Aggies aim to prove they have grown from recent losses as they take on Florida
A wounded beast either becomes vicious or succumbs to its injuries. The choice of those reactions may depend on the severity of the wound.
Texas A&M is in a similar position. Having lost five of their last six basketball games, including a 66-43 Southeastern Conference home court disaster against Missouri on Saturday, the Aggies (7-9, 1-4) are obviously wounded.
The severity of the wounds figures to be determined Tuesday night when they face Florida (10-7, 2-3) in Gainesville at 7:30 p.m. Will A&M aggressively fight back and try to salvage the remainder season? Or will the Aggies languish through another lackluster effort and continue to spiral downward?
Even coach Billy Kennedy doesn’t seem to be quite sure.
“We’ve got to learn from our experiences,” he said. “We’ll find out if we learned real quick.”
“Hopefully, (we’ll see) a team that’s going to play hard, defend, play together and run things the way I want them run. I thought we got out of character too much. So I went with some guys that I knew would do things the way I wanted them to do. That’s what’s important to me is making sure we have guys that are going to buy in and do things the right way.”
Senior post Christian Mekowulu said he and his teammates have been more focused after the loss to Missouri.
“The past two days the guys have been trying to pick each other up and encouraging each other,” he said. “I think we’ll go in with the right mindset to win.”
Obviously, that won’t be easy, especially on the road. Yet, strangely, the Aggies have actually played better on the road than at Reed Arena. They beat Oregon State in Portland, were competitive in a loss at Kentucky, and defeated Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
“I would just say it’s us against the world on the road. We’re more focused. I think we’ve done a better job locking into the game plan. Just coming in and thinking we’re going to win because we’re at home is the sign of an immature, young team.”
The Aggies might glean optimism from the fact that Florida is ranked 13th in the SEC in scoring and rebounding. But then again, Missouri is ranked dead last in both categories and still had no problem beating A&M at Reed Arena.
The Gators are averaging just 69.1 points behind guards KeVaughn Allen, who averages 11.8 points, and Noah Locke, who averages 10.5. Florida’s struggles on the boards have been exacerbated by the loss of 6-foot-8 forward Keith Stone, who suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the Gators’ 62-52 victory over Georgia on Saturday.
But those problems may pale in comparison to A&M’s perimeter shooting issues. The Aggies are last in the SEC with a .279 shooting percentage from the 3-point line. They hit just 4 of 22 attempts from 3-point range in the loss to Missouri. Leading scorers T.J. Starks and Savion Flagg both average 13 points, but they’ve struggled from behind the arc of late.
Starks has converted just 1 of 15 attempts from 3-point range in the last three games. Flagg hit four in a loss to Auburn but made just 1 of 4 attempts in the loss to Missouri. Junior post Josh Nebo has picked up some of the slack with 38 points, 12 rebounds and 12 blocked shots over the last three games.
“I knew coming in (to the season) this was a real young and inexperienced team,’ Kennedy said. “We were going to have some growing pains. I was just hoping we would not be having to grow as much as we’re having to grow right now.”
NOTE: Kennedy said senior Admon Gilder, who’s been sidelined all season with a blood clot and recently underwent surgery, is considering returning next year to play his senior season.
“That’s something that I know he’ll consider,” Kennedy said. “He’s got some things he needs think about. He’ll have graduated and (decide) whether he wants to play professionally and look at his options. One of his options to coming back and we’d love to have back, obviously.”
