First Scouting Report: Can UK survive road game with veteran, physical Texas A&M?
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Game day: No. 6 Kentucky 90, Missouri 77
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Tuesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Missouri in Rupp Arena.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
No. 6 Kentucky (12-2, 2-0 SEC) will face Texas A&M (9-6, 0-2 SEC) on Saturday, Jan. 13, at Reed Arena (seating capacity of 12,989) on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station.
The game will tip off at 2 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Texas A&M lost 66-55 at No. 16 Auburn on Tuesday night.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Texas A&M 13-4 and has won eight of the past nine meetings, including the last four in a row.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 11-3 vs. the Aggies.
Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams is 0-4 vs. the Wildcats overall, and 0-3 against UK as the A&M coach.
Most recent meeting
Antonio Reeves scored 23 points, Jacob Toppin added 17 and Oscar Tshiebwe claimed 17 rebounds as Kentucky defeated Texas A&M 76-67 on Jan. 21, 2023, at Rupp Arena.
UK took what was then a John Calipari-coaching era high of 32 3-point shots, making 11.
The Wildcats overcame a 22-point performance from A&M guard Tyrece Radford.
Power rankings
In the Pomeroy Ratings, Kentucky is No. 17 and Texas A&M No. 34.
The NCAA NET Rankings have Kentucky No. 17, Texas A&M No. 39.
Know your foe
1. Texas A&M has a recent history of playing weak non-league schedules — yet starting slow anyway. That is not the case this season, however, as the Aggies’ schedule to date is ranked the 34th strongest in the country in the Pomeroy Rankings.
Texas A&M entered SEC play having already faced six power-conference (the football Power Five plus the Big East) foes as well as mid-major powers Florida Atlantic (a Final Four team last season, don’t forget) and Memphis.
The Aggies are 4-4 in those eight games.
They have a road win at Ohio State (Big Ten), a home win vs. DePaul (Big East) and neutral-court victories over Penn State (Big Ten) and Iowa State (Big 12). Texas A&M has a neutral court defeat vs. FAU, road losses against Virginia (ACC) and Houston (Big 12) and a home defeat against Memphis.
2. Texas A&M laid a dinosaur egg in its SEC opener vs. LSU. Playing at home, the Aggies were outscored 38-21 in the second half and lost 68-53 to the Tigers.
A&M suffered through a horrid shooting performance, making only 15 of 59 shots (25.4 percent), 5 of 28 3-point attempts (17.9 percent).
3. Texas A&M entered the 2023-24 season expecting to have four starters back from last season’s team that went 25-10; finished second in the SEC at 15-3; advanced to the finals of the SEC Tournament; and played in the NCAA tourney for the first time since 2018.
However, senior big man Julius Marble, the 6-foot-9, 235-pound transfer from Michigan State, has yet to play this season.
In the preseason, Buzz Williams said that Marble — who averaged 9.4 points and 4.1 rebounds for A&M last season — was the subject of an unspecified “university process” that would determine whether he can eventually play.
Prior to the LSU game, Williams told reporters in Texas that “nothing has changed” with Marble. “The status is still the same,” the Texas A&M coach said.
Marble scored 12 points against Kentucky last season in Lexington.
This story was originally published January 9, 2024 at 9:22 PM.
