Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball heads down the road to Austin as they take on the Texas Longhorns in a big-time matchup for both teams. This will be the first matchup between first year coaches Sean Miller and Bucky McMillan in the Lone Star Rivalry. The Aggies come in with a 13-4 overall record, 3-1 in the SEC and 48th in the NET rankings while the Longhorns come in with an 11-6 overall record, 2-2 in the SEC and 39th in the NET rankings.
Both teams are counting on a win today to hopefully help their NCAA tournament resumes come early March. Both teams are also right around the bubble. The Longhorns are coming off 2 straight ranked wins and have a lot of momentum behind them after a win at Alabama and Vanderbilt at home. The Aggies are coming off a tough loss at Tennessee and looking for a massive bounce-back quad 1 road win tonight.
Texas A&M seeking bounce back quad 1 victory against Longhorns
So, what will the Aggies need to do to get the victory? Rebounding and free throws. Plain and simple. We know the Aggies can shoot, we know they can force turnovers, but they struggle mightily when it comes to rebounding and free throw shooting down the stretch. Now luckily for the Aggies, Texas has a slightly worse overall FT%, but I wouldn't count on them missing many down the stretch at home. Texas also has much better rebounding numbers. The Aggies can't have another abysmal rebounding performance like they did against Tennessee and expect to come out of Austin with a win.
The Aggies will certainly need to rely on their bench pieces to step up in a big way tonight. Pop Isaacs has been excellent coming off the bench, but they will need guys like Clemence, Federiko, and Vinson to step it up on the glass, and others like Halloway and Dibba to help backfill with scoring.
The Longhorns, to their credit, do a great job distributing the ball as well as they have 4 players averaging above 13 points per game. It will be tough to key in on one player, but the Aggies will need to find a way to force turnovers and get the Longhorns out of their rhythm.
The Aggie are currently listed at 4.5-point underdogs. We've seen enough of this team to know that it very likely will not be a blowout, and will probably all come down to the final 90 seconds that decides this game. Hopefully the Aggies and find a way to come out on top. Check back later tonight for my full reaction and analysis of the first Lone Star Rivalry basketball matchup of the year.