Texas A&M 55 @ LSU 66 Final - ESPN2

Texas A&M is coming to the PMAC tonight, and are on somewhat of a hot streak winning 4 of their last 5 games. Now, they havent beaten anyone of note, but they have dug themselves out of the cellar. They are now 12-14 on the season and 5-9 in SEC play. their NET is #68 which means this will be a Quadrant 2 game, fortunately (instead of Quadrant 3).

The stats listed below are from SEC play only:

Texas A&M starters
PF (6'8, 245) SR. Christian Mekowulu - 20.8 min, 5.6 pts, 6.0 reb, 13.8 PER
SF (6'7, 217) SO. Savion Flagg - 35.6 min, 13.5 pts, 7.4 reb, 2.1 ast, 15.6 PER
G (6'5, 200) SO. Brandon Mahan - 21.0 min, 5.2 pts, 2.1 reb, 8.8 PER
G (6'3, 185) JR. Wendell Mitchell - 32.1 min, 15.4 pts, 4.8 reb, 2.3 ast, 1.7 stl, 18.5 PER
G (6'3, 181) SR. Chris Collins - 10.6 min, 0.7 pts, 1.2 reb, 0.9 ast, 6.8 PER

Texas A&M Bench
PF (6'9, 244) JR. Josh Nebo - 22.8 min, 9.4 pts, 5.8 reb, 2.4 blk, 29.2 PER
PG (6'2, 196) SO. TJ Starks - 27.8 min, 12.0 pts, 3.0 ast, 1.8 reb, 1.4 stl, 9.8 PER
G (6'4, 180) SO. Jay Jay Chandler - 21.0 min, 7.8 pts, 1.9 reb, 1.1 ast, 15.4 PER
F (6'9, 196) FR. John Walker III - 12.6 min, 2.3 pts, 2.1 reb, 9.0 PER

As a team Texas A&M sits around mid-pack in the conference in a lot of categories, which isn't surprising for a team currently tied for 10th place in the conference. There's really nothing they do that well, but little things they do horribly on the flip side.

In their starting group, right off dont be fooled by Collins. He is in there because they are simply trying to take some pressure off TJ Starks who was pressing badly, Collins is pretty much as bad as he looks, he cant shoot the 3 and doesnt really run offense well at all. The best thing you can say about him is he doesnt turn the ball over, he had 5 minutes and logged 0 of everything against us in game 1. Mitchell is their scoring bread and butter, they need him to score otherwise they simply dont on any given night. He's a guy you guard all over the floor and in game 1 against us got completely shut down to the tune of 1 for 8 for 2 points (hence why that game ended up (LSU 72-57 Ags). Flagg is a versatile guard/forward who gives them a lot of everything basically (Rebounding, scoring, dishing), he had 7 points on 3 for 8 shooting in game 1 on us. Mahan is out there to shoot a few 3's and honestly not much else. He went for 4 points on 1 of 4 shooting on us game 1. Mekowulu is an ok forward who doesnt do anything particularly well, but cleans up some trash points basically here and there (7 points on 2 for 6 on us game 1).

For their bench, Starks is really a starter just coming off the bench now. He cant shoot, and struggles to stay in control running offense, he went for 21 points on us game 1, but on 7 of 19 shooting which is poor. Nebo is the best player on A&M's team IMO and it's baffled me all season why they refuse to start him. He is a big time shot blocker, big body and hard worker inside. He went for 16 points on just 4 of 5 shooting on us in game with with 11 boards (4 offensive) and 4 blocked shots. He's the guy we need to try and keep in check IMO because he absolutely owned us in game 1. Walker is is mostly a forgettable player, he had 5 minutes, 0 points and 2 foul in game 1 against us. Chandler is also a former starter they now bring off the bench He has trouble shooting the ball and just hasn't been the player they wanted him to be this year so far (like Starks). He went for 11 minutes on us in game 1 with an 0 for 4 performance and 4 fouls...it was a rough day for him.

A&M is coming into the PMAC a revived team of sorts and if Waters is out, it gives them some hope because that dude has just killed them each time we play. There's no reason we should lose to this team the 2nd time around but if we play poorly enough, we can give them hope still. We out-man A&M still quite well even with Waters out, we just need to play to our potential, or even 70% of it and come away with the win tonight. Nebo again will be the toughest matchup for us and I think Flagg plays better this game than in game 1.