Grant Williams, Tennessee
Tournament
Champions	Auburn
Runners-up	Tennessee
Finals MVP	Bryce Brown, Auburn
Basketball seasons
	← 2017–18 2019–20 →

2018–19 Southeastern Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 15 LSU	16	–	2	.889	28	–	7	.800
No. 10 Tennessee	15	–	3	.833	31	–	6	.838
No. 7 Kentucky	15	–	3	.833	30	–	7	.811
No. 5 Auburn†	11	–	7	.611	30	–	10	.750
South Carolina	11	–	7	.611	16	–	16	.500
Mississippi State	10	–	8	.556	23	–	11	.676
Ole Miss	10	–	8	.556	20	–	13	.606
Florida	9	–	9	.500	20	–	16	.556
Alabama	8	–	10	.444	18	–	16	.529
Arkansas	8	–	10	.444	18	–	16	.529
Texas A&M	6	–	12	.333	14	–	18	.438
Missouri	5	–	13	.278	15	–	17	.469
Georgia	2	–	16	.111	11	–	21	.344
Vanderbilt	0	–	18	.000	9	–	23	.281

† 2019 SEC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll

The 2018–19 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2018, followed by the start of the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2019 and will end in March, after which 14 member teams will participate in the 2019 SEC tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The tournament champion is guaranteed a selection to the 2019 NCAA tournament.^[1]

Preseason

Preseason All-America teams

Preseason polls

Alabama	RV				#19	#25	#27				#23			#21
	AP	Athlon Sports	Bleacher Report	Blue Ribbon Yearbook	CBS Sports	Coaches	ESPN	FOX Sports	KenPom	Lindy's Sports	NBC Sports	SBNation	Sporting News	Sports Illustrated	USBWA	Yahoo Sports
Arkansas					#36	RV	#65							#49
Auburn					#66		#35							#33
Florida	#8		#10		#9	#7	#15				#7	#9		#10
Georgia					#53	RV	#57							#58
Kentucky	#5		#6		#6	#4	#9				#8	#6		#8
LSU					#147		#88							#91
Mississippi State					#76		#69							#48
Missouri	RV				#37	RV	#71					#25		#39
Ole Miss					#88		#59							#53
South Carolina	RV				#81	RV	#40							#61
Tennessee					#118		#49							#76
Texas A&M	#25		#21		#27	RV	#19				#19			#29
Vanderbilt					#46		#61							#59

Media Day Selections

	Media^[2]
1.	Kentucky
2.	Tennessee
3.	Auburn
4.	Mississippi State
5.	Florida
6.	LSU
7.	Alabama
8.	Vanderbilt
9.	Missouri
10.	Arkansas
11.	South Carolina
12.	Texas A&M
13.	Georgia
14.	Ole Miss

() first place votes

Preseason All-SEC teams

Media^[2]	Coaches^[3]
Daniel Gafford Arkansas	Daniel Gafford Arkansas
Chris Silva South Carolina	Admiral Schofield Tennessee
Reid Travis Kentucky	Chris Silva South Carolina
Tremont Waters LSU	Reid Travis Kentucky
Grant Williams Tennessee	P. J. Washington Kentucky
	Tremont Waters LSU
	Quinndary Weatherspoon Mississippi State
	Grant Williams Tennessee

Media select a five-member first team; coaches select an eight-member first team
Players in bold are media choices for SEC Player of the Year; coaches do not select a preseason Player of the Year

Head coaches

Note: Stats shown are before the beginning of the season. Overall and SEC records are from time at current school.

Team	Head coach	Previous job	Season at school	Overall record	SEC record	NCAA Tournaments	NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Championships
Alabama	Avery Johnson	Brooklyn Nets	4	57–46 (.553)	26–28 (.481)	1	0	0
Arkansas	Mike Anderson	Missouri	8	151–73 (.674)	70–54 (.565)	3	0	0
Auburn	Bruce Pearl	Tennessee	5	70–62 (.530)	29–43 (.403)	1	0	0
Florida	Mike White	Louisiana Tech	4	69–37 (.651)	34–20 (.630)	2	0	0
Georgia	Tom Crean	Indiana	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0
Kentucky	John Calipari	Memphis	10	273–64 (.810)	121–35 (.776)	8	4	1
LSU	Will Wade	VCU	2	18–15 (.545)	8–10 (.444)	0	0	0
Mississippi State	Ben Howland	UCLA	4	56–45 (.554)	22–32 (.407)	0	0	0
Missouri	Cuonzo Martin	California	2	20–13 (.606)	10–8 (.556)	1	0	0
Ole Miss	Kermit Davis	Middle Tennessee	1	0–0 (–)	0–0 (–)	0	0	0
South Carolina	Frank Martin	Kansas State	7	113–90 (.557)	45–63 (.417)	1	1	0
Tennessee	Rick Barnes	Texas	4	57–44 (.564)	27–27 (.500)	1	0	0
Texas A&M	Billy Kennedy	Murray State	7	136–98 (.581)	60–66 (.476)	1	0	0
Vanderbilt	Bryce Drew	Valparaiso	2	31–36 (.463)	16–20 (.444)	1	0	0

