{"id":153892,"date":"2026-02-06T16:58:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:58:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153892\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:58:08","slug":"prediction-and-3-things-to-know-about-gators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/153892\/","title":{"rendered":"Prediction and 3 things to know about Gators"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLLEGE STATION \u2014\u00a0 In the midst of a grueling stretch, Texas A&M basketball<\/a> heads back home to take on its toughest test yet.<\/p>\n

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The Aggies (17-5, 7-2 SEC) lost to Alabama on Wednesday, suffering their first loss since Jan. 13 against Tennessee<\/a>. Next up is defending national champion Florida, which is coming off a week of rest following a dominant win over South Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The No. 17 Gators have won two of their last three games and are currently tied with the\u00a0Aggies for first place in the conference. Florida (16-6, 7-2)\u00a0remains strong this season following last year’s national title, but has been up and down on the road, going 3-2 so far.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a04 numbers that explain Texas A&M basketball’s success under Bucky McMillan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Denzel<\/p>\n

Denzel Aberdeen (11) of Florida shoots the ball while defended by Andersson Garcia (11) of Texas A&M\u00a0during the semifinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 16, 2024 in Nashville, Tenn. (Photo by Andy Lyons\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Andy Lyons\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A&M is trying to avoid its first two-game losing streak since Oklahoma State nd\u00a0UCF in November. The Gators are trying to capture their eighth win in their last nine games.<\/p>\n

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Here are three things to know about the Gators, plus a prediction of Texas A&M vs. Florida:<\/p>\n

Strong defense and rebounding key for Gators<\/p>\n

Offensively, Florida has been solid this season. The Gators enter Saturday’s game sixth in the conference in scoring average (86.3 points). Rebounding and defense have been key, though.<\/p>\n

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Florida’s defense ranks third in scoring (71.4 points per game), opponent field goal percentage (41.2%) and combined opponent rebounds (30.5). It’s the best in the SEC in\u00a0team rebounds, at 46.0 a game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Gators feature three big men, all 6-foot-9 or taller. Center Rueben Chinyelu is 6-foot-11 and averages 11.3 rebounds per game. Forward Alex Condon is 6-foot-10 and pulls down 8.1 boards per game, while forward Thomas Haugh is 6-foot-9 and grabs 6.4.<\/p>\n

It’ll be a challenge for A&M, which ranks second in the conference in scoring (91.8) and seventh in field goal percentage (47.5%). The\u00a0Aggies are middle of the pack rebounding-wise (seventh, 38.5 per game).<\/p>\n

The Aggies’ primary big man is forward Rashaun Agee<\/a>, listed at 6-foot-7. Agee averages 9.0 rebounds per game and is the only A&M player averaging more than five. He managed just three rebounds while going up against Alabama, which played four bigs 6-8 or taller.<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a05 Aggies, including one 5-star freshman, who could break out<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas Haugh does it all\u00a0for Florida<\/p>\n

After finishing last season ranked fifth on the team in scoring, Thomas Haugh is the undisputed engine of Florida’s offense.<\/p>\n

In 2024-25, Haugh took a backseat to three guards now playing in the NBA. He averaged 10.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 24.5 minutes per game, also the fifth-highest on the team. This year, Haugh leads the Gators in points (17.6) and minutes (33.9) and is third on the team in rebounds with 6.4 per game. He’s shooting 47.8% from the field and 34.7% from beyond the arc.<\/p>\n

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Haugh has scored 20 or more points nine times this season and has tallied four double-doubles, including two in conference play.<\/p>\n

The junior big man was named a\u00a0midseason All-American by Sporting News (third team), named to the Wooden Award\u00a0Midseason Top 25 list and won SEC Player of the Week on Nov. 17 after scoring 20 and 17 against Florida State and Miami, respectively.<\/p>\n

Todd Golden lifting Gators since arrival<\/p>\n

After leading\u00a0San Francisco for three seasons, making\u00a0one NCAA Tournament appearance, Gators head coach Todd Golden has found\u00a0success at Florida.<\/p>\n

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Golden took over in\u00a02022, finishing the year with a middling 16-17 record and missing the tournament. From there, though, it’s been a meteoric rise. Florida finished the 2023-24 season 24-12, topped out at No. 24 in the AP poll and earned a seven seed in the\u00a0NCAA\u00a0field. The Gators lost to 10-seed Colorado in the first round that year.<\/p>\n

Golden and the Gators took a sizeable leap last season, finishing the regular season 36-4, winning the SEC Tournament, winning the NCAA Tournament and finishing as the No. 1 team in the AP Poll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas A&M basketball vs Florida prediction<\/p>\n

Florida, 88-82. A&M has earned some respect, given the impressive start to Year 1 under Bucky McMillan<\/a>. But\u00a0it may be too soon to pick them to knock off the defending national champions. The Gators are well-rested and do enough different things well to put the Aggies in conflict. It may be close for a bit, but Florida prevails.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Reach Texas A&M beat reporter Tony Catalina via email at Anthony.Catalina@statesman.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLEGE STATION \u2014\u00a0 In the midst of a grueling stretch, Texas A&M basketball heads back home to take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2692,63614,5277,27,6095,29,28],"class_list":["post-153892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-basketball","tag-florida-gators-basketball","tag-sec-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-am-basketball","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}