Texas A&M hopes to use Georgia win as springboard against Ole Miss

Perhaps an amazing comeback will start an amazing comeback.

Texas A&M was on the verge of being thrown on the SEC scrap heap when the Aggies trailed Georgia by nine points with two minutes remaining last Saturday.

The Aggies were in danger of suffering a sixth loss in Southeastern Conference play and finding themselves with a break-even overall record.

Instead, A&M rallied for a 63-62 win. The Aggies (10-8, 2-5) now hope to rally for a winning streak that could make them a factor in the SEC race.

Six of the Aggies' next seven conference games are against opponents that have losing records in SEC play.

The opportunity to make a run is there, and it starts Wednesday night at Ole Miss (12-7, 3-4).

“We haven’t been consistent in anything we’ve done this year,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “But I think our guys know we can win every game. It’s about going out and executing every day. We’ll see.

“Ole Miss is fighting for their lives like everybody is this time of year. (Guard Deandre) Burnett is back to playing. They’re a pretty good team when they have all their pieces.”

Ole Miss has the ability to score in bunches, with four players averaging in double figures.

Burnett leads the Rebels with a 17.8 average, while senior forward Sebastian Saiz averages 15.4 points and 11.5 rebounds.

Also, guard Terence Davis is on a roll. He averaged 19 points and 11 rebounds in consecutive victories over Tennessee and Missouri last week.

A&M, which has been consistently strong on the defensive end, has to slow them down.

Or speed them up.

The Aggies used an effective press to force turnovers and spark the late rally to beat Georgia. Kennedy indicated the Aggies may try to press the Rebels as well, although depth could be an issue because D.J. Hogg and Admon Gilder played almost the entire game against Georgia.

“We want to use it more,” Kennedy said. “But you’ve got to be able to set up your press. That’s something with only a couple days' preparation (that) we’ll work on. We’ll see if it’s possible to use it. You’ve got to make free throws to get in it, and you can get in it off of dead balls. It’s one thing when teams aren’t prepared for it. When they see this (Georgia) game, teams will be better prepared.”

However, the Aggies’ key to victory may be whether they can exploit Ole Miss’ spotty defense.

The Rebels allow an average of 75.7 points per game, which ranks 265th in the nation.

They’ve allowed at least 67 points in each of their losses.

But A&M has failed to score that many points in five of its seven SEC games and has averaged 60.3 points over the last three games.

The Aggies must capitalize on their inside strength of Tyler Davis, Robert Williams and, occasionally Hogg, to take advantage of Ole Miss’ defensive lapses.

“I feel like this is a good way to get this thing rolling,” Davis said. “My challenge to myself is to find a way to get nine, 10 straight wins. We got one of them. We’ve got to get the second one.”