All but two of the 14 SEC basketball programs hit the court on Monday night to open their 2022-2023 basketball seasons at home.
The SEC’s five ranked teams all found strong wins on Monday night. Vanderbilt was the only SEC team to lose their opening game but also had the stiffest competition as well. The Commodores hosted Memphis in a Tennessee showdown in Nashville.
South Carolina will start the season on Tuesday night, with the LSU Tigers tipping things off on Wednesday night in Death Valley.
Here’s a quick look at what the 12 competing SEC teams did on Monday night:
Howard @ No. 4 Kentucky
- Kentucky wins 95-63
- The Wildcats took care of Howard on Monday night behind four players with 15+ points in the game. Head coach John Calipari praised his team after the game for “relentlessly” pulling down rebounds and hustle plays throughout the game.
North Dakota State @ No. 10 Arkansas
- Arkansas wins 76-58
- The Hogs’ 100th season is off to a strong start after the Razorback’s 76-58 victory on Monday night. Sophomore guard Trevon Brazile dropped 21-points and 12-rebounds on the night leading to his first career double-double.
Tennessee Tech @ No. 11 Tennessee
- Tennessee wins 75-43
- Despite some streaky shooting in the first half, Tennessee found its stride in the second half, particularly from three-point range. Incoming transfer Tyreke Key was terrific from deep, leading all scorers in the game with 17 points.
George Mason @ No. 15 Auburn
- Auburn wins 70-52
- Bruce Pearl’s Auburn squad found a strong defensive win on Monday night forcing a veteran George Mason squad into 19 turnovers.
Longwood @ No. 20 Alabama
- Alabama wins 75-54
- The Crimson Tide had four different double-digit scorers and four different double-digit rebounders on Monday night during their season-opening win against Longwood.
Texas A&M-CC @ Mississippi State
- Mississippi State wins 63-44
- Bulldogs’ new head coach Chris Jans wanted to bring a “blue-collar” mentality to the Mississippi State program and did just that with a gritty, second-half win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Memphis @ Vanderbilt
- Memphis wins 76-67
- Two of the three premier basketball teams in the state of Tennessee clashed in Nashville on Monday, as Penny Hardaway’s Tigers survived a second-half comeback attempt from Jerry Stackhouse’s Commodores to start the season.
UL Monroe @ Texas A&M
- Texas A&M wins 87-54
- Strong three-point shooting (46 percent) and three-point defense (10 percent) carried Texas A&M to victory during the season opener on Monday.
Southern Indiana @ Missouri
- Missouri wins 97-91
- The lone SEC-season-opening shootout was in Columbia on Monday night as the Tigers survived a 60-point second half from Southern Indiana to hang on to their first win of the season.
Western Carolina @ Georgia
- Georgia wins 68-55
- The Mike White movement moved from Florida to Georgia over the off-season as the Bulldogs found their first win of the season in a double-digit home victory against Western Carolina.
Stony Brook @ Florida
- Florida wins 81-45
- With Mike White gone from the program, new head coach Todd Golden led the Gators to a dominant 36-point victory over Stony Brook behind the hot hands of two transfer players (Fudge, Richard).
Alcorn State @ Ole Miss
- Ole Miss wins 73-58
- After taking a one-point lead into halftime, the Ole Miss Rebels came out with a strong second-half performance against Alcorn to secure the season-opening victory on Monday.
