COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Saturday night Wade Taylor the 4th made his return to the floor and the 13th ranked Texas A&M men's basketball team took care of business against LSU. Now the Maroon & White will hit the road for a top 25 matchup against 16th ranked Ole Miss.
“We're going to play 9 players and all 9 players are high major plus guys,” head coach Buzz Williams said. “I mean, they're ahead of us in everything. KenPom, the net, the league. [They’ve got] really, really good players, Final Four head coach, a really strong staff."
“The conference, the team and everybody in the SEC, I'm not really surprised when any team lose right now because, you know that everybody's really good at this point,” senior forward Andersson Garcia said. “It's really hard to win a basketball game.”
In his return to the starting lineup Saturday night, Wade Taylor IV didn't miss a beat after missing the last 3 games due to injury. In 24 minutes of action, he finished with 12 points and 4 rebounds.
“It helps us a lot to be honest, even myself, like Wade, I know his game so well,” Garcia said. “It helps me a lot to be in my position to help the team, and I know everybody's comfortable being around him, no matter if he's playing or not, because he always like trying to help each other, but it feels different every time he's stepping in the court, even me playing with him.”
Taking a look at the numbers, Ole Miss enters this game 3rd in the country in turnover margin, while A&M tops the nation in turnover rate, so ball security and the battle on the boards will be key Wednesday night.
“Who's going to shoot the most balls tomorrow and who's going to shoot the most free throws,” Williams said. “That will be a turnover game, and that will be an offensive rebound game, not because it's Ole Miss, Texas A&M. That's just the math, no matter who you play, but because they're so talented at it, and I think you can tell coach coaches that way. That'll be a big part of the game.”
The Aggies will take on the Rebels Wednesday night before heading to Austin Saturday afternoon for the second installment of the Lone Star Showdown. Tipoff Wednesday night in Oxford is set for 8 p.m. on ESPN 2.
