Bucky McMillan and Texas A&M Basketball take to the road tomorrow evening for their first SEC road game of the season. They will take on the 9-5 Auburn Tigers in what will be another shot at the Aggies' first quad 1 win of the season.
Coming into the matchup, the Aggies are 11-3 and are currently ranked 53 in the NET rankings. A win tomorrow night will go a long way to potentially getting the Aggies in the bubble conversation for making the NCAA tournament.
The Aggies continue to spread the scoring around this season with Rashaun Agee and Ruben Dominguez consistently being counted on to lead the team while other players slowly become more and more consistent throughout the season. With Mackenzie Mgbako's season ending injury, the Aggies will be counting more and more on the Forwards to step up in his absence.
Texas A&M basketball searching for Quad 1 win against rebuilding Auburn
Auburn comes in ranked 35 in the NET rankings and positioned between the 8-10 line on most bracketology predictions. They dropped their first SEC game this past Saturday to a solid Georgia team on the road in a high scoring overtime thriller. The Tigers will be back in front of the home crowd facing a similar fast-paced team in the Aggies.
The Tigers are led by Keyshawn Hall with 20.1 points per game and Tahaad Pettiford next behind him with 15.1 points per game. Agee and the rest of the big men will have their work cut out for them handling Hall while Marcus Hill and the other guards try to reign in Pettiford.
The teams come into the matchup with similar statistics that look slightly in favor of the Aggies despite the Aggies being a 5–7-point underdog. The teams have very similar shooting percentages, rebounds per game, and points given up per game, while the Aggies have a decent advantage in points per game, assists per game, and steals per game.
The keys to victory tomorrow night will come down to reigning in Hall and Pettiford as much as possible, grabbing rebounds and diminishing second-chance opportunities, and forcing turnovers while limiting them yourself. Easy for me to say, of course.
Check back late tomorrow for a full reaction and analysis after the game, and a hopeful Aggie victory over Auburn.