Texas A&M Basketball: Aggies still unranked despite two big wins

Texas A&M Basketball (15-8) is still unranked despite beaten both opponents last week by double digits. Being ranked again is not out of the question.

Texas A&M defeated Arkansas 80-66 on Jan. 30. The Aggies got off to another slow start falling behind 17-8 with 14 minutes to go in the first half. A&M would go ahead for good after a 14-4 run. The Aggies would push the lead to 31-23 extending the run to 23-6 before the Razorbacks closed the half on a run of their own.

At halftime A&M lead 33-32 and would put the Hogs away early in the second half. The Aggies would make their first six shots of the half which included five 3-pointers. Arkansas would call a timeout and then would get the under 16 timeout as well, but it was too late to stop the run. A&M lead 50-37 before the Razorbacks figured out what happened.

After trading free throws, TJ Starks hit two more from beyond the arc and a Robert Williams dunk pushed the lead to 21 and the game was basically over. All five starters scored in double figures. DJ Hogg, Admon Gilder and Starks combined to make 10 3-pointers on 18 attempts. Maybe this was the game that awoke the sleeping giant.

In the South Carolina game, the Aggies put the Gamecocks away early and never trailed in the 83-60 blowout win. The game started with the Aggies scoring the first six points and then pushing the lead to 10 with 13 minutes to go. The lead would be pushed to 20 for the first time at 35-15 with 5:47 to go. A&M would lead 49-27 at halftime.

The second half was hard to watch with both teams energy level being relatively low. You could tell South Carolina was looking to get out of town fairly quickly. The Aggies would outscore the Gamecocks only by one mainly because Billy Kennedy did not play the starters that much due to the big lead. South Carolina never was able to make that run and trailed the entire half by more than 20 points.

A&M did not shoot the three ball that well only going 7-for-20, but did end up shooting 52 percent from the field for the game. The starters went 20 for 34 from the field and 14 for 17 from the line. If the Aggies can continue to do that and maybe even channel the hot shooting they had against Arkansas will make this group hard to beat.

For the fourth consecutive week, the Aggies are not receiving votes in the AP or coaches polls. As for other SEC teams, Auburn is the highest ranked SEC team in the AP at No. 8 and coaches polls at No. 9. Tennessee is No. 15 in the AP and No. 14 in the coaches. Kentucky is No. 24 in the AP and coaches polls. Alabama and Florida are the only other SEC teams receiving votes in the polls.

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This week the Aggies have two huge games and if they want to solidify their NCAA resume it can happen this week. The Auburn game is Feb. 7 at 8:00 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The rematch against Kentucky tips at 7:00 p.m. CT Feb. 10 on ESPN.