After loosing to Arkansas in heartbreaking fashion, the Cats came back and defeated a surprisingly tough Tennessee team 74-66 in a game where we witnessed Andrew Harrison hopefully turn the corner and become the point guard that Calipari and the rest of BBN had hoped to see when he arrived on campus. If Andrew can continue the level of play that we seen against the Vols, then it's only up from here for this team.
Now it's game day once again and this time it's the Aggies of Texas A&M that await. Before conference play started, A&M hadn't really played a quality team (aside from Oklahoma) so to speak, so no one really considered them to be a so called "threat", then came conference play. All of a sudden, the Aggies are carrying an SEC record of 3-1 with wins over the likes of Arkansas 69-53 (at Texas A&M), Tennessee 57-56 (at Tennessee) and South Carolina 75-67 with their only loss being to Mississippi State 81-72 in overtime (at Mississippi State). This team shouldn't be taken lightly by the team or fans.
To get you prepared for the game, here's some history on Texas A&M for those who aren't familiar with the Aggies.
SCHOOL HISTORY:
EST: 1876
ENROLLMENT: 56,256
LOCATION: College Station, Texas
FORMER NAMES: The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas
COLORS: Maroon/White
NICKNAME: Aggies (short for an agricultural school)
MASCOT: Reveille VIII
CONFERENCE: SEC
Over A&M's history, they have reached the NCAA Tournament eleven times, the furthest they have ever advanced is the Sweet Sixteen which they have achieved three times.
NOTABLE ALUMNI:
*****As far as "Notable Alumni", these names are more important than any other*****
THOMAS N. FOWLER- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
WILLIAM G. HARRELL- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
LLOYD HERBERT HUGHES- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
GEORGE D. KEATHLEY- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
TURNEY W. LEONARD- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
ELI L. WHITELEY- MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
We would like to thank these men and their families for their service to our great country…
Now it's time to see how the Cats stack up against the competition…..
BY THE NUMBERS:
A&M CATS
PPG: 69 80
RPG: 36 43
APG: 13 12
SPG: 7 4
BPG: 5 7
TPG: 12 13
FG%: 45 47
FT%: 65 67
3P%: 33 31
You'll notice that I've highlighted a couple of categories that should be paid attention to, first the steals and turnovers. The simple fact that the Aggies average seven steals to Kentucky's thirteen turnovers is something to be concerned about. The Cats will have to value each and every possession and not have careless turnovers if they expect to earn a W. If they have more than ten turnovers you can expect a very close game.
Next is free-throw shooting. Yes I see that the Aggies shoot 65% from the stripe and Kentucky shoots 67%, but you may as well figure that A&M will all of a sudden have a team full of Kyle Macy's Tuesday night (every team hits everything against the Cats). The Cats will have to come close to the 23-24 performance they showed from the line against the Vols to win, anything less than 70% from the stripe could very well spell a loss.
If Kentucky takes care of the ball and hit's it's free-throws at a fairly decent clip, they could win this one pretty easily. It should be noted that Vegas has the Cats favored by 14 1/2 points tonight.
SERIES HISTORY:
The Cats lead the all-time series with a record of 3-2. Kentucky won the last meeting which took place in College Station back in February of 2013, (72-68) in overtime.
I give up on trying to predict what this team will do. This team has been the hardest to figure out in quite some time. But, if you have learned anything over the last couple of weeks it's, pay attention to what Vegas says just before tip-off, they're pretty damn accurate…
We'll find out at 9pm…..
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