Rankings

**Legend**
		Increase in ranking
		Decrease in ranking
		Not ranked previous week

		Pre	Wk 2
Alabama	AP	RV	RV
Alabama	C	RV
Arkansas	AP
Arkansas	C
Auburn	AP	11	9
Auburn	C	12	12
Florida	AP	RV	RV
Florida	C	RV	RV
Georgia	AP
Georgia	C
Kentucky	AP	2	10
Kentucky	C	2	10
LSU	AP	23	22
LSU	C	RV	RV
Mississippi State	AP	18	17
Mississippi State	C	19	19
Missouri	AP	RV
Missouri	C	RV
Ole Miss	AP
Ole Miss	C
South Carolina	AP
South Carolina	C
Tennessee	AP	6	5
Tennessee	C	6	6
Texas A&M	AP
Texas A&M	C
Vanderbilt	AP		RV
Vanderbilt	C		RV

Regular season

Big 12/SEC Challenge

Date ^[4]	Time	Big 12 team	SEC team	Location	TV	Attendance	Winner	Leader
Sat., Jan. 26	12:00 PM	Baylor	Alabama	Ferrell Center • Waco, TX	ESPNU	7,094	Baylor (73-68)	Big 12 (1–0)
		No. 24 Iowa State	No. 20 Ole Miss	The Pavilion at Ole Miss • Oxford, MS	ESPN	8,839	Iowa State (87–73)	Big 12 (2–0)
		TCU	Florida	Schollmaier Arena • Fort Worth, TX	ESPN2	6,682	TCU (55-50)	Big 12 (3–0)
	2:00 PM	Kansas State	Texas A&M	Reed Arena • College Station, TX	ESPN	7,100	Texas A&M (65-53)	Big 12 (3-1)
		Oklahoma State	South Carolina	Gallagher-Iba Arena • Stillwater, OK	ESPNU	7,658	Oklahoma State (74-70)	Big 12 (4-1)
		Texas	Georgia	Stegeman Coliseum • Athens, GA	ESPN2	10,374	Georgia (98-88)	Big 12 (4-2)
	4:00 PM	Oklahoma	Vanderbilt	Lloyd Noble Center • Norman, OK	ESPN2	8,848	Oklahoma (86-55)	Big 12 (5-2)
	4:00 PM	West Virginia	No. 1 Tennessee	Thompson–Boling Arena • Knoxville, TN	ESPN	22,149	Tennessee (83-66)	Big 12 (5-3)
	6:00 PM	No. 9 Kansas	No. 8 Kentucky	Rupp Arena • Lexington, KY	ESPN	24,387	Kentucky (71-63)	Big 12 (5-4)
	6:00 PM	No. 14 Texas Tech	Arkansas	United Supermarkets Arena • Lubbock, TX	ESPN2	14,290	Texas Tech (67-64)	Big 12 (6-4)
Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, and Missouri did not participate for the SEC. All times Eastern

SEC regular season

This table summarizes the head-to-head results between teams in conference play. Results updated through January 5, 2019.

Total	8–10	8–10	11–7	9–9	2–16	15–3	16–2	10–8	5–13	10–8	11–7	15–3	6–12	0–18
	Alabama	Arkansas	Auburn	Florida	Georgia	Kentucky	LSU	Miss. State	Missouri	Ole Miss	S. Carolina	Tennessee	Texas A&M	Vanderbilt
vs. Alabama	–	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–2
vs. Arkansas	0–1	–	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–2
vs. Auburn	0–2	0–1	–	0–1	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1
vs. Florida	0–1	0–1	1–0	–	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–2
vs. Georgia	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	–	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	0–1
vs. Kentucky	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–2	0–1	–	1–0	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–2
vs. LSU	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	–	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	0–1
vs. Miss. State	1–1	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	–	0–1	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–1
vs. Missouri	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	–	2–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	0–1
vs. Ole Miss	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–2	–	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–1
vs. South Carolina	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	–	2–0	0–2	0–1
vs. Tennessee	0–1	0–1	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–2	–	0–1	0–2
vs. Texas A&M	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	–	0–1
vs. Vanderbilt	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	–

