General
With two games left in the regular season, Auburn men’s basketball has already locked up a Southeastern Conference title and all but secured a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Despite that, head coach Bruce Pearl is adamant that the Tigers still have plenty to play for in the final week of the regular season, and two more stiff tests await the Tigers before the postseason begins.
The first of which is a road game against Texas A&M, a team that is on a four-game losing streak, but holds wins over teams such as Texas Tech and Missouri, and has a style of play that has given Auburn problems in recent years.
Here’s a closer look at Texas A&M ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup:
The season so far
Texas A&M comes into its game against Auburn with a solid resume, but has fallen off in its most recent stretch.
The Aggies have lost their last four games, including double-digit losses to Mississippi State and Florida. Texas A&M’s usually rock-solid defense has given up 75 or more points in its last three games, something it had only done five times in its previous 26 games.
Its best stretch came during the second half of non-conference play, earning wins over teams such as Creighton, Texas Tech and Purdue, with all three wins coming away from home.
Texas A&M currently has six Quad I wins, with a record of 6-7 in Quad I games, ranking the Aggies 23rd in the NCAA’s NET rankings. That comfortably makes Tuesday night a Quad I game for both teams.
Players to watch
Texas A&M has been hard to watch offensively at times this season. The Aggies rank in the bottom third of the country in effective field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, 2-point field goal percentage and turnover percentage.
However, what keeps them afloat offensively is their ability to attack the offensive glass. Texas A&M leads the country in both offensive rebounds per game (15.8) and offensive rebound percentage (41.6%).
“Literally, they throw it up there anywhere inside 15 feet, and they get it back half the time,” Pearl said Monday. “So, that presents you with a real challenge.”
Athletic big men Pharrel Payne, Henry Coleman, Andersson Garcia and Solomon Washington all have individual offensive rebounding rates over 10%, and Payne leads those four in scoring at 9.6 points per game.
He also gets to the free throw line more than anyone else on the team, but shoots just 56%.
No Texas A&M player averages more than 5.8 rebounds per game — Garcia leads the team — but five players average five or more, including the aforementioned four and guard Zuric Phelps at 5.2 per game.
Phelps, an SMU transfer, has the highest usage rate on the team and is Texas A&M’s second-leading scorer at 14.4 points per game. He’s relatively inefficient, though, shooting just under 38% from the field and 28% from 3.
Texas A&M’s top scorer is senior guard Wade Taylor IV, who’s averaging 15.1 points per game this season. It’s statistically his worst season since he was a freshman, but he’s still more than capable of taking over a game.
Like Phelps, Taylor has been inefficient from the field this season, making just 35.8% of his field goal attempts and 32.4% of his 3-pointers.
Keys to the game
Compete on the glass
Texas A&M is going to miss a lot of shots. No one in the SEC misses at a higher rate than the Aggies, but no one rebounds their misses like the Aggies either.
Defensive rebounding has been an issue for Auburn at times this season, even giving up 12 offensive boards in its most recent win over Kentucky. That’s the formula for Texas A&M and the Aggies often find success by wearing teams down with extra possessions.
Offensive rebounds can also lead to fouls and trips to the free throw line, and Texas A&M ranks 23rd in the country in free throw rate, per KenPom. Auburn ranks 317th out of 364 Division I teams in free throw rate allowed, meaning competing on the glass and defending without fouling could go hand-in-hand.
Contain Wade Taylor
A matchup with Taylor would typically call for the Denver Jones special from Auburn, but with Jones questionable to play in the game, how Auburn guards a player of Taylor’s profile could change.
The Tigers have contained Taylor in the past, holding him to eight points on 2-for-16 shooting in last season’s game. If Jones is out, Tahaad Pettiford will likely be the starting point guard on the opposite side of Taylor, creating an intriguing challenge for the young guard.
Stay hot
Basketball is a simple game. At the end of the day, the game comes down to making shots, and Auburn has excelled at that in its last two games.
Texas A&M’s 3-point defense ranks significantly lower than its 2-point defense, creating a matchup that Miles Kelly, Chad Baker-Mazara and others can take advantage of.
Shot making can be unpredictable and making 40-50% of your 3-pointers is never something you want to rely on, but if Auburn continues shooting the way it has in recent games, Texas A&M isn’t built to keep up.
Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at [email protected]m
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