No. 13 Texas A&M aims to lean on its strengths and move up in the league standings when it battles struggling South Carolina on Saturday in a Southeastern Conference contest in Columbia, S.C.
The Aggies (16-5, 5-3 SEC) have won three of their past four games, including a gritty 75-68 decision at home over Oklahoma on Tuesday. Zhuric Phelps paced Texas A&M with 15 points while Henry Coleman III added 14.
Wade Taylor IV scored 12 and Pharrel Payne and Manny Obaseki hit for 10 points each. Andersson Garcia pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds, while Payne grabbed 11 boards as the Aggies ruled the glass, outrebounding Oklahoma 47-19 overall and 21-2 on the offensive end.
The 28-rebound advantage was a season-high for Texas A&M. It also marked the team’s 10th game with 40 or more rebounds and second with at least 20 offensive boards.
“(Rebounding) is something we take pride in,” Coleman said. “Coach (Buzz Williams) always says it bends the needle for us. We’re not the most talented team, and we don’t have a lot of five-star recruits, so we have to find other areas to exploit our opponents and be the best at. Our offensive rebounding the past two and a half years has definitely been our strength.”
The Aggies also shot a season best 82.9 percent (29-of-35) from the free throw line, its highest percentage of made foul shots in a game with at least 35 attempts since Dec. 2, 2000.
Taylor is Texas A&M’s best free-throw shooter at 90.2 percent. He also leads the team with 4.6 assists per game, while Phelps averages a team-best 15.1 points. Solomon Washington is the Aggies’ top rebounder (5.8 per game).
The Gamecocks (10-11, 0-8) have struggled mightily of late. Most recently, South Carolina lost