SEC First Round preview for Wednesday, March 9

The SEC Tournament will tip off with two games Wednesday from inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. All but four of the conference’s 14 team’s earned a bye while the top four squads — No. 1 Auburn, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 4 Arkansas — received a double bye and won’t play until Friday.

Here’s what you need to know about Wednesday’s games.

No. 12 Missouri Tigers vs. No. 13 Ole Miss Rebels: 6:00 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Point Spread: Ole Miss -3
Point Total: 131.5

Missouri won just five games in conference this season, but two of them came against Mississippi. Can the Tigers make it a hat trick? They are led by Kobe Brown, who averages 12.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, and he was even better in those two earlier meetings. But beyond him, the Tigers have been really rocky on offense. They don’t shoot the ball well at all, and they turn it over a lot.

The Rebels are no great shakes, but with three double-digit scorers — headed by Jarkel Joiner’s 13.3 points per game — and Austin Crowley adding some firepower off the bench, Ole Miss should be able to do enough to keep this game close, if not win outright.

The pick: Mississippi -3

No. 11 Vanderbilt Commodores vs. No. 14 Georgia Bulldogs: 8:00 p.m. ET, SEC Network

Point Spread: Vanderbilt -9
Point Total: 144.5

Somebody put this dawg out of its misery. Georgia is wrapping up a historic season for all the wrong reasons. It has set a program record with 25 losses, is 1-17 in the SEC and is already vetting candidates to be its next coach. They haven’t even been very competitive; Georgia has a -11.3 average margin of defeat during its current 11-game slide.

Conversely, Vanderbilt has been playing somewhat inspired ball, even if it hasn’t always gotten the desired result. Besides recent wins over LSU and Texas A&M, they dropped games against Alabama, Mississippi State and Florida last month by no more than five points. Scotty Pippen Jr., the SEC’s leading scorer at 20.5 points per game, should have no problem with Georgia’s sub-300 defense. Pippen has been extra hot of late, averaging 27 points over his previous six games.

The pick: Vanderbilt -9

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