Texas A&M seeking immediate turnaround against Arkansas

A slow start in Southeastern Conference basketball play has become a full-blown crisis for Texas A&M.

After a 67-59 loss to Mississippi State on Saturday, the Aggies (9-7, 1-4) are in danger of early omission from NCAA Tournament consideration unless they make an immediate U-turn.

That turn must begin Tuesday night at Reed Arena against Arkansas (13-4, 2-3), which has a few issues of its own.

Of course, the Aggies don’t care about any of the Razorbacks’ problems. A&M has had more than enough of its own since entering SEC play.

Those problems leave the Aggies needing to finish the regular season  – which includes a non-conference trip to West Virginia – with an 11-3 record to reach the 20-victory plateau.

By the way, only six teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament field failed to post at least 20 wins. Two of those – Austin Peay of the Ohio Valley and Holy Cross of the Patriot League – won their conference’s postseason tournament.

A&M would still have the SEC Tournament to accumulate victories, but the Aggies cannot afford to wait any longer to build up the win column.

“We just know there’s a lot of basketball to play,” center Tyler Davis said. (There’s) still half a season. We know if we just win out – and we know we’ve got the talent to do it – we just have to dig deep and play for each other every possession we play. We’re still excited about the season. It’s not downhill from here.”

Wins aren’t coming easily for A&M, and getting one against Arkansas won’t be easy, either.

Although the Hogs have lost two of their last three SEC games, they average 82.2 points per game – good for second in the league.

Four players average in double figures, led by guard Dusty Hannahs with a 14.2 average. Center Moses Kingsley averages 11.6 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Keeping up with them could be a problem for A&M, which has been held under 70 points by every Power Five opponent except LSU.

Tyler Davis and Robert Williams have provided consistent inside scoring, but the Aggies have literally been hit-and-miss from the perimeter.

They connected on just one of 14 three-point attempts in the loss to Mississippi State.

The Aggies also continue to struggle with turnovers. They’ve lost 103 in five SEC games and now average 14.3 miscues a game to rank 254th in the nation.

That potentially could be a significant issue against Arkansas, which forces an average of 13.4 turnovers per outing.

“We’ve just got a do a better job taking care of the ball,” Kennedy said.”We’re getting the ball inside, and we’re scoring when we get inside. We’re playing good defense, and we’re rebounding, but we’ve got to get to where we’re taking care of the ball. I can’t emphasize that enough. Our guys know we’ve got to be able to do that. I think we’ll be able to do that hopefully sooner than later.”

It had better be sooner. The Aggies are running out of time to boost their NCAA Tournament resume.

“It’s so early,” Kennedy said. “We talk about that, but we’ve got to get on our horse and start winning some games. We’re capable of beating anybody. I still believe that.

“I’m worried about Arkansas. We’re worried about trying to get better right now. That (NCAA Tournament) will take care of itself if we do what we’re supposed to do.”