{"id":188551,"date":"2026-03-03T15:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/188551\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T15:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T15:45:08","slug":"3-things-to-know-about-wildcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/188551\/","title":{"rendered":"3 things to know about Wildcats"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLLEGE STATION \u2014 With two games left,\u00a0Texas A&M basketball<\/a> has virtually no wiggle room. The Aggies (19-10, 9-7 SEC) fell Saturday to\u00a0Texas<\/a> and are set to host Kentucky in their final home game of the season Tuesday. <\/p>\n

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The Wildcats (19-10, 10-6) have won their last two games, but come to Reed Arena holding a 4-5 road record. With six losses in its last 11 games, A&M finds itself in desperation mode for a spot in the\u00a0NCAA Tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a0Texas A&M baseball vs Arizona State: Aggies take down Sun Devils in Arlington<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) talks to his team ahead of the Texas Longhorns\u2019 game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Reed Arena in College Station, Feb. 28, 2026. Texas won the game 76-70.<\/p>\n

Sara Diggins\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

As of Monday, the Aggies were a 10 seed in\u00a0Joe Lunardi’s bracketology<\/a>, but the metric hadn’t been updated since Saturday. That defeat, coupled with a lighter r\u00e9sum\u00e9 and no wins over ranked teams, puts more emphasis on Tuesday’s game against Kentucky. A&M still appears to be in the mix for a spot in the field, but it may also need to beat LSU on the road in the season finale and\u00a0a couple of wins in the SEC Tournament to feel comfortable. The Wildcats are projected as a seven-seed in Lunardi’s latest projection.<\/p>\n

TEXAS A&M VS. KENTUCKY<\/p>\n

When\/where:\u00a06 p.m. Tuesday in College Station.<\/p>\n

TV\/radio:\u00a0ESPN2; 1370 AM.<\/p>\n

Will Texas A&M find a way to capture an important upset? Here are three things to know about the Wildcats, plus a prediction of Texas A&M vs. Kentucky:<\/p>\n

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Kentucky brings top 3 defense to College Station<\/p>\n

Perhaps the last thing A&M wants to face right now is a defensive-minded squad. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what the Wildcats are. Kentucky ranks third in the conference in scoring defense (72.6) and opponent field goal percentage (41.9%). It’s second in opponent 3-point percentage (31.2%). The Wildcats have held SEC opponents to 75 points or less seven times, including holding Ole Miss and South Carolina to 63 points apiece.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Texas A&M basketball vs Texas: Aggies fall to Longhorns at home<\/a><\/p>\n

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Trio of guards leading charge for Wildcats<\/p>\n

Kentucky isn’t an overly impressive offensive team, entering Monday 11th in the conference at 81.2 points per game. Still, the Wildcats are led by a trio of dynamic guards, highlighted by Otega Oweh. The 6-foot-4 New Jersey native is averaging 17.7 points and 4.4 rebounds in 31.4 minutes per game. He’s been consistent, eclipsing 20 points per game 13 times in SEC play and scoring 10 or more points in all but one game this season.<\/p>\n

Alongside him are guards Denzel Aberdeen and Collin Chandler, averaging 13.0 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. The three are the only Wildcats who are averaging more than 10 points, with only freshman center Malachi Moreno averaging better than 8.0 points.<\/p>\n

Kentucky has been unkind\u00a0matchup for A&M<\/p>\n

Before A&M joined the SEC in 2012, the Aggies and Wildcats had met only once \u2014 A&M’s\u00a073-69 win in December 1978. However, since becoming conference foes, the matchup has been largely one-sided.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Outside of the Aggies winning the first matchup as conference rivals, A&M has gone 3-7 in the first 10 meetings and has a 6-12 record overall. The last meeting was Jan. 14, 2025, with the\u00a0Wildcats defeating the Aggies 81-69<\/a> on their home floor. Before that, A&M had won the previous two matchups, including knocking out second-seeded Kentucky in the 2024 SEC Tournament quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

The Aggies won the previous meeting in College Station in 2023, a victory that snapped a four-game skid dating back to 2018.<\/p>\n

MORE: Texas A&M wins 2 of 3 at Amegy Bank College Baseball Series: 5 takeaways for the Aggies<\/a><\/p>\n

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

Kentucky, 81-74. Expect A&M to play with desperation and a sense of pride as they try to salvage a once promising season. But A&M has looked tired at times, and when that happens, its offense suffers. Kentucky is stellar defensively, and Tuesday should be no different.<\/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 With two games left,\u00a0Texas A&M basketball has virtually no wiggle room. The Aggies (19-10, 9-7…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2692,75117,13321,48876,19752,3112,5277,27,16771,6096,6095,29,28],"class_list":["post-188551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-college-basketball","tag-kentucky-basketball","tag-kentucky-wildcats-basketball","tag-march-madness","tag-men-s-college-basketball","tag-ncaa-tournament","tag-sec-basketball","tag-texas","tag-texas-a-m-aggies-men-s-basketball","tag-texas-am-aggies-basketball","tag-texas-am-basketball","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188551","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=188551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}