Texas A&M basketball is facing down one of their biggest problems from this season in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against St. Mary's: teams with a lot of height. The Gaels are one of the tallest teams, on average, in the tournament field— and the Aggies are one of the shortest.
The Aggies are a squad that starts Rashaun Agee at center— who is listed as 6'7", but is probably closer to 6'5" in reality— and has started the shortest player in the SEC in Jacari Lane for large parts of the season. They can get absolutely slaughtered on the boards if they aren't operating at peak-level effort, which happens more often than Aggie fans would like to admit.
More #’s for the Gaels 📊
— Luke Evangelist (@lukeevangelist_) March 15, 2026
They dominate the FT margin:
•Lead D-1 in FT% at 80.5%
•No. 12 in FTA/FGA allowed
They own the glass:
•No. 14 in total reb.
•No. 15 in off. reb. %
•No. 4 in off. reb. % allowed
They hit 3’s, but don’t live & die by it:
•38.6% 3P% (No. 13 in D-1) https://t.co/QejJHQ4uiA
We saw this reach its nadir when the Aggies played against the Florida Gators earlier this season. UF's size was way too much for the Ags, and they were unable to buy a bucket in that pivotal home game.
Texas A&M faces their kryptonite in St. Mary's height, but the Aggies can play an effective counter
The hope that the Aggies have is that their outside shooting doesn't abandon them. There was no daylight for the Ags against the Gators when it comes to the three-ball, but if they can get and hit some open looks against St. Mary's, then it will be a different story.
The other piece of things is the Aggies' pace. It's nigh impossible to prepare for, but there will be a bit of time for the Gaels to get their minds around how to deal with things. However, unlike Florida, St. Mary's has height but not a lot of speed, so if A&M pushes the pace against the Gaels, it could lead to better dividends.
That will require high effort on the boards. If Texas A&M is giving up offensive rebounds over and over, then it will be a massacre, but if they can limit St. Mary's to one shot and get out in transition, they will be able to push an advantage.
Height has been the Aggies' kryptonite for far too much of this season, but they can conquer it against St. Mary's if they execute in the right way. Here's hoping we see that exact thing in this upcoming game.