# 2019–20 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season

The 2019–20 Southeastern Conference men's basketball season began with practices in October 2019, followed by the start of the 2019–20 NCAA Division I men's basketball season in November. Conference play started in early January 2020 and was scheduled to end in March, after which 14 member teams were to participate in the 2020 SEC men's basketball tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee. The tournament champion was to have been guaranteed a selection to the 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, but the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

## Preseason

Kentucky was predicted to win the 2020 SEC championship in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members. Florida's Kerry Blackshear was the choice of the media for SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Blackshear, Edwards, Hagans, Tyree and Perry were each All-SEC First Team selections.

### Media Day Selections

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

### Preseason All-SEC teams

* Media
* Kerry Blackshear Jr. Florida
* Anthony Edwards Georgia
* Ashton Hagans Kentucky
* Breein Tyree Ole Miss
* Reggie Perry Mississippi State
* Players in bold are media choices for SEC 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 | Nate Oats | Buffalo | 1 | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arkansas | Eric Musselman | Nevada | 1 | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Auburn | Bruce Pearl | Tennessee | 6 | 100–72 (.581) | 40–50 (.444) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Florida | Mike White | Louisiana Tech | 5 | 89–53 (.627) | 43–29 (.597) | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Georgia | Tom Crean | Indiana | 2 | 11–21 (.344) | 2–16 (.111) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kentucky | John Calipari | Memphis | 11 | 305–71 (.811) | 136–38 (.782) | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| LSU | Will Wade | VCU | 3 | 43–20 (.683) | 23–12 (.657) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mississippi State | Ben Howland | UCLA | 5 | 78–56 (.582) | 32–40 (.444) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Missouri | Cuonzo Martin | California | 3 | 35–30 (.538) | 15–21 (.417) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ole Miss | Kermit Davis | Middle Tennessee | 2 | 20–13 (.606) | 10–8 (.556) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| South Carolina | Frank Martin | Kansas State | 8 | 129–106 (.549) | 56–70 (.444) | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Tennessee | Rick Barnes | Texas | 5 | 88–50 (.638) | 42–30 (.583) | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Texas A&M | Buzz Williams | Virginia Tech | 1 | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vanderbilt | Jerry Stackhouse | Memphis Grizzlies (asst.) | 1 | 0–0 (–) | 0–0 (–) | 0 | 0 | 0 |

## Rankings

Legend :
* Increase in ranking
* Decrease in ranking
* Not ranked previous week
| | | Pre | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 |
| Alabama | AP | RV | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Alabama | C | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Arkansas | AP | | RV | RV | RV | RV | | RV | | RV | RV | RV | RV |
| Arkansas | C | | | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV |
| Auburn | AP | 24 | 22 | 19 | 18 | 14 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| Auburn | C | 23 | 23 | 18 | 17 | 13 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 16 |
| Florida | AP | 6 | 15 | RV | 24 | RV | RV | RV | | RV | | | RV |
| Florida | C | 6 | 6 | RV | 25 | RV | RV | | | RV | RV | | RV |
| Georgia | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Georgia | C | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Kentucky | AP | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 19 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 15 |
| Kentucky | C | 2 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 6 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 14 |
| LSU | AP | 22 | 23 | RV | RV | | RV | RV | | | | RV | RV |
| LSU | C | 24 | 24 | RV | RV | | RV | RV | | | RV | RV | RV |
| Mississippi State | AP | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | |
| Mississippi State | C | RV | RV | | | | | | | | | | |
| Missouri | AP | RV | RV | RV | RV | | | | | | | | |
| Missouri | C | | | RV | | | | | | | | | |
| Ole Miss | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Ole Miss | C | | | RV | | | | | | | | | |
| South Carolina | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| South Carolina | C | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Tennessee | AP | RV | RV | 20 | 17 | 21 | 19 | 21 | RV | | | | |
| Tennessee | C | 25 | 25 | 17 | 16 | 20 | 17 | 21 | RV | | | | |
| Texas A&M | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Texas A&M | C | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Vanderbilt | AP | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Vanderbilt | C | | | | | | | | | | | | |

## Conference matrix

| | Alabama | Arkansas | Auburn | Florida | Georgia | Kentucky | LSU | Miss. State | Missouri | Ole Miss | S. Carolina | Tennessee | Texas A&M | Vanderbilt |
| vs. Alabama | – | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Arkansas | 0–0 | – | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| vs. Auburn | 1–0 | 0–0 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0-0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Florida | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | – | 0–0 | 0-0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. Georgia | 0-0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | – | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. Kentucky | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | – | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. LSU | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | – | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 |
| vs. Miss. State | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | – | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. Missouri | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | – | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. Ole Miss | 0-0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0-0 | – | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| vs. South Carolina | 0-0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0-0 | 0–0 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| vs. Tennessee | 0-0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | – | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| vs. Texas A&M | 0-0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | – | 0–1 |
| vs. Vanderbilt | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0-0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | – |
| Total | 4–3 | 3–4 | 5–2 | 4–3 | 1–6 | 6–1 | 7–0 | 4–3 | 2–5 | 1–6 | 4–3 | 4–3 | 4–3 | 0–7 |

