Aggies Visit Ole Miss in Battle of SEC Bottom-Feeders
In this story:
Texas A&M needed every bit of Tuesday’s 91-77 win over Georgia to muster some confidence as the SEC tournament approaches.
Another opportunity quickly presents itself on Saturday, as the Aggies (17-11, 6-9 SEC) travel to Oxford, MS to take on the Ole Miss Rebels (13-15, 4-11 SEC) for the second time this season.
A&M handled the Rebels 67-51 on Jan. 11 in College Station, but the personnel is much different for Ole Miss and coach Kermit Davis.
“It seems like an eternity ago when we played them,” A&M coach Buzz Williams said Friday. “But our guys are somewhat familiar and we’ve used the last couple of days to get reacquainted with what they’re doing.”
Ole Miss has lost five of the last six, sliding down the standings to the second-worst in the SEC as a result. But despite injuries and lineup changes for the Rebels, A&M should be wary of a team that is hungry for some late-season consistency.
“We’ll have to play with incredible energy,” Williams said.
Ole Miss guard Daeshun Ruffin is the team’s second-leading scorer (12.6 points) but suffered a knee injury on Feb. 1 that will keep him out for the remainder of the season. He had 10 points and four assists in the first meeting with A&M.
On the other hand, Ole Miss was without guard Jarkel Joiner in the first meeting due to a back injury, but he should be full-go on Saturday.
Joiner is a dependable No. 1 option on offense for this team, as he leads the Rebels in scoring (14.5 points), minutes (31.7), and turns the ball over the fewest times (0.8) out of Rebels averaging 10 or more minutes per game.
Ole Miss will also look to rely on the size of 7-0 center Nysier Brooks, who is fourth in the SEC in field goal percentage (58 percent) and seventh in rebounds (7.7).
Brooks could be the one to expose A&M on the defensive glass, something Williams feels is a glaring issue with his team.
“The two Achilles heels of our program: We can’t get crushed on the defensive glass and we can’t give them points off live-ball turnovers,” he said.
Luckily, the Rebels don’t pose an obvious threat on that front as a team. They’re eighth in the SEC in defensive rebounds (24.8) and are one of the conference’s worst offensive rebounding teams, pulling down just 9.5 per game.
The Aggies scored their second-highest point total of the season on Tuesday behind a perfect shooting day from guard Quenton Jackson (31 points) and forward Henry Coleman III (15 points). The two combined to go 17 of 17 from the floor.
It’s safe to say this kind of performance won’t repeat itself against the Rebels, but Jackson has proved his capabilities as a No. 1 scoring option time and again.
He’ll be looking to extend his streak of 10-straight games scoring in double figures.
Saturday’s tip is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. C.T. at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion.
Want to join in on the discussion? Click here to become a member of the All Aggies message board community today!
Follow AllAggies.com on Facebook and Twitter!
Want More Aggies News? Check Out The Latest In Texas A&M News Here