Aggies continue late surge, top Rebels in second round
Texas A&M spent the entire season as one of the nation’s top offensive rebounding teams. That commendable quality carried into the postseason on Thursday — and ultimately might have helped lift the Aggies into the NCAA Tournament.
Seventh-seeded A&M defeated 10th-seeded Mississippi 80-71 in the second round of the SEC tournament in Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., to buoy its postseason hopes. A&M guard Wade Taylor IV, the SEC preseason player of the year, led the Aggies with 20 points.
The Aggies (19-13) faced second-seeded and rested Kentucky (23-8) at 6 p.m. Friday in the tournament quarterfinals. The Wildcats closed out the regular season with five consecutive victories, including at top-seeded Tennessee in the regular-season finale on Saturday.
A&M, which has won four straight games following a five-game losing streak, defeated Mississippi for the second time in less than a week, having blown out the Rebels 86-60 at Oxford, Miss., on Saturday. ESPN’S NCAA Tournament expert, Joe Lunardi, said earlier Thursday an A&M win over Mississippi likely would earn the Aggies a bid into the NCAA postseason as one of its last of 68 teams in, while a loss would drop them out.
The Aggies outrebounded the Rebels 21-9 on the offensive end and, as a result, outscored Mississippi 21-4 in secondchance points. The Aggies outrebounded the Rebels 48-32, and Andersson Garcia’s eight offensive rebounds were more than any Rebels player had in total rebounds (two had seven each).
“Rebounding was a challenge all season, and once again it was an issue,” Mississippi coach Chris Beard said. “We’ll have to recruit better to (rebounding).”
Beard, in his first season with the Rebels, received a contract extension this month, and the former Texas coach appears to be settling in in Northwest Mississippi. While Mississippi (20-12) won’t be in the NCAA Tournament and has lost six of its last seven games, the Rebels’ 7-11 showing in SEC regular-season play was four wins better than last year under Kermit Davis Jr.
Mississippi might be bound for the National Invitation Tournament.
“We came to Ole Miss to win tournaments like this, and we’ll keep working toward that,” Beard said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, but I think we’re headed in the right direction.”
A&M defeated Kentucky 97-92 in overtime on Jan. 13 in College Station. Guard Manny Obaseki said it’s no time for the Aggies to change anything based on their current win streak.
“Just be aggressive and just keep doing what we’ve been doing. Don’t try to change anything up,” Obaseki told the SEC Network of facing Kentucky for a second time this season.
Added A&M coach Buzz Williams to the network concerning the Wildcats, “They’re hard to guard one-on-one, and they’re among the best in the country relative to talent. … We’ve got a lot of work to do. … We’re thankful for that win (against Kentucky), and we hope that that matters.
“But we’ll have to be even better than we were in College Station, because I think they’re a lot better than they were when we played in College Station.”