Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball return home to Reed Arena tomorrow as they host the Florida Gators. The Gators are reigning National Champions and tied with the Aggies atop the SEC standings. A win tomorrow night would be the biggest win of the season so far for the Aggies and first ranked win of the season. A loss would mark the first two-game losing streak for the Aggies since November.
The Aggies come into the game with a 17-5 overall record, 7-2 in the SEC, and ranked 36th in the NET rankings. The Gators will come into Reed Arena with a 16-6 overall record, 7-2 SEC record, and 11th in the NET. Both teams seem to be comfortably in the NCAA tournament field as of now with the Aggies being projected between the 8-9 seed line while the Gators are currently being projected between the 3-4 seed line.
Texas A&M faces toughest test yet with Florida Gators headed to town
This will be a very tough matchup for the Aggies tomorrow night. Florida has a big-time height advantage and average about 8 more rebounds per game than the Aggies, but there are places where the Aggies can excel. The Gators are not quite as good of an offense as what we just saw with Alabama— they are more turnover prone, shoot worse than 70% on free throws, and worse than 29% from beyond the arc.
If the Aggies are going to win this game, these are the keys to victory. First, they will need to hold their own on the glass and be able to limit Florida's second chances. They will need to key in defensively on Florida's leading scorers Thomas Haugh and Alex Condon and force the Gators to take more shots beyond the arc. Lastly, the Aggies absolutely have to win the turnover battle tomorrow. If they can do these things, the Aggies have a real shot to win.
Offensively the Aggies will need to continue what they've been doing with Agee leading the way, and multiple other players stepping up in support. They absolutely need Ruben Dominguez to have a bounce back game and be the elite shooter we've seen all season. Agee and Clemence will need to step up in a big way on the glass after poor rebounding performances against Alabama.
There hasn't been a boring game yet from the Aggies in conference play, and I don't expect tomorrow will be one either. The Gators are currently 4.5-point favorites, but knowing the Aggies, this could come down to the final possession. Hopefully the luck of the black out game continues and the Aggies can go to sleep tomorrow alone atop the SEC standings. Check back Sunday for my full reaction and analysis of tomorrow night's game.