* The loudest cheer during the SEC Tournament’s first game Thursday wasn’t for the two teams playing on the floor. Nope. It was for a team that wouldn’t be playing for another 24 hours. During the Alabama-South Carolina game, the Bridgestone Arena closed-circuit TV crew kept showing Kentucky players on the JumboTron as they sat and watched. The place, filled with UK fans, burst into applause — louder than anything else heard during the opening game.

* Sunkist is one of the major sponsors of this year’s SEC Tournament. That, and Quaker State. Naturally. But I didn’t even know they still made Sunkist, let alone advertised for it. Seriously. The last time I had a Sunkist (which is an orange soft drink, if you were born after 1996) was when I was like 10. But, you know I had one Thursday. Three, actually. Hey, like the slogan says, it’s 12 ounces of awesome.

* It would have taken a big night, but LSU forward Tasmin Mitchell had 2,000 career points insight. He fell 11 points shy of the goal. Mitchell entered Thursday’s first-round game against Tennessee with 1,979 points. He finished the game — a 59-49 loss to the Vols — with 10. As good as Mitchell has been in his career, and as many accolades as he’s received, I’m sure coming that close to a milestone like that and coming up short has to hurt.

* The least attended game of the day? Well, aside from the 9:45 p.m. late game, which always is empty, it was Auburn-Florida. Shocked? Don’t be. Florida had to travel the farthest, and Auburn, well, you’ve been to Auburn games before. And even though Gainesville is four hours farther south than Auburn, Gator Nation outnumbered Tiger fans from what I saw. But no one had more fans than Kentucky — and the Cats didn’t even play Thursday.

* Auburn’s Frankie Sullivan wasn’t going to go quietly. The sophomore guard went off for a career-high 27 points during Thursday night’s loss to Florida. Only two years on the Plains, and Sullivan has no doubt established himself as the true leader of Auburn’s team — a team with five seniors this year.