Limiting turnovers key to Aggies upsetting No. 14 Auburn

With a stunning victory over Alabama, Texas A&M found the Southeastern Conference basketball win column, found an inside scoring threat and might even have found itself.

Yet, the Aggies (7-7, 1-2) find themselves facing another tough obstacle when they play host to No. 14 Auburn (12-3, 1-1) on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Reed Arena.

The hot-shooting Tigers’ three losses have come to No. 1 Duke, No. 17 North Carolina State and No. 18 Ole Miss. The Tigers have posted impressive victories over Arizona, Washington and Xavier.

“Auburn is one of the most explosive offensive teams in the country,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “Eleven made 3’s a game. And defensively they turn you over. If we can take care of the ball like we did against Alabama, we’ll give ourselves a great chance to get a win.

“Their depth concerns me, and with nine juniors and seniors, it’s an experienced team that won our league last year. So, we’re going to have to have a special performance.”

The Aggies were competitive in losses to Arkansas and Kentucky, but finally prevailed for their first conference victory on T.J. Starks’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the 81-80 victory over Alabama.

Although Starks’ heroics were needed to snatch a win, the Aggies clearly had made progress before that. They got a big boost from forward Josh Nebo, who scored a career-high 21 points and blocked four shots.

“Even though we missed free throws and John (Walker) hit the side of the backboard (late in the game) I kept believing that we could still somehow pull it off.”

The main reason the Aggies pulled off the upset was their ability to avoid mistakes. The Aggies are averaging 14 turnovers a game, but committed a season-low three in the win over Alabama.

Starks had only two miscues, while fellow guard  Wendell Mitchell had none. 

Protecting the basketball again will be vital against Auburn, which forces an average of 20.2 turnovers per game to rank third in the nation.

“Against Auburn you can’t have too many turnovers because they’re a very good fast breaking team and they can get hot,” Nebo said. “We’ve got to limit our turnovers once again.”

Avoiding turnovers is vital, but is by no means the only task facing the Aggies. Auburn averages 84.5 points per game to rank second in the SEC (to Tennessee) and 19th in the nation in scoring.

Guards Bryce Brown and Jared Harder average more than 15 points per game. Junior Austin Wiley, a 6-foot-11 center, scores at an 11.3 clip. Sophomore forward Chuma Okeke averages 9.9 points.

Therefore, the Aggies must continue to limit turnovers and limit Auburn on the offensive end. Or else they may once again find themselves in trouble.