Records against other conferences

Regular season

Power Conferences	Record
ACC	7–10
American	5–5
Big East	3–4
Big Ten	3–3
Big 12	6–13
Pac-12	9–3
Power 7 Total	33–38

Other NCAA Division I Conferences	Record
A-10	5–0
America East	1–1
ASUN	8–0
Big Sky	1–0
Big South	6–0
Big West	2–1
CAA	1–1
C-USA	7–1
Horizon	2–0
Ivy
MAAC	2–0
MAC	2–1
MEAC	4–0
MVC	4–0
MW	1–1
NEC
OVC	9–0
Patriot
SoCon	8–1
Southland	10–0
SWAC	5–1
Summit	2–0
Sun Belt	10–2
WAC
WCC	5–1
Other Division I Total	95–11
NCAA Division I Total	128–49

Division II Total	0–0

Total	0–0

Postseason

SEC Tournament

March 13–17 at the Bridgestone Arena, Nashville. Teams will be seeded by conference record, with ties broken by record between the tied teams followed by record against the regular-season champion, if necessary.

Seed	School	Conf.	Over.	Tiebreaker	First round March 13	Second round March 14	Quarterfinals March 15	Semifinals March 16	Championship March 17
2019 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results
1.	‡LSU	16–2	26–5		Bye	Bye	vs. #8 Florida L, 73–76
2.	†Kentucky	15–3	26–5	1–1 vs. Tennessee; 2-0 vs. Auburn	Bye	Bye	vs. #10 Alabama W, 73–55	vs. #3 Tennessee L, 78–82
3.	†Tennessee	15–3	27–4	1–1 vs. Kentucky; 0-1 vs. Auburn	Bye	Bye	vs. #6 Mississippi State W, 83–76	vs. #2 Kentucky W, 82–78	vs. #5 Auburn L, 64–84
4.	†South Carolina	11–7	16–15	1–0 vs. Auburn	Bye	Bye	vs. #5 Auburn L, 64–73
5.	#Auburn	11–7	22–9	0–1 vs. South Carolina	Bye	vs. #12 Missouri W, 81–71	vs. #4 South Carolina W, 73–64	vs. #8 Florida W, 65–62	vs. #3 Tennessee W, 84–64
6.	#Mississippi State	10–8	22–9	1–1 vs. Ole Miss; 1–1 vs, South Carolina	Bye	vs. #11 Texas A&M W, 80–54	vs. #3 Tennessee L, 76–83
7.	#Ole Miss	10–8	20–11	1–1 vs. Mississippi State; 0–1 vs, South Carolina	Bye	vs. #10 Alabama L, 57–62
8.	#Florida	9–9	17–14		Bye	vs. #9 Arkansas W, 66–50	vs. #1 LSU W, 76–73	vs. #5 Auburn L, 62–65
9.	#Arkansas	8–10	17–14	1–0 vs. Alabama	Bye	vs. #8 Florida L, 50–66
10.	#Alabama	8–10	17–14	0–1 vs. Arkansas	Bye	vs. #7 Ole Miss W, 62–57	vs. #2 Kentucky L, 55–73
11.	Texas A&M	6–12	13–17		vs. #14 Vanderbilt W, 69–52	vs. #6 Mississippi State L, 54–80
12.	Missouri	5–13	14–16		vs. #13 Georgia W, 71–61	vs. #5 Auburn L, 71–81
13.	Georgia	2–16	11–20		vs. #12 Missouri L, 61–71
14.	Vanderbilt	0–18	9–22		vs. #11 Texas A&M L, 52–69
‡ – SEC regular season champions, and tournament No. 1 seed. † – Received a double-Bye in the conference tournament. # – Received a single-Bye in the conference tournament. Overall records include all games played in the SEC tournament.

Honors and awards

All-SEC Awards

Coaches

Award	Recipient(s)
2019 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards ^[5]
Player of the Year	Grant Williams, Tennessee
Coach of the Year	Kermit Davis, Ole Miss
Co-Defensive Player of the Year	Ashton Hagans, Kentucky & Tremont Waters, LSU
Freshman of the Year	Keldon Johnson, Kentucky
Scholar-Athlete of the Year	Skylar Mays, LSU
Sixth Man Award	Hassani Gravett, South Carolina

