We are now 47 games into the SEC portion of the schedule.
And while it has always been tough to get home wins in this league, it has seemed especially difficult this year due to the increased competitiveness from top to bottom.
With that thought in mind, I took a deep dive into trends in the home/away data to find possible causes for teams that are struggling on the road.
Here’s a breakdown of scoring and free throw data thus far in SEC play.
Scoring trends
– The home team has won 68 percent of the time in the SEC so far (32 out of 47 games).
– 11 of the 47 games have been decided by four points or less or have gone to overtime.
– Only two games have been blowouts of 20 or more points (Alabama’s 79-57 win over Texas A&M, LSU’s 75-54 win at Arkansas).
– There’s a four-point per game differential between home team scoring (72.6 ppg) and away team scoring (68.6 ppg).
– Auburn scores the most points at home (84 ppg) and on the road (80.33 ppg).
– Georgia scores the least points at home (64.33 ppg) and second least on the road (60.75 ppg).
– Mississippi State scores the least on the road (58 ppg).
– The largest point differentials for home games vs away games are: Mississippi State (20 points!), Vanderbilt (10.67), and Alabama (9.75).
– Kentucky, Arkansas, and Ole Miss score more on the road than at home, but LSU is especially good on the road (six-point differential).
– Georgia gives up the least points at home (56.67 ppg) while Vanderbilt gives up the most (78 ppg).
– Missouri gives up the least points on the road (64.33 ppg) while Arkansas gives up the most (84.67 ppg).
– Ole Miss has the greatest defensive differential, giving up almost 14 more points on the road than at home.
Free-throw shooting trends
– Home teams shoot almost five more free throws per game than away teams (24.3 to 19.5).
– South Carolina shoots the SEC’s most free throws per game at home (34.67) and on the road (28.67).
– Auburn shoots the third most free throws at home and second most on the road.
– LSU shoots the least number of free throws per home game (13.67) and are 0-3 at home in SEC play.
– Mississippi State shoots the least number of free throws per road game (13.33) and are 0-3 on the road in SEC play.
– LSU and Texas A&M have the lowest per game averages of free throws at 15.67 and 16.75, respectively.
– The biggest free throw differential from home to road games belongs to Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Arkansas (all about 12 per game), with the three teams being a combined 0-9 on the road in SEC play.
– Auburn, Missouri and LSU shoot more free throws on the road than at home and all have scored at least one SEC road win.
The biggest takeaways from this stroll the data? Teams typically score more points and shoot more free throws at home.
Surprising, isn’t it?