LSU travels to College Station Tuesday night to take on 10th ranked Texas A&M. In Joe Lundari's latest bracketology, LSU is in the "First Four Out" group while TAMU is sitting pretty as a 3-seed. Needless to say, a road win at A&M would be an enormous win. Aggies will be without backup center Tonny Trocha-Morales. Morales averaged nearly 19 minutes per game, was 5th on the team in scoring at 7.6ppg, and was one of their key contributors inside. This means more pressure will be on Freshman center Tyler Davis to play more minutes.

Projected Lineups:
Texas A&M:
C Tyler Davis 6'10 265 10.8ppg 5.8rpg 67% FG's
F Jalen Jones 6'7 220 17.2ppg 7.0rpg reigning SEC POW
G Danuel House 6'7 212 15.9ppg 4.8rpg
G Anthony Collins 6'1 175 5.8ppg 4.8apg
G Alex Caruso 6'5 185 7.9ppg 3.4rpg 5.1apg 2.2spg
Key Contributors:
G Admon Gilder 6'3 185 7ppg 34% from 3
F DJ Hogg 6'8 212 6.9ppg 34% from 3...3/4 of his attempts are 3's
F Tavario Miller 6'7 226 2.4ppg 3.4rpg. He will get more minutes.

LSU:
F Craig Victor
F Ben Simmons
G Jalyn Patterson
G Keith Hornsby
G Josh Gray

About Texas A&M:

TAMU comes into the game with a record of 15-2 overall and 5-0 in the SEC. They have losses against Syracuse in the Bahamas and on the road at Arizona State. They are currently on an 8-game winning streak and beat highly ranked Baylor at home during that span. A month ago, Texas A&M was a very deep and very scary team. They had some of the most talented guards and SF's in the SEC, and they could go 5 deep at the C/PF position and 4 of them were over 6'9. However, since then they lost 5-star recruit Elijah Thomas to transfer, and now 6'10 Morales is suspended, this means Freshman Tyler Davis and Freshman DJ Hogg will be the only Aggies 6'8 and above. Hogg wants to play on the perimeter. Travis Miller is a 6'7 220+ post player, but he's not much of an offensive threat.

Offensively:
Stats:
PPG: 79.5 (46th nationally)
FG%: 46.9 (44th nationally)
3p%: 38.5 (38th nationally)
FT%: 65.3 ( 285th nationally)
APG: 18.9 (6th nationally)
Turnovers per game: 12.2 (118th nationally)
Offensive efficieny: 1.109 (30th nationally)

A&M is a very complete offensive team. Their weakest statistical category is FT's, but in reality they aren't that bad of a FT shooting team. Their 2 worst FT shooters won't be playing Tuesday night. Without them, they would be shooting nearly 4% points higher.

They're led by Seniors Jalen Jones and Danuel House who average 33ppg combined. Also, Freshman big man Tyler Davis is shooting 67% which leads the conference. Guards Anthony Collins and Alex Caruso are both top 6 in the SEC in assists per game.

A&M has no specific way they play. They are good at shooting, but will not force it. They do not pound their big men, but they can. Their guards can take you off the drive, or they will shoot. 6 of their 8 players that will play have attempted over 30 3-pointers. They are 39th in offensive rebounding. The point I'm making is LSU has to play a disciplined style of basketball on defense...and with EFFORT. Caruso has been much better this year, but he will still get wild at times and have forced turnovers.

Defensively:
Stats:
PPG: 64.8 (32nd nationally)
FG%: 39.8 (35th nationally)
RPG: 39.0 (71st nationally)
SPG: 7.9 (27th nationally)
BPG: 3.7 (133rd nationally)
Turnovers forced: 16.0 (17th nationally)
Fouls per game: 19.2 (149th nationally)

As good as A&M's offense is, their calling card is defense. Billy Kennedy has always been a big defensive guy, and this year is no defense. Caruso is one of the league leaders in steals, and their team in general causes a high amount of turnovers. Even without turning the ball over, A&M will still play good defense. They pressure shots and play sound.

The good news for LSU though, they will foul the opponent. LSU is one of the better teams in the country creating fouls, and this will be crucial. I don't see any scenario in which Jalen Jones will not be guarding Ben Simmons. Although he gives up a little size, he has the athleticism and senior experience Kennedy probably wants. This is when Ben being aggressive and drawing fouls is imperative. If the duo of Simmons and Victor can outmatch Jones and Davis, the odds of winning greatly increase.

Look for A&M to hit us with a good bit of zone, too.

Keys to the Game:

1.) Point Guard position. Does Tim show up? He's been discussed a lot in other basketball threads and I don't even feel like being negative towards him right now (because trust me, I'm very critical of his attitude and his hustle currently and it'll just piss me off). If TQ does not show up, it is IMPERATIVE we get the good Gray. We haven't seen bad Gray very much this year and that's good...but it has to continue. We need to have some type of positive from the PG position.

2.) Simmons vs Jones. SImmons is in a league of his own in college basketball. People can argue about the Wooden Award, no outside jumper, defensive laziness at times...but no one (even LSU fans) can deny that if Ben Simmons wants to get to the damn goal, nobody is stopping that dude. So will Ben be aggressive? If he is, how aggressive will Jones be? If one of these guys get in foul trouble, the advantage for the opposite team is almost beyond measure. A&M will go from Jones to Hogg or Miller. Hogg can shoot, but he's slight and not a great athlete. Miller is somewhat of a space eater. If Simmons is in trouble...well, how can you replace greatness?

3.) Stopping Caruso. I HATE this guy. It's somewhat irrational, but he is my mortal enemy. He's a guy that gets overlooked because of the ability of some other players, but he is our Tim Quarterman...he's TAMU's heartbeat. He's a great passer and has elite defensive IQ. If he is getting into the passing lanes for steals and is able to get into the lane on offense, LSU is in for a long night.

Prediction:

I read a stat from Joe Lunardi saying college basketball teams win 70% of their home games. That's more than any other sport, some by a wide margin. College basketball has so much talent and such a large field, that crowd and emotions play a HUGE part. Just like it's been mentioned on here in the past, games like @West Virginia and @Arkansas ended up being crucial last year for LSU to reach the postseason. This is a game that would not drop LSU far down the pecking order of bubble teams (unless we lost by 20+), but it is a game that can vault LSU up an incredible amount.

LSU and A&M don't really matchup well. If TQ does not start, or plays poorly, to say LSU has a size disadvantage in the guard position with JP and Gray is an understatement. However, When Davis is not in the game, it is the exact opposite on the front court. When Davis is out, Hogg will play and he's 6'9 210, and the thickest player they have will be Jones at 220. They are so extremely undersized at the front court if Davis is in foul trouble.

In the end, it'll be who wants it more. Talent wise, LSU is on TAMU's level. If LSU can get TAMU into foul trouble by being aggressive, and can make 70% of their free throws, I think LSU wins. However, if LSU does not do that and TAMU is making some shots and gets LSU into foul trouble, it could be a long night.

I think playing on the road with SEC officials against a top 10 team is nearly an impossible task. I fully expect nearly the entire team to come on a mission to prove something, but I also expect Kennedy to have his team match LSU's intensity. I think it will be similar to the UF game, our kids will play their asses off, but ultimately fall a little short.

A&M - 73
LSU - 66