0-3 SEC hole has Aggies desperate to cut down their mistakes
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M would love to be loaded with sharpshooters considering Southeastern Conference rival LSU comes to Reed Arena on Wednesday. Three games into conference play, however, the Aggies are only clutching shovels known as sharpshooters.
“There aren’t too many people who are down; we do have 15 games left,” A&M guard D.J. Hogg said. “We’ve realized how big of a hole we’ve dug ourselves.”
Following a promising 8-3 start, the Aggies have lost their first three league games for the first time in SEC play under coach Billy Kennedy. A&M (8-6) shared an SEC regular-season title with Kentucky last year and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years.
The Aggies are in danger of missing the NCAA postseason, though, following a poor start that has included double-digit losses to Tennessee in College Station and at Kentucky and South Carolina.
Time for ‘gassers’
A&M lost by 42 points at Kentucky, the Aggies’ biggest setback since joining the SEC in 2012. Even more troubling, A&M has committed 50 turnovers in its past two games — 25 against both Kentucky and South Carolina — after taking care of the ball had become a positive in nonconference action.
“I cannot remember having a team turning the ball over 25 times in backto-back games,” Kennedy said.
So in the days since an 11-point loss at South Carolina on Saturday, Kennedy has turned to an old-school tactic to try to earn his players’ attention: baseline sprints after turnovers in practice.
“It made you not want to turn the ball over,” Hogg said of the Aggies’ response to running “gassers” during drills. “It made you notice how important taking care of the ball was, when coach would say, ‘Baseline!’ ”
LSU (9-5, 1-2) lost its first SEC game against Vanderbilt, rebounded with a victory over Missouri and fell to Mississippi State, with both losses coming at home. The Tigers own an 18-16 alltime series advantage over A&M, but the Aggies have won four of the teams’ last five meetings, including 71-38 last season in the SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
“At 0-3, I know the (Aggies) will have an edge about them, and we have to make sure we have the same,” LSU coach Johnny Jones said. “We’re sitting at 1-2, and they’re at 0-3. Both of us know this is a great opportunity.”
‘We got their attention’
The Tigers also are without forward Craig Victor, who was dismissed from the program prior to the start of league play for disciplinary reasons. While the Aggies haven’t had that kind of trouble, they’ve lost their first three league games since their final year in the Big 12 in Kennedy’s first season.
“You hope that with these three losses, we’ve been through the process of pain and have learned from it,” Kennedy said.
As for those turnovers … at one point at South Carolina, the Aggies gave away the ball on seven consecutive possessions, prompting Kennedy to turn to the gassers in drills to try to get things right.
“We got their attention, and after that, we’ve been a lot better,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to pay the price, because our players were out there playing (summer league) basketball, it almost looked like. That’s when you have to make guys aware, and they were aware when the running started happening.”