After dropping their first game since Jan. 10 to Ole Miss Wednesday, the Texas A&M men’s basketball team will try to get back on their feet when they play in Columbia, Missouri Saturday against the Tigers.
Missouri (7-15, 1-8 SEC) sits at last place in the conference. Their last victory came against LSU on Jan. 8, who they defeated in overtime. Ever since, the Tigers lost eight consecutive games, including a 62-50 loss to A&M on Jan. 21 in Reed Arena.
Aggie head coach Billy Kennedy said he doesn’t buy into Missouri playing like a last place team.
“We won’t take them for granted,” Kennedy said. “The problem is, they’re a 1-8 team by record, but they’re not a 1-8 team when you play them. I think they play very good defense, they’re solid and are just young.”
In that 62-50 victory over Missouri, A&M (15-6, 6-3 SEC) struggled early. At the end of the first half, the Tigers led by seven, and a late surge by Jalen Jones — who nearly garnered a double-double — kept the Aggies from a scare at home.
A&M had a nice effort shutting down sophomore guard and Missouri leading scorer Jonathan Williams III, who shot 4-for-10. Kennedy credits Missouri’s success to another sophomore, Wes Clark — who finished with 18 points — and their tenacious defense coming from the post.
“Clark gave us fits here, and we really struggled against them here,” Kennedy said. “It’s not a game that I feel like, ‘Oh, we just played bad.’ The matchups and their guards are tough for us to matchup against, and they’ve got enough size inside and some seniors that can take up some space. We’ve got to play well.”
While Missouri’s previous 13-point defeat to Alabama continued a bad streak, A&M’s loss to Ole Miss ended a 6-game winning streak. In that matchup, the Aggies amassed 16 turnovers, and Danuel House and Jalen Jones combined for merely 14 points.
Three of the last four games have been on the road for the Aggies, and while Kennedy said every team gets beat up at this point of the season, senior center Kourtney Roberson isn’t fond of the “tired” excuse.
“We just haven’t played as well as we’re supposed to be playing,” Roberson said. “Coach yesterday gave us the day off from that game.”
Tip-off is 5 p.m. on Saturday. A&M will catch their breath next week with three consecutive games at home.