News release from Texas A&M Athletics:
AUSTIN – The No. 13 Texas A&M men’s basketball team (15-4 overall/4-2 vs. SEC) makes its first trip to the state capital in more than a decade for a road matchup with the Texas Longhorns at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Moody Center.
- It will be the Aggies’ first game in Austin since 2012.
- The Aggies beat the Longhorns, 80-60, in the first meeting for the SEC “mirror” opponents at Reed Arena on 1/4.
- Texas is the most-played opponent for Texas A&M with 225 previous meetings. Texas leads the all-time series, 138-87.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
|
Statistic |
Texas |
TX Opp. |
Texas A&M |
A&M Opp. |
|
FGM |
27.8 |
23.6 |
25.9 |
21.6 |
|
FGA |
57.5 |
57.4 |
60.7 |
55.6 |
|
FG% |
0.483 |
0.411 |
0.426 |
0.389 |
|
3PM |
7.7 |
6.4 |
6.8 |
8.2 |
|
3PA |
20.7 |
20.2 |
22.6 |
26.7 |
|
3P% |
0.373 |
0.316 |
0.303 |
0.307 |
|
FTM |
16.1 |
12.6 |
17.1 |
14.1 |
|
FTA |
21.5 |
19.1 |
25.1 |
18.7 |
|
FT% |
0.748 |
0.663 |
0.679 |
0.753 |
|
Off. Reb |
9.6 |
10.6 |
16.4 |
10.6 |
|
Def. Reb |
26 |
22.6 |
25.3 |
22.2 |
|
Rebounds |
35.6 |
33.2 |
41.7 |
32.8 |
|
Assists |
13.2 |
11.5 |
12.4 |
14.1 |
|
Steals |
6.8 |
5.3 |
8.2 |
7.6 |
|
Blocks |
4.3 |
2.8 |
4.5 |
5 |
|
Turnovers |
9.7 |
12.4 |
12.2 |
14.8 |
|
Points |
79.4 |
66.2 |
75.7 |
65.6 |
NEED-TO-KNOWS
MIRROR OPPONENTS: Saturday’s game will be the second game of the Aggies’ “mirror” matchup with the Longhorns. The M&W has won the first game in its three mirror series. Other upcoming mirror games are Oklahoma (1/28) and at LSU (3/8).
RIVALRY SERIES: Texas A&M’s 80-60 win over Texas at Reed Arena (1/4) gave the Aggies a half-point in the Cotton Holdings Lone Star Showdown rivalry series. Another half-point is up for grabs on Saturday.
NET SUCCESS: As of 1/23, Texas A&M has earned 10 wins against NET Quad 1/2 opponents, including six Q1 conquests. A&M is tied for second-most Q1/Q2 wins behind the 11 by Auburn and Alabama and tied for third-most Q1 wins behind Auburn (10) and Oregon (8).
AP SUCCESS: The Aggies are 5-2 vs. AP Top 25 teams, which ties for the most ranked wins in school history (with 1978-79 Aggies) and ties for second-most ranked wins among all D1 teams in 2024-25.
FULL STRENGTH AGGIES: All four of the Aggies’ losses in 2024-25 have come when they were missing a key player due to injury – Zhuric Phelps (out) at UCF; Wade Taylor IV (out) vs. Alabama, at Kentucky; and Solomon Washington (6 minutes before exiting).
ZHU IMPACT: SMU transfer Zhuric Phelps ranks No. 2 in scoring with 20.7 points per SEC game.
He is the league’s only player averaging 20.0+ points and 6.0+ rebounds in SEC games.
With 124 points in SEC games, he is one of four players with 100 or more (Mark Sears, UA, 127; Walter Clayton Jr., UF, 115, Alijah Martin, UF, 108).
PAYNE TRAIN: Minnesota transfer Pharrel Payne hit 66.7 of his FGA (4-of-6) vs. OM on 1/22 and his season FG% actually went down (68.8 to 68.6).
Since the start of December, Payne has been bringing the pain with a 81.1 FG% (43-53), which leads the nation in that span of time (min. 30 FGA).
He’s hitting 80.0% (24-30) in SEC games, which leads the league among players with at least 25 FGA. He draws an average of 5.3 fouls per SEC game.
FORMULA FOR SUCCESS: Texas A&M pounds the offensive glass for a NCAA-best 16.4 offensive rebounds/G, which helps the Aggies average 5.1 FGA/G than its opponents.
The Aggies also average 2.6 fewer turnovers, 6.4 more free throw attempts and 2.5 fewer personal fouls than their opponents.
TREND BULLETS
- Texas A&M and Tennessee are the only SEC schools that haven’t allowed more than 28 FGM in a game this season. The two teams are No. 1 and No. 2 among SEC schools in FGM defense at 20.7 (UT) and 21.6 (TAMU).
- 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 6)
- Texas A&M has earned at least 20 trips to the FT line 14 times (11-3 record). The Aggies have earned 40+ FTA in three games, including 48 vs. Alabama (3rd-most in school history).
- The Aggies hit 77.8% on FTA vs. OM, but their seven FTM were the second-fewest of the season.
- Texas A&M averages just 1.6 free throw MAKES fewer than its opponents’ free throw ATTEMPTS per game (17.1 FTM to 18.7 FTA).
- Pharrel Payne ranks No. 2 among SEC players in FTM and FTA in league games with averages 4.8 FTM and 7.5 FTA/G, but he earns his trips in just 19:30 of action per game.
- Wade Taylor IV’s 4-point game vs. OM (1/22) stopped his streak of double-digit games at 21. Despite seeing 29:00 minutes of action vs. OM (1/22) and taking six 2-point FGA, Taylor only drew two fouls and zero FTA.
- Taylor has made 50-56 FTA (.893) this season.
- He averages a 2.18 assist/turnover ratio, well ahead of his career best of 1.49 in 2022-23.
- Zhuric Phelps has reached double-digit points in 10 straight games and 15 of 18 as an Aggie. He has 5+ rebounds in eight straight games, including a season-high 10 vs. ACU (12/28).
- Phelps needs four steals to reach an exclusive group of D1 players with 1,400+ points, 400+ rebounds, 250+ assists and 200 steals. A fourth-year senior, Phelps would join five other Covid 5th year players to reach the numbers – Mark Sears, Alabama; Dayvion McKnight, Xavier; Kadary Richmond, St. John’s; Nendah Tarke, Towson; and Posh Alexander, Dayton.
- Texas A&M has earned 40+ rebounds in 12 games, while just allowing 40+ opponent rebounds just three times. The Aggies rank No. 11 nationally in rebound margin at 8.9/G.
- In the “doing the little things” category, Andersson Garcia led the Aggies with a +9 plus/minus vs. Ole Miss while scoring zero points (0-1 FGA), grabbing five rebounds (2 off/3 def), blocking two shots and dishing an assist in 21 minutes.
- The Aggies are 4-1 in games when the opponent hits 10+ 3-pointers and 5-1 when the opponent connects on more than 34.0% of its 3FGA.