The Texas A&M men’s basketball team seeks to sweep the season series with the Missouri Tigers when the two teams face off in a 5 p.m. matchup.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The Texas A&M men’s basketball team seeks to sweep the season series with the Missouri Tigers when the two teams face off in a 5 p.m. matchup at Mizzou Arena on Saturday.
Mizzou is the Aggies’ final “mirror” matchup of 2023. Texas A&M has swept season series with Auburn, Florida and LSU while splitting with Arkansas in its other mirror games.
The Aggies handed the then-No. 20 Tigers a 82-64 defeat on 1/11 at Reed Arena.
Under Buzz Williams, the Aggies are 4-2 vs. MU, including 2-0 at Mizzou Arena. In the overall series, the Aggies hold a narrow 23-20 advantage (12-7 as members of the SEC).
FASTEST SEC START:
The Aggies’ 11-2 SEC record marks the program’s best conference start after 13 games since joining the league (previous best was 9-4 in 2014-15). In fact, it is Texas A&M’s best conference start in any league since Billy Gillispie’s 2006-07 Sweet 16 team opened 11-2 on their way to a 13-3 Big 12 final record. It’s the second time that Buzz Williams’ Aggies have reached double-digits in SEC wins. The Aggies were 10-8 in Williams’ first season in Aggieland (2019-20).
TRENDS & STREAKS:
Texas A&M is a SEC-best 18-3 in its last 21 games against SEC opponents (includes SEC tournament).
Since an uncharacteristic 58.3 FT% effort (14-24) against ARK on 1/31, the Aggies’ lone sub-60.0 FT% of the season, the team has hit 80.0% in the past 4 games.
The Aggies giving up a SEC-low 26.5 first-half points in SEC play.
In their most recent game, the Aggie defense limited Arkansas to 23 points, which matched the lowest second half total of the season (gm 1 vs. ULM).
The Aggies have earned a rebounding advantage in 12 of past 15 games, after having the board advantage in just six of the first 11 games of 2022-23.
Tyrece Radford has reached 10+ points in 8 straight SEC games and 11-of-13 total SEC contests, while Wade Taylor IV has 13 or more in 10-of-13 games.
Texas A&M is the only SEC team with two players hitting better than 50.0% from the field in SEC play (minimum 85 FGA): Julius Marble (.514) and Henry Coleman III (.512).
Super sub Andersson Garcia has come off the bench to grab 6 or more rebounds in his last 4, including a season-high 10 vs. ARK.
MILESTONE ALERT:
Dexter Dennis (699) and Tyrece Radford (694) have moved within range of the 700-rebounds plateau.
Andre Gordon’s next steal will make him the 20th member of Texas A&M’s 100-Steal Club.
Valuing the basketball:
Texas A&M is averaging just 9.1 turnovers over the past 7 games (64 total), which is down from the full season average of 11.9 per game.
It is the Aggies’ lowest TO average for any 7-game stretch in over 215 games.
In the 7 games before the last 7, the Aggies turned the ball over an average of 13.7 times per game.
Getting to the line:
The Aggies rank No. 1 nationally in free throws made and No. 2 in FT attempts (No. 1 in SEC in both categories).
Texas A&M and Alabama are the only SEC teams with over 600 FTA, and the Aggies have shot 100+ more free throws than 10 SEC teams and 200+ more than two teams.
The Aggies average 19.0 – 25.4 FTM-FTA per game, which is well ahead of the pace set by ALL Texas A&M squads after 1970.
Texas A&M has shot 16 or more free throws in 12-of-13 SEC games. The lone outlier was a 7-of-7 FT effort vs. UF on 1/18.
Texas A&M has been to the line 25 or more times in 16 of 25 games and has hit 20 or more FTs 11 times.
RANDOM NOTABLES:
The Aggies are 13-1 at the friendly confines of Reed Arena, including 7-0 vs. SEC opponents at home.
Easily the Aggies’ most prolific shooter from deep, Wade Taylor IV has improved his 3-point % significantly from last year. Taylor is hitting 35.8% in 2022-23 after making 27.8% as a freshman.
The Aggies’ starting lineup has a definite Pelican State flavor with at least two Louisiana natives in it for every game so far this season – Tyrece Radford (Baton Rouge) and Dexter Dennis (Baker).
The Aggies have used the same starting lineup (Coleman III, Dennis, Marble, Radford and Taylor IV) for the last 14 games. For the season, the fivesome is 13-3 with losses to Boise State, Kentucky and Arkansas.
The defensive-minded duo of Andersson Garcia and Andre Gordon have been the first players off the bench either individually or as a pair for the last 13 games.
The Aggies’ 2022-23 roster was bolstered by the addition of six newcomers in the offseason — five transfers and one scholarship freshman. Headlining the group was Dexter Dennis, who was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Wichita State in 2021-22, and Julius Marble, who helped Michigan State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Both have earned spots in the starting five.
A nugget in the Jan. 12, 2021 Associated Press recap of Virginia Tech’s win over Duke included legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski describing Radford’s 18-point, 12-rebound, 6-assist effort in the victory: “The kid Radford was the best player on the court. Double-double, but his intensity, how hard he played really helps their team immensely.”
LITTLE BIG MAN:
There are 11 total players in the SEC averaging 13.0+ points and 5.0+ rebounds per game. Texas A&M’s 6-foot-2 Tyrece Radford is the SEC’s only 13.0+/5.0+ player under 6-foot-7. Radford is one of nine 6-foot-2 and shorter players nationally to average 13.0+ points and 5.0+ rebounds.
ONE OF A KIND:
Tyrece Radford is the NCAA’s ONLY active 6-2 or shorter player hitting more than 50.0% of his field goal attempts for his career (minimum 600 attempts).
Active 6′ 2″ or Shorter Shooting Pct. Leaders
(Minimum 600 FGA)
Rk Player, School FGM-FGA FG%
1. Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M 486-959 .507
2. Brandon Whitney, Montana 307-619 .496
3. Cameron Parker, Portland St. 417-847 .492
4. Jayden Saddler, Saint Peter’s 426-867 .491
5. Dwayne Cohill, Youngstown St. 409-847 .483
STRAW THAT STIRS THE DRINK
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, the 6-foot do-it-all dynamo from Dallas, Texas, ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in a wide array of statistical categories:
Statistic Average SEC Rank
Points 15.3 No. 7
FG Attempts 293 total No. 7
Assists/TO Ratio 1.70 No. 8
Assists 4.1 No. 6
Steals 1.7 No. 8
Free Throws 101 total No. 5
FTA 120 total No. 9
FT% 84.2% No. 1
3-pointers 2.3 No. 7
3-point attempts 164 total No. 6
FOLLOW THE ACTION:
The game will be televised by ESPN2 with Mike Morgan (play-by-play) and Jon Sundvold (color) on the call.
The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network or locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton calling the action.