Aggies meet Bulldogs in Starkville for another ranked SEC showdown
Click HERE to view Texas A&M’s Monday press conference.
March is still almost two weeks away, but the next few days will influence how Texas A&M might manage the madness of next month.
The Aggies (20-5, 9-3) are riding a five-game Southeastern Conference basketball winning streak. They’re ranked No. 7 in the AP poll and are projected to be as high as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
With a strong showing this week, A&M could enter the discussion for a possible No. 1 seed.
But that would require the Aggies to extend their winning streak with victories at No. 21 Mississippi State (18-7, 6-6) on Tuesday night and No. 6 Tennessee (21-5, 8-5) on Saturday.
Not surprisingly, NCAA Tournament seeding is not yet a hot topic of conversation for the Aggies.
“Obviously, I’m aware of playing in the NCAA Tournament and all those things,” head coach Buzz Williams said on Monday. “But if you’re not careful — all of the things you’ve worked to get to this point — you lose some of that if you can’t be tough enough to do your job right now.”
The Aggies anticipate another tough SEC clash in their 6 p.m. CT matchup against Mississippi State in Starkville.
Though Tennessee is the higher-ranked opponent, the Aggies cannot overlook the Bulldogs who, on Saturday, defeated arch-rival Ole Miss, 81-71.
Mississippi State is 6-6 in Quadrant 1 games with wins over Ole Miss (twice), Vanderbilt, Memphis, SMU and Georgia.
They average 79.3 points per game behind the explosive scoring of 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Josh Hubbard, who is sixth in the SEC with a 17.4 scoring average.
Hubbard has scored double figures in each of their last 10 games. That includes 38 points in a loss to Alabama and 24 in a loss to Missouri.
Hubbard primarily gets help from 6-foot-10 junior forward KeShawn Murphy, who averages 11.4 points and 7.5 rebounds, and 6-foot-4 guard Claudell Harris Jr., who averages 10 points.
A&M’s defense poses a major challenge for the Bulldogs.
The Aggies allow an average of 65.5 points per game, which is the second-lowest average in the SEC. Tennessee leads the SEC in that category with a 55.9 average.
When Mississippi State faced Tennessee, the Bulldogs were limited to 33.9 percent shooting in a 68-56 loss.
A&M has held four of its last five opponents to 68 points or less. Indeed, the Aggies are 15-1 when limiting their opponent to fewer than 70 points. A&M is one of 24 Division I teams that has held opponents to less than 40 percent shooting (39.6) from the field.
Williams praised associate head coach Devin Johnson’s “pristine” in-game adjustments for much of A&M’s defensive success.
Improved rebounding on the defensive end is a huge factor, too.
In the five-game winning streak, A&M collected 26 defensive boards vs. Oklahoma, 23 vs. South Carolina, 23 vs. Missouri, 23 vs. Georgia and 23 vs. Arkansas.
“We have for sure gotten better (defensively),” Williams said. “Statistically, the thing that has helped us the most in regards to our ranking is that we’re defensive rebounding better than we ever have.
“I think that our plan prior to the ball being shot has always been good. Our numbers haven’t always reflected it. You hear coaches talk about first-shot defense vs. second-shot defense.
“The reason our numbers are the best they’ve ever been is we’re finishing the possession with a rebound.”
Offensively, the Aggies continue to lead the nation in offensive rebounds. They’re also 12th in the nation in free throw attempts per game (24.4).
Guards Wade Taylor IV and Zhuric Phelps have been particularly productive in the five-game winning streak.
Taylor, who leads A&M with a 15.1 scoring average, has averaged 15.6 points in the last five games. In that span, he has averaged 10.6 in the second half.
Phelps follows closely, averaging 14.4 points overall and 15.9 points in SEC games.
The Aggies have also gotten consistently strong inside play from Pharrel Payne, Henry Coleman III, Andersson Garcia and Solomon Washington.
Despite all that, Williams is expecting a typical close game in Starkville, where A&M is 1-3 in its last four visits.
“We’ll have to be our best in a one or two-possession game — we hope — at a place that, for Texas A&M, has been very difficult for us to have success,” Williams said. “We’ve got to see if we can figure out how to sneak out of there alive.”
