No. 10 A&M faces another road litmus test with a trip to No. 15 Mizzou

Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s Friday press conference.

According to sports cliche, defense travels.

Texas A&M certainly needs its defense to make the trip to Missouri on Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. CT Southeastern Conference basketball confrontation.

A strong defensive effort could result in an eighth Quadrant 1 victory and further enhance A&M’s already gaudy NCAA Tournament resume.

The 10th-ranked Aggies (17-5, 6-3) will likely need to be at their defensive best to prevail in Columbia, where No. 15 Missouri (17-5, 6-3) is 15-0.

The Tigers average 83.3 points and are tied with Kentucky for the SEC lead in 3-point shooting percentage at 38 percent.

Indeed, the 3-point line has been Missouri’s demarcation between victory and defeat.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

The Aggies travel to Columbia, owning a record of 3-2 on the road in SEC play. A&M is 8-1 inside Mizzou Arena since 2015.

In their six SEC victories, the Tigers have shot 44.3 percent (70-of-158) from behind the arc. They’ve hit 30.6 percent (23-of-75) in their three conference losses.

Missouri’s primary 3-point threat is senior guard Caleb Grill, whose 49.5 percent behind the arc is the second-highest in the nation.

“He’s not the only guy on the floor that can shoot,” A&M head coach Buzz Williams warned on Friday. “He’s not the only guy on the floor who can put it on the floor and cause rotation. Stereotypically speaking, all five guys are going to be at least 18 feet away from the basket, so all your decisions on the weak side are long close-out decisions.”

To Williams’ point, Missouri guard Tamar Bates has hit 36 treys. Three other Missouri players have made at least 23.

A&M is typically strong on the defensive end. The Aggies allow an average of 66.2 points per game to rank third in the SEC in scoring defense.

Of course, the Aggies also have some offense of their own. A&M has scored at least 75 points in four of its SEC victories, including in both of the last two games.

In those games, guard Wade Taylor IV scored 12 vs. Oklahoma and 25 vs. South Carolina. He hit 7-of-10 attempts from 3-point range against the Gamecocks.

Though Taylor has led the way offensively, he has also had plenty of help. Five players scored in double figures in the victory over Oklahoma.

Guard Zhuric Phelps, who averages 14.8 points, had 15 vs. Oklahoma and nine vs. South Carolina.

A&M has gotten a big boost from forward Henry Coleman III of late. He had 14 points and six rebounds vs. Oklahoma and 12 points and eight boards vs. South Carolina.

Zoe Kelton, TexAgs

Henry Coleman III is averaging 6.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game in SEC play.

“When guys like MO (Manny Obaseki) and Wade and Zhuric and getting downhill and then when H (Hayden Hefner) and CJ (Wilcher) are hitting shots, it opens the floor, not just for me but for Pharrel (Payne),” Coleman said. “I’m not doing anything special. I’m just going out and playing hard.”

The Aggies have also been highly productive at the free-throw line. In the last two games, they’ve shot 65 free throws. They’ve converted 50 for a 77 percent success rate.

They’d made just 19-of-38 free throws in the three previous games. What’s been the difference?

“Some of it may be the lineup change,” Williams said. “We’re playing with three ball guards a little bit more often while trying to make sure we’re still doing our best on the glass, which I do think is what we do best.”

No doubt. A&M continues to lead the nation in offensive rebounds, which produces more possessions and second-chance points.

Also, the Aggies usually have played well in February, which led to postseason opportunities. A strong February showing this month could result in a No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

But typical of the SEC, success won’t come easily. That includes the trip to Missouri.

“We’ll be stretched in a lot of ways we haven’t been stretched,” Williams said. “Tomorrow will be a good litmus test relative to that.”