Texas A&M basketball: Is it time to move on from Billy Kennedy?

Texas A&M basketball put forth a pathetic offensive performance which should signify it’s time for a coaching change in Aggieland.

After getting rolled by Auburn at home, Tigers guard Bryce Brown called out the effort of the Texas A&M basketball team he had just faced. Essentially, he expected the Aggies to try harder on the defensive end of the floor. One way to respond is by coming out with everything you have in the next game.

The Aggies…did not do that.

What followed the Auburn blowout loss was a 23-point loss at home to a 9-6 Missouri team that had yet to win a conference game this season, and which featured one of the most pathetic offensive performances I’ve ever seen from the Aggies.

Losing to a team like Missouri by 23 at home is not acceptable. The Aggies were favored by 4.5 points coming into the game. This loss could be the final straw in a roller coaster tenure from Billy Kennedy.

The expectations were not high entering the 2018-19 season. That should not excuse the effort we’ve seen from the Aggies for most of it. This Missouri loss was not an aberration, it was simply the worst case scenario of a team struggling in just about every facet of the game.

In this most recent abomination, they shot 26 percent overall, went 4-for-18 from three, got out-rebounded, had more turnovers than assists, allowed Missouri to shoot 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. They weren’t good on defense. They were terrible on offense.

Kennedy benching his starters for walk-ons in the second half, and ripping his players’ effort after the game, says as much about him as the players, if not more.

The anemic performance today should give enough cause to fire Kennedy. Even though he guided Texas A&M to one regular season SEC championship and two Sweet 16 appearances in three seasons, the amount of talent on those teams honestly should have accomplished more. It has never felt like he got the most of out his players.

His teams also consistently fail to generate points in close games down the stretch. His offense is unimaginative for the most part. Kennedy vowed to shift gears to feature guard play this season and yet the bigs have been the best aspect of this team.

Kennedy also did not put the team in position to win this season. The Aggies 2018 recruiting class was ranked 120th in the nation. This is laughable for an SEC program. We should expect better.

Texas A&M is a football school, but Billy Gillispie, Mark Turgeon and even Kennedy have elevated the standards of the basketball program in the last decade or so. Today’s performance should never be acceptable, and the powers that be have a decision to make.

Jeff Shull is the Site Expert for the Gig Em Gazette on FanSided. Follow him on Twitter, and be sure to follow the Gig Em Gazette on Facebook and Twitter.