Players

First Team	Second Team	All-Freshman Team	All-Defensive Team
2019 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
Daniel Gafford So., F, Arkansas Admiral Schofield Jr., F, Tennessee Chris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Breein Tyree Jr., G, Ole Miss P. J. Washington So., F, Kentucky Tremont Waters So., G, LSU Quinndary Weatherspoon Sr., G, Mississippi State Grant Williams So., F, Tennessee	Jordan Bone Jr., G, Tennessee Bryce Brown Sr., G, Auburn Nicolas Claxton So., F, Georgia Terence Davis Jr., G, Ole Miss Jared Harper Jr., G, Auburn Tyler Herro Fr., G, Kentucky Keldon Johnson Fr., F, Kentucky Skylar Mays Jr., G, LSU	Tyler Herro Kentucky Isaiah Joe Arkansas Keldon Johnson Kentucky A. J. Lawson South Carolina Kira Lewis Alabama Andrew Nembhard Florida Naz Reid LSU Reggie Perry Mississippi State	Daniel Gafford So., F, Arkansas Ashton Hagans Fr., G, Kentucky Donta Hall Sr., F, Alabama Chris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Tremont Waters So., G, LSU
† - denotes unanimous selection

AP

Award	Recipient(s)
2019 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards ^[6]
Player of the Year	Grant Williams, Tennessee
Coach of the Year	Kermit Davis, Ole Miss
Newcomer of the Year	Tyler Herro, Kentucky

First Team	Second Team
2019 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams
Daniel Gafford So., F, Arkansas P. J. Washington So., F, Kentucky Tremont Waters So., G, LSU Quinndary Weatherspoon Sr., G, Mississippi State †Grant Williams So., F, Tennessee	Jordan Bone Jr., G, Tennessee Jared Harper Jr., G, Auburn Admiral Schofield Sr., F, Tennessee Chris Silva Sr., F, South Carolina Breein Tyree Jr., G, Ole Miss
† - denotes unanimous selection

NBA draft

PG	Point guard	SG	Shooting guard	SF	Small forward	PF	Power forward	C	Center

Player	Team	Round	Pick #	Position	School
Darius Garland	Cleveland Cavaliers	1	5	PG	Vanderbilt
P. J. Washington	Charlotte Hornets	1	12	PF	Kentucky
Tyler Herro	Miami Heat	1	13	SG	Kentucky
Chuma Okeke	Orlando Magic	1	16	PF	Auburn
Grant Williams	Boston Celtics	1	22	PF	Tennessee
Keldon Johnson	San Antonio Spurs	1	29	SG	Kentucky
Nicolas Claxton	Brooklyn Nets	2	31	PF	Georgia
Daniel Gafford	Chicago Bulls	2	28	C	Arkansas
Admiral Schofield	Philadelphia 76ers	2	42	SF	Tennessee
Quinndary Weatherspoon	San Antonio Spurs	2	49	SG	Mississippi State
Tremont Waters	Charlotte Hornets	2	51	PG	LSU
Jordan Bone	New Orleans Pelicans	2	57	PG	Tennessee

References

^ "SEC announces Men's Basketball schedule". secsports.com. August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Media picks Kentucky as 2019 SEC Champion" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. October 24, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
^ "2019 SEC men's basketball preseason teams announced" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.
^ "2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge match-ups set" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
^ "2019 SEC Men's Basketball Awards announced" (Press release). Southeaster Conference. March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
^ Spencer, Adam (March 12, 2019). "Associated Press names SEC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and All-SEC squads". Saturday Down South. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[1] "SEC announces Men's Basketball schedule". secsports.com. August 24, 2018. Retrieved August 28, 2018.

[Preseason_media-2] "Media picks Kentucky as 2019 SEC Champion" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. October 24, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.

[Preseason_coaches-3] "2019 SEC men's basketball preseason teams announced" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. November 6, 2018. Retrieved November 6, 2018.

[2019_games-4] "2019 Big 12/SEC Challenge match-ups set" (Press release). Southeastern Conference. May 24, 2018. Retrieved May 24, 2018.

[SECawards-5] "2019 SEC Men's Basketball Awards announced" (Press release). Southeaster Conference. March 12, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[SECAPawards-6] Spencer, Adam (March 12, 2019). "Associated Press names SEC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and All-SEC squads". Saturday Down South. Retrieved March 12, 2019.

[1]

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v t e Southeastern Conference men's basketball
Teams	Alabama Crimson Tide Arkansas Razorbacks Auburn Tigers Florida Gators Georgia Bulldogs Kentucky Wildcats LSU Tigers Mississippi State Bulldogs Missouri Tigers Oklahoma Sooners Ole Miss Rebels South Carolina Gamecocks Tennessee Volunteers Texas Longhorns Texas A&M Aggies Vanderbilt Commodores
Championships & awards	List of champions SEC men's basketball tournament Player of the Year Rookie of the Year
Conference challenges	Big 12/SEC Challenge (2013–2023) SEC–Big East Challenge (2007–2012) ACC–SEC Challenge (2023–present) Coast-to-Coast Challenge (2024-present)
Seasons	1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25