Avoiding trap game the priority as No. 10 Texas A&M hosts Missouri

Above: Video interviews with Billy Kennedy, Anthony Collins and Admon Gilder.

Veteran leadership and maturity have been listed among Texas A&M’s best assets this basketball season.

On Saturday the Aggies must prove they have both.

It’s no problem getting psyched up to face a surging team like LSU, which A&M defeated 71-57 on Wednesday. However, playing with that same drive and intensity may be difficult in the next game.

That’s especially true when the next opponent is Missouri (8-10, 1-4 SEC), which has lost four of its last five and is 0-4 on the road.

The Aggies (16-2, 6-0) are 10-0 at Reed Arena.

“It’s just hard to be up every day, every game, I don’t care how good you are,”A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “I thought we had a good energy on the other day. We’ve done good with this with our team in conference play all year. Even when we played Baylor and Kansas State (in non-conference) I thought we had good energy.

“So, that’s one confidence I have is that we’ve done it before and we’ve been good with it. Missouri, the way they defend and play hard, they’re coming in here with nothing to lose. That always concerns a coach.”

A&M senior guard Alex Caruso said the Aggies won’t overlook Missouri.

“We’ve already talked about how we've got to prepare each day like it’s the biggest game of the year because it is for us,” Caruso said. “It’s next game. It’s a chance to be 7-0, be undefeated and further distance ourselves from the other teams in the SEC. As small as this game may seem to some people, it’s really important to us and we’re taking it serious.”

Missouri has struggled all season. The Tigers are ranked 13th in the Southeastern Conference in scoring,12th in rebounding and last in blocked shots.

Seven of their 10 losses have come by 12-points or more. They fell to Arizona by 36 and Arkansas by 33.

However, the Tigers were competitive in a 60-57 loss to Georgia on Wednesday.

Kevin Puryear, a 6-7 freshman forward, leads Missouri with an 11.5 scoring average, while junior guard Wes Clark averages 10.3 points.

No one else on the Missouri roster averages in double figures.

Puryear is the leading rebounder with just 4.7 a game.

Consequently, the Aggies should be more concerned about themselves than the Tigers. The Aggies could win – perhaps should win – comfortably if they play well.

They could use a better shooting performance from senior guard Danuel House. Though still averaging 15.2 points, House has shot just 30 percent (12 of 40) over the last three games.

"He’s due to break out,” Kennedy said. “He’s been practicing well. He’s been shooting the ball well in practice. He’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s living in the gym.

"We can be better. That’s the great thing.”

The Aggies have compensated with the play of senior forward Jalen Jones and the emergence of freshman center Tyler Davis.

Jones, who is averaging 17.4 points, has scored at least 20 in three of the past four games. He’s also scored in double figures in each of the last nine games.

Meanwhile, the 6-10, 270-pound Davis scored 18 points in the victory over LSU.

The Aggies also got a boost from the record Reed Arena crowd of 13,888. Another sellout crowd is expected for Missouri.

“The other night was special,” Caruso said. “I’ve been part of big crowds before. Usually, it’s when we’re playing like a Kentucky or a Florida or someone non-conference that’s really good, so that was good to see at an average normal conference game. There were some conference title implications on the line, but it was good to see. There was an overflow. You looked in the second deck and every walkway had bunches of people standing up, fighting for position.

“The other night when we ran out of the tunnel with two minutes before tip was first time I ever had goosebumps running out. Usually, I’m game-faced, looking ahead and ready to go. I had to look at the crowd to see how many people were here. It was great.”