News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The No. 22 Texas A&M men’s basketball team faces off against the top-ranked Auburn Tigers in a rare home matchup against the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Reed Arena.
- It is the fourth time the AP No. 1 team will visit College Station and the first time during the Buzz Williams era at Texas A&M. Other visits by the AP No. 1 were Kansas on 2/15/10 Kentucky on 1/10/15 and Tennessee on 2/2/19.
- In the Buzz Williams era, the Aggies has faced the AP No. 1 once – a 75-58 road loss to Auburn on 2/12/2022.
- A&M leads 15-7 in the all-time series with Auburn, dating back to the first meeting on Dec. 22, 1961 – a 62-50 Aggie win in Houston.
- Auburn won last year’s meeting with a 66-55 win on its home court (1/9/24).
- Since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012-13, the Aggies hold a 12-5 advantage over Auburn, including a 5-2 edge at home.
- In the Buzz Williams era, the Aggies are 5-2 vs. the Tigers, including a 2-0 record at Reed Arena.
PROMOTIONS FOR AUBURN VS. TEXAS A&M
- Senior Night: Pregame recognition of 8 seniors and 3 team managers.
- Aggie Basketball adidas Shirt Giveaway: Available for the first 500 fans to the game in the Fan Zone.
- VetTix: Texas A&M Athletics is working with Vet Tix to provide complimentary tickets to Aggie home athletic events across venues for the 2024-25 academic year. Military personnel can claim free tickets via https://www.vettix.org/
- A&M Student Early Entry: The North AND South entry of Reed Arena will open at 6:30 p.m. for ANY A&M student. All doors will open to all fans at 7 p.m.
- Fan Zone (North Entry): Tent setup with TVs, music, games & more! For ALL fans starting at 7 p.m.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
|
Statistic |
Auburn |
Rank |
Texas A&M |
Rank |
|
Scoring Offense |
85.4 |
4 |
73.8 |
T-190 |
|
Scoring Defense |
68.8 |
82 |
67.4 |
56 |
|
Scoring Margin |
16.7 |
5 |
6.3 |
92 |
|
Field Goal % |
48.5 |
21 |
41.8 |
320 |
|
Free Throw % |
74.7 |
87 |
69.4 |
269 |
|
Free Throws/G |
15.8 |
66 |
17 |
21 |
|
FT Attempts/G |
21.1 |
78 |
24.5 |
13 |
|
3-Point % |
37.1 |
38 |
30.6 |
325 |
|
3-Pointers/G |
9.4 |
47 |
6.9 |
T-267 |
|
3-Point Attempts/G |
25.3 |
77 |
22.4 |
T-184 |
|
FG% Defense |
40.4 |
26 |
40.2 |
21 |
|
3-Point % Defense |
29.4 |
9 |
33.2 |
162 |
|
Fouls/G |
18.5 |
314 |
17.1 |
T-207 |
|
Rebound Margin |
5 |
39 |
8.7 |
8 |
|
Off. Rebounds/G |
12 |
74 |
15.86 |
1 |
|
Def. Rebounds/G |
25.93 |
79 |
24.93 |
T-155 |
|
Rebounds/G |
37.93 |
55 |
40.79 |
6 |
|
Assist/Turnover Ratio |
1.82 |
4 |
0.97 |
294 |
|
Turnovers Forced/G |
12.07 |
177 |
13.72 |
56 |
|
Effective FG pct |
0.56 |
25 |
0.476 |
322 |
As of 3/2
LAST 10 GAMES VS. AUBURN
|
Date |
Opponent (RK) |
Result |
TAMU |
Opp |
|
02/18/2017 |
Auburn |
W |
81 |
62 |
|
02/07/2018 |
@Auburn (8) |
W |
81 |
80 |
|
01/16/2019 |
Auburn (14) |
L |
66 |
85 |
|
03/04/2020 |
@Auburn (17) |
W |
78 |
75 |
|
01/02/2021 |
Auburn |
W |
68 |
66 |
|
02/12/2022 |
@Auburn (1) |
L |
58 |
75 |
|
03/11/2022 |
*Auburn (4) |
W |
67 |
62 |
|
01/25/2023 |
@Auburn (15) |
W |
79 |
63 |
|
02/07/2023 |
Auburn |
W |
83 |
78 |
|
01/09/2024 |
@Auburn (16) |
L |
55 |
66 |
* SEC Tournament, Tampa, Fla.
AGGIES vs. AP No. 1
Texas A&M seeks its first-ever victory over the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 poll vs. top-ranked Auburn.
The highest-ranked win in program history was the 67-61 triumph over No. 2 Alabama on 3/4/23.
An Aggie victory would be the highest ranked win of Buzz Williams’ 18-year career with games vs. No. 1 at Marquette (vs. Duke in 2010, at Syracuse in 2012), at Virginia Tech (vs. Duke in 2019 NCAA Tournament) and Texas A&M (at Auburn in 2019).