## Postseason
### SEC tournament

* March 11–15 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.
2019 SEC men's basketball tournament seeds and results :
| Seed | School | Conf. | Over. | Tiebreaker | First Round March 11 | Second Round March 12 |
| 1. | ‡Kentucky | 15–3 | 25–6 | | Bye | Bye |
| 2. | †Auburn | 12–6 | 25–6 | 1–0 vs. LSU | Bye | Bye |
| 3. | †LSU | 12–6 | 21–10 | 0-1 vs. Auburn | Bye | Bye |
| 4. | †Mississippi State | 11–7 | 20–11 | 1–0 vs. Florida | Bye | Bye |
| 5. | #Florida | 11–7 | 19–12 | 0–1 vs. Mississippi State | Bye | vs. #13 Georgia |
| 6. | #South Carolina | 10–8 | 18–13 | 2–0 vs. Texas A&M | Bye | vs. #11 Arkansas |
| 7. | #Texas A&M | 10–8 | 16–14 | 0–2 vs, South Carolina | Bye | vs. #10 Missouri |
| 8. | #Tennessee | 9–9 | 17–14 | | Bye | vs. #9 Alabama |
| 9. | #Alabama | 8–10 | 16–15 | | Bye | vs. #8 Tennessee |
| 10. | #Missouri | 7–11 | 15–16 | 1–0 vs. Arkansas | Bye | vs. #7 Texas A&M |
| 11. | Arkansas | 7–11 | 19–12 | 0–1 vs. Missouri | vs. #14 Vanderbilt W, 86–73 | vs. #6 South Carolina |
| 12. | Ole Miss | 6–11 | 15–16 | | vs. #13 Georgia L, 63–81 | |
| 13. | Georgia | 5–13 | 15–16 | | vs. #12 Ole Miss W, 81–63 | |
| 14. | Vanderbilt | 3–15 | 11–20 | | vs. #11 Arkansas L, 73–86 | |
| ‡ – 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

2020 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| Player of the Year | Immanuel Quickley, Kentucky |
| Coach of the Year | John Calipari, Kentucky |
| Defensive Player of the Year | Yves Pons, Tennessee |
| Freshman of the Year | Anthony Edwards, Georgia |
| Scholar-Athlete of the Year | Skylar Mays, LSU |
| Sixth Man Award | Tyson Carter, Mississippi State |
2020 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team | All-Freshman Team | All-Defensive Team |
| Samir Doughty Sr., G, Auburn Keyontae Johnson So., F, Florida Mason Jones Jr., G, Arkansas Kira Lewis Jr. So., G, Alabama Skylar Mays Sr., G, LSU Reggie Perry So., F, Mississippi State Immanuel Quickley So., G, Kentucky Nick Richards Jr., C, Kentucky Breein Tyree Jr., G, Ole Miss | Kerry Blackshear Jr. Sr., F, Florida Anthony Edwards Fr., G, Georgia John Fulkerson Jr., F, Tennessee Maik Kotsar Sr., F, South Carolina Saben Lee Jr., G, Vanderbilt Tyrese Maxey Fr., G, Kentucky Isaac Okoro Fr., F, Auburn John Petty Jr.Jr., G, Alabama | Jermaine Couisnard South Carolina Anthony Edwards Georgia Scottie Lewis Florida Tyrese Maxey Kentucky Isaac Okoro Auburn Scotty Pippen Jr. Vanderbilt Jaden Shackelford Alabama Trendon Watford LSU | Ashton Hagans So., G, Kentucky Herbert Jones Jr., F, Alabama Isaac Okoro Fr., F, Auburn Yves Pons Jr., F, Tennessee Nick Richards Jr., G, Kentucky |

#### AP

2020 SEC Men's Basketball Individual Awards :
| Award | Recipient(s) |
| co-Player of the Year | Mason Jones, Arkansas Reggie Perry, Mississippi State |
| Coach of the Year | Buzz Williams, Texas A&M |
| Newcomer of the Year | Anthony Edwards, Georgia |
2020 SEC Men's Basketball All-Conference Teams :
| First Team | Second Team |
| †Mason Jones Jr., G, Arkansas Kira Lewis Jr. So., G, Alabama †Reggie Perry So., F, Mississippi State Immanuel Quickley So., G, Kentucky Nick Richards Jr., C, Kentucky | Samir Doughty Sr., G, Auburn Anthony Edwards Fr., G, Georgia Keyontae Johnson So., F, Florida Skylar Mays Sr., G, LSU Breein Tyree Sr., G, Ole Miss |
| † - denotes unanimous selection |||||