After a complete dismantling of Alabama by the Florida Gators in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament they’ll advance to the semis where they’ll take on the Texas A&M Aggies, a team they may not have been expecting to play.
Texas A&M, the 7-seed, advances to play the Gators after taking down the heavily favored Kentucky Wildcats–the 2-seed who the Gators may have been expecting to see. This wasn’t the only upset as Mississippi State took down the 1-seed Tennessee Volunteers, meaning the #1, #2, and #3 teams in the SEC standings are now out leaving #4 Auburn taking on #9 Mississippi State while the #6 Gators take on the #7 Aggies.
At this point the SEC Tournament is looking winnable for all teams remaining and for the Gators it starts with a difficult game with Texas A&M. The Aggies got here by a convincing 97-87 win over Kentucky in a game where their offense was clicking on all cylinders. They went 11-26 (42%) from three, while also steadily getting to the line with a series of downhill drives. At 1.28 points per possession this was one of their most potent offensive performances of the season which also points to how the Aggies are currently peaking at the right time.
In late February, from an NCAA Tournament standpoint the Aggies were left for dead. They were on a five-game losing streak which at the time made it seem like they went from on the bubble, to just off the bubble, to nowhere near. Then they flipped a switch, winning on March 2nd against Georgia and rattling off a 5-game winning streak that they’ll bring into Saturday’s game against the Gators. It’s now looking like the Aggies are back in the field, though they’d love to leave no doubt by taking down the Gators and adding another big win to their resume.
Florida and Texas A&M have played once this season, back on February 3rd where the Aggies won a 67-66 rock fight. Given how the Gators want to get up and down and play a high possession game this point total speaks to how the Aggies were able to dictate tempo and that was one of the big reasons they were able to come away victorious. Guard Tyrece Radford, who has had a lot of success against the Gators in his career, led the way with 26 points, many of which came in the paint. Zyon Pulli led the Gators with 18 points, but the big storyline was how the Aggies were able to keep Walter Clayton to 8 points and 2 turnovers in what could be considered his worst game of the SEC season.
At the time, Texas A&M was all about playing grind-it-out games and they had some success as you saw with the way they were able to beat Florida. However, that style stopped working for them. It was tough to maintain this style for the entirety of the season, and their defense started to slip while their point totals stayed the same. That resulted in the 5-game losing streak, and they knew changes needed to be made. They switched to a faster, more free-flowing style and while that means giving up a lot more points, they have been able to outscore opponents and suddenly they started winning games in the 80’s and 90’s instead of the 60’s. Right now they’re playing some of their best basketball of the season which will be a much different look for the Gators than what they saw against Georgia and Alabama–both of whom are in complete tailspins.
The engine behind Texas A&M’s offense is the tremendous backcourt of Tyrece Radford and the preseason SEC player of the year Wade Taylor. These two can fill it up in a hurry, and against Kentucky they combined for 55 points and 9 assists. What’s concerning for the Gators is that they also play a style that has given them issues all season long defensively. Radford is the kind of physical guard that can get into the paint and wait for plays to develop before finishing himself or finding a shooter to kick it out to, and Taylor is a speedy 6-foot guard that has been able to get around the bigger, stronger backcourt of Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton. So far this SEC Tournament Pullin and Clayton have had one rough game (Georgia) and one solid game (Alabama) defensively, and this could be their biggest challenge yet. Texas A&M gets very little offensive production from their frontcourt, so making things uncomfortable for the guards has to be Florida’s number one priority.
While the Texas A&M frontcourt might not produce a ton of points, they make their impact felt on the offensive glass where the Aggies are first in the country in offensive rebounding percentage. Offensive rebounding is something the Gators take a lot of pride in and they often have wanted to say that they’re the best offensive rebounding team in the country but currently that title belongs to Texas A&M–so this could be quite the battle on the boards. Florida’s rebounding is largely due to their frontcourt of Tyrese Samuel, Micah Handlogten, Alex Condon, and Thomas Haugh, and whichever two are on the court are the ones getting a lot of the boards. Texas A&M is much more spread out when it comes to who secures the boards and while the frontcourt plays a huge role in being physical when the shot goes up it can often be the guards who come in and get the ball after the hard work of the post players. With both teams being so reliant on the glass, it could very well be whoever wins this battle that comes away victorious.
Head coach Buzz Williams has had the Gators’ number as of late with Texas A&M winning the last five meetings between the two teams. Shockingly, these five wins have come by a combined total of 10 points so things have been extremely close. He has always liked to change up styles both offensively and defensively, so you can bet you’ll see him mix in a few zones to try to keep the Gators off balance.
At this point of the SEC Tournament both teams will be feeling like they have a chance at the championship. Both SEC glory and NCAA Tournament seeding are on the line, so this will no doubt be a tremendous game.
Florida and Texas A&M will tip off on March 16th with the tip technically set for 3:30 PM ET, though it will be 25 minutes after the completion of the Auburn-Mississippi State game that tips at 1:00. Nearly every tip has been delayed throughout the SEC Tournament, so if you’re setting your device to record this game–record plenty of time afterwards. It will be televised on ESPN.