Texas A&M vs. AP No. 1 History
|
Date |
Opponent (RK) |
Result |
TAMU |
Opp |
|
12/11/1971 |
at UCLA (1) |
L |
53 |
117 |
|
1/22/1997 |
@Kansas (1) |
L |
60 |
89 |
|
12/9/2006 |
*UCLA (1) |
L |
62 |
65 |
|
1/16/2010 |
@Texas (1) |
L |
67 |
72 |
|
2/15/2010 |
Kansas (1) |
L |
54 |
59 |
|
3/12/2010 |
*Kansas (1) |
L |
66 |
79 |
|
1/10/2015 |
Kentucky (1) |
L |
64 |
70 |
|
2/2/2019 |
Tennessee (1) |
L |
76 |
93 |
|
2/12/2022 |
@Auburn (1) |
L |
58 |
75 |
Bold denotes home game at Reed Arena
* – Wooden Classic, Anaheim, Calif. (Honda Center)
+ – Big 12 Tournament, Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)
NEED-TO-KNOWS
MILESTONES TO WATCH:
- Wade Taylor IV needs 24 points match 2022 Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bernard King’s 22-year old career scoring record of 1,990 set from 1999-2003.
- Henry Coleman III (798) and Andersson Garcia (795) are both within reach of 800 for their full careers, while Pharrel Payne (494) is nearing 500.
- Coleman needs one victory to join the 90-win club at Texas A&M.
- Hayden Hefner’s next 3-pointer will be his 100 for his career.
SENIOR NIGHT IN AGGIELAND: Texas A&M will honor the careers of eight Aggies that will be playing their final home game on Tuesday: Jace Carter, Henry Coleman III, Andersson Garcia, Hayden Hefner, Manny Obaseki, Zhuric Phelps, Wade Taylor IV and C.J. Wilcher.
ONE OF A KIND: A&M is D1’s only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (No. 6), offensive rebounds (No. 1) and rebound margin (No. 8).
SUM OF PARTS: Texas A&M is one of three SEC teams averaging more than 40.0 rebounds/G for the full season (No. 3 with 40.8/G), and are doing it without any single player ranked among the league’s top 20 (Andersson Garcia ranks No. 22 at 5.8/G)
Among the 14 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M and Tennessee State are only schools without a player averaging 6.0+ rebounds/G.
OFFENSIVE GLASS: Texas A&M leads the NCAA with an average of 15.9 offensive rebounds/G for the full season and leads the SEC with 14.9 o-rebounds/G in league games.
DRAWING FOULS: Minnesota transfer Pharrel Payne leads the nation in FTA/G with 4.6/G among all D1 averaging fewer than 20:00 minutes/G (min. 20 games).
TREND BULLETS
- Despite allowing their last five opponents hit more than 41.0% of their FGA, the Aggies still rank No. 8 in KenPom.com’s Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 99.2, which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
- In more common statistical measures, A&M ranks No. 21 nationally in FG% allowed at .402. The Aggies allow 22.0 FGM/G (No. 18) on 54.8 FGA/G (No. 43).
- The Aggies rank No. 7 in KenPom.com’s Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 92.9, which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
- In more common statistical measures, A&M is one of 19 D1 teams holding opponents to less than 40.0% from the field. Opponents hit just 39.9% of their FGA vs. the Aggies, which is No. 18 nationally. Similarly, the Aggies allow 21.7 FGM/G (No. 11) on 54.4 FGA/G (No. 34).
- The Aggies average 5.4 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools.
- A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.9 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by 1.0 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (54.9).
- Over his past five games, Nebraska transfer CJ Wilcher is connecting on 50.0% of his 3-point shots. The sharpshooter has hit at least one 3-pointer in 11 of his last 12 games, including last five, while raising his season 3FG% to 42.0%, which is easily the best on the team.
- Among SEC players with at least 75 3FGA, Wilcher’s 41.9% ranks No. 8.
- Of Wilcher’s 100 FGA as an Aggie, just seven have been inside the 3-point line.
- Wade Taylor IV is averaging 15.8 points over his last five games with three 18+ efforts and four games with at least six assists.
- Taylor ranks fourth in the SEC in 3-point attempts/G at 7.5. His 2.4 treys/G rank No. 13 among SEC players. He has attempted four or more 3-pointers in 57 straight games.
- Taylor has reached 10+ points in 24 of 25 games, and 15 or more 16 times, in 2024-25. He has exactly 100 games with 10+ points.
- A&M pounds the offensive glass for a NCAA-best 15.9 offensive rebounds/G, which allows the Aggies to average 4.9 more FGA than their opponent for the full season. In SEC play, the M&W average 14.9 OR/G and shoot 5.4 more balls than their league opponents.
- Texas A&M hoops has rallied from a 15-point or more deficit to at least a tie six times in the past two seasons, including twice already in 2024-25. (Comeback history on page 4)
- Six of Texas A&M’s game results have been decided by three points or less (3-3 record) and 14 games have been within one-possession after the under 4:00 media timeout (9-5). (Tight games history on pg. 4)
- Texas A&M has earned 40+ rebounds in 16 games, while just allowing 40+ opponent rebounds just four times.
- In a bit of an oddity, the Aggies shoot better from beyond the arc away from Reed Arena (32.9% in 134 road/neutral) compared to 28.3% in 15 home games. Even weirder, the Aggies have made 34.4% from deep in nine true road games.
- The Aggies are 15-4 when hitting least 65% of their FTA and 5-5 when connecting on less than 65%. Similarly, the Aggies are 15-6 when they earn 20 or more FTA.