First Scouting Report: Against Texas A&M, UK seeks to derail the SEC’s surprise team
A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
Kentucky (12-6, 3-3 SEC) will face Texas A&M (12-5, 4-0 SEC) on Saturday, Jan. 21, at Rupp Arena (capacity 20,545) at Central Bank Center in downtown Lexington.
The game will tip off at 2 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Before coming to Lexington, Coach Buzz Williams and the Aggies will face Florida (10-7, 3-2 SEC) on Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST in College Station in a game that will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Texas A&M 12-4. Since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012-13, UK is 10-3 vs. A&M. The Cats have won seven of the past eight contests with Texas A&M.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 10-3 vs. the Aggies.
Texas A&M Coach Buzz Williams is 0-2 vs. Kentucky as Aggies head man and 0-3 against the Wildcats overall.
Most recent meeting
Sahvir Wheeler had 12 points, Davion Mintz 10 points and Oscar Tshiebwe eight points and 14 rebounds as Kentucky ground out a 64-58 victory over Texas A&M on Jan. 19, 2022, before 14,036 fans at Reed Arena in College Station.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 41, Texas A&M No. 57.
In the Pomeroy ratings, Kentucky is No. 34, Texas A&M No. 47.
The Sagarin ratings have Kentucky No. 32, Texas A&M No. 35.
Know your foe
1. Going into Wednesday night’s game with Florida, Texas A&M has won six straight games. The Aggies have been good at home (8-1), good on the road (3-1) and horrible in neutral-site games (1-3).
A&M’s five losses have come vs. Murray State (88-79) and Colorado (103-75) in the Myrtle Beach Invitational in South Carolina; vs. Boise State (86-71) in the Battleground 2k22 in Fort Worth; at Memphis (83-79); and to Wofford (67-62) at home.
2. A common theme in four of A&M’s five losses has been the Aggies being outscored from behind the three-point arc. Murray State (10-to-6), Colorado (16-to-7), Boise State (11-to-5) and Wofford (10-to-7) all made more three-point shots than Texas A&M en route to beating the Aggies.
Of the teams that have defeated A&M, only Memphis failed to win the battle behind the arc vs. the Aggies (8-to-5 in made three-pointers in favor of Texas A&M).
3. The top players for Texas A&M are guards Wade Taylor IV and Tyrece Radford and power forward Henry Coleman III.
A 6-foot, 185-pound product of Lancaster, Texas, Taylor leads A&M in both scoring (15.6 ppg) and assists (3.6 apg).
Radford is a physical guard at 6-2, 195 pounds, and the transfer from Virginia Tech is second on the Texas A&M team in both scoring (12.4 ppg) and rebounding (5.2 rpg).
Coleman, a transfer from Duke, is averaging 10.2 ppg, and a team-best 5.8 rpg. The 6-7, 229-pound forward played strong against Kentucky last season, scoring 17 points, grabbing eight rebounds and making eight of 12 shots vs. the Wildcats.
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 85-71 win over Georgia
A career night from Oscar Tshiebwe leads Kentucky to a comeback win over Georgia
Box score from Kentucky’s 85-71 win over Georgia on a colossal night for Oscar Tshiebwe
Is this UK basketball legends, museum special bottle release the oldest bourbon ever?
