No. 8 Texas A&M seems to continue to climb the position and build on its position for the NCAA tournament when it is facing No. 22 Mississippi State on Tuesday in a southeastern Dustup in Starkville, Miss.
Aggies (20-5, 9-3 SEK) have captured five straight matches, most recently a dirty 69-61 home decision over Arkansas on Saturday. Wade Taylor IV led Texas A&M with 18 points and kept a winning force for the last eight minutes.
Zhuric Phelps added 12 points and a gaming high nine returns for Texas A&M and Andersson Garcia had 11 points. The aggies kept Arkansas to only 41.7 percent shooting from the floor and forced Razorbacks to 17 sales.
“We were a little slow in the beginning, so we tried to let our defense do the work,” Phelps said. “If we do not score, we know that we still have to do our part on defense. Getting these stops, we knew our crime would come later in the game. To protect and stick to our pin.”
Garcia was a prominent against Arkansas, especially during the last minute. He helped on Taylor’s late 3-pointer and then converted in the basket twice during Texas A & M’s important 9-0 power which gave the victory.
“Sometimes, even though I have an open arrangement and I see one of my teammates on the 3-point line, wide open, I will probably send the ball to them,” Garcia said. “I’m not saying I’m bad at shooting up, but I trust them a lot to make these pictures.”
Texas A&M was listed as the sixth overall seed in the first NCAA tournament group preview which was released Saturday morning. Aggie’s remaining schedule for the regular season has four matches against teams that are currently listed in top 25, including home competitions against No. 5 Tennessee and top -ranked Auburn.
The bulldogs (18-7, 6-6 SEK) are expected to move up in the AP ranking after an 81-71 victory at Rival no. 19 Ole Miss on Saturday. The Mississippi state secured the season’s sweep of the rebels thanks to RJ Melendez’s 17 points that led a balanced score and allowed the bulldogs to win for the second time in the last three excursions.
Josh Hubbard added 14 points, Riley Kugel scored 11 and Claudell Harris Jr. And Keshawn Murphy had 10 for Mississippi State. The bulldogs held Ole Miss to 38.3 percent shooting from the floor and secured a 40-30 edge in rebounding.
“We handled the runs and our children just got stuck and found a way to get it done along the way,” said Mississippi State coach Chris Jans after the victory. “Our guys had connection – they worked together. Getting to a decent start really helped.
“We have been criticized and rightly for our defense and we were better with it (against Ole Miss),” Jans added. “I’m just super proud of the guys and how they played and how they responded in a tough environment to a good team.”
After playing Texas A&M, Bulldogs has only one ranked team on the schedule – on No. 2 Alabama on February 25.
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