A View From The Other Side: Texas A&M Aggies

When the Teas A&M Aggies step on the floor inside Memorial Gym on Saturday it will be the 14th time the two teams have met on the hardwood, with the Commodores holing an 8-5 record all-time versus the boys from College Station.

Of those 13 meetings, seven have come since the 2012-13 season when the Aggies and Missouri joined the SEC. The Commodores hold a slim 4-3 regular-season advantage since the two teams became conference foes.

Vanderbilt won the initial conference matchup 63-56 in 2013 at Memorial Gym and are 2-1 versus the Aggies at home having won there in 2016 77-60 and losing 89-81 in 2018.

The two teams have played four times at Reed Arena in College Station since the Aggies joined the conference and the two teams have split the four games played there with the Commodores winning the first in 2014 by a final of 65-55. Since that win, the two have alternated wins/losses in Texas.

While the two teams meet once a year in the regular season and occasionally in the SEC Tournament, this is not one of the premier rivalries in the conference, and because of the distance between the two schools and the fact that they see each other once a year most people might not know a great deal about the Aggies.

So to find out more than just some statistical numbers for Texas A&M, we turned to Cole Thompson, who is the publisher of our SI.com Aggies site for more insight into the team we will see here Saturday.

We asked Cole five questions and here are his answers.

Q- 1) Josh Nebo and Savion Flagg are leading the Aggies in scoring but which player is the wildcard as someone besides those two who can step up and provide a big game and be a difference-maker as a third option to those two?

Cole Thompson: Over the past two games, Wendall Mitchell has been a crucial player for the Aggies' offense. In the loss to Arkansas, the senior scored a double-double before coming back and scoring nine points against Ole Miss. A late surge from the guard allowed A&M to soar past the Rebels and hold onto the victory. Buzz Williams said Mitchell's skills were the "purest he's coached in a long time." When Mitchell is hot, he's scary in the paint. Expect him to be the No.2 or 3 option for Williams' offense.

Q-2) The Aggies are averaging just 57.8 ppg offensively to this point in the season. What's been the biggest reason why they struggle to score more?

Cole Thompson: It's due to poor shooting. When the clock is running low, the Aggies are trying to take shots just to make the buzzer. Because of that, they're off-balance and all over the place. The defense has stepped up in recent weeks, allowing an average of 55 points to opponents. The biggest issue will be when the collect turnovers, can they capitalize in the paint. Against Ole Miss, the team missed three open drives due to trying to be cute. Just go for the layup and the easy basket than trying to slam it back for the dunk

Q-3) Obviously the Aggies will pay a lot of attention to Aaron Nesmith and Saben Lee so would you expect them to try to do something unusual defensively to try to stop Nesmith from shooting from the outside or Lee off the drive?

Cole Thompson: No, I think they'll stick to the normal gameplan to begin the outing. Earlier this week against Ole Miss, their defensive front had to be switched due to the success of Berlin Tyree. The Rebels guard scored 21 points in the first half, 15 of which coming off of three-pointers. Once they realized zone defense wouldn't work, they went to a more man style to contain the outside shooting. While Nesmith has been dangerous on the outside, I believe it will be more of a "show and tell" style of play.

Q-4) What will take for the Aggies to get the win Saturday?

Cole Thompson: Proper shooting and balanced offense are going to be the difference-maker. The Aggies found a rhythm in their last game, going on a 15-2 run over the course over eight minutes. That was due to excellent defense and not rushing the shot. Nebo excelled for the defense, tallying four blocks and nine rebounds. That led to offensive production by Mitchell and Andre Gordon. A similar approach should be in the running for A&M. Both the Rebels and Commodores have success on the perimeter but struggle on defense. If they run the same pattern, it should be a good game.

Q-5) What's your final prediction on what we see Saturday?

Cole Thompson: This could be a toss-up match between the two. A&M has looked better over the past several games, going 3-1 since late December. In the same breath, this is a Vanderbilt team that traveled to Auburn and nearly picked up a win against the SEC favorites. It'll be small ball that could decide the outcome. How much can the Aggies defend Nesmith in the corner? How many rebounds will Nebo tally? Little mistakes could cause one roster to take a step forward in favor of their success. It's close, but A&M has been the team with more consistency. They win by let's say Texas A&M 61, Vanderbilt 55.

Follow Greg on Twitter @GregAriasSports and @SIVanderbilt or on Facebook at Vanderbilt Commodores-Maven

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