Just when everyone seemed ready to count Kentucky down and out,the Wildcats respond by winning nine of their last 10 games, including Saturday’s overtime win against Vanderbilt.

Jamaal Magloire has put his name up there with past Wildcat greats, posting back-to-back double-doubles, including a career-high 23 points and 15 boards against the Commodores.

Magloire has seven double-doubles in the last 11 games. The Vanderbilt win also gave Tubby Smith his 200th coaching victory.

Elsewhere around the Southeastern Conference, with 30 points vs. Mississippi State, Arkansas’ Joe Johnson became the first SEC freshman in six seasons since LSU’s Ronnie Henderson in 1994 to score 30 points. (Henderson scored 36 vs. Kentucky on Feb. 15, 1994) and the first freshman to score 30 points since Arkansas’ Scotty Thurman had 32 against Missouri in the 1993 season.

Arkansas avoided a two-game losing streak at Bud Walton Arena for the 13th time with the win over Mississippi State. The Razorbacks have not lost two in a row at Walton Arena since the facility opened at the start of 1993-94 campaign.

Of course the big news over the weekend was the Ole Miss upset of then-No. 4 Auburn, 79-77 inovertime, marking the highest-ranked team Ole Miss has beaten since the 1996-97 season when it defeated No. 3 Kentucky, 73-69 in January, 1997.

With their win over No. 4 Auburn, the Rebels have defeated at least one ranked team every season since 1994-95. The Rebels now have a 9-4 record vs. ranked opponents in Tad Smith Coliseum since the 1994-95 season and has won their last three overtime games at home.

Auburn has won four straight games agasint Tennessee, its opponent on Tuesday, and nine of the last 13 meetings. Head coach Cliff Ellis has a 5-1 record against the Vols. The Tigers, last four games have been decided in the last minute of play (3-1) with their only loss coming at Ole Miss.

After an open date Saturday, LSU hosts Arkansas Wednesday.

LSU trails the series with Arkansas 19-6 and has lost four straight to the Razorbacks. LSU’s last win over Arkansas was March 1, 1997 in a 66-64 win at home. The Tigers play their last non-conference game of the season Saturday hosting Arizona, ranked fifth in the Associated Press and fourth in the USA Today/ESPN Poll this week. The matchup is the back half of a home-and-home series with the Wildcats. LSU holds a 2-1 lead in the series and the home team has won all three previous meetings.

Mississippi State’s game Saturday at Auburn will conclude a month of January in which five of Mississippi State’s seven contests have come on the road. MSU has evenly split its last 10 decisions this season with alternating wins and losses (a single win followed by a single loss over the last 10 games).

For the first time this season (in 18 games), MSU did not win the opening tip-off this past Saturday at Arkansas. The Bulldogs have dropped their last seven decisions to Auburn with the last six meetings having been decided by an average margin of only 4.7 ppg.

Tennessee has won five of its last six games and faces its third ranked opponent of the season when it plays host to Auburn today. The Vols will be going for their first 5-1 start in SEC play since the 1988-89 season. UT set a school mark when it won its sixth consecutive road game with the 81-79 double-overtime win at Florida last Tuesday.

Joey Martin is sports editor of The Democrat. He can be reached by calling 446-5172 ext. 232 or at joey.martin@natchezdemocrat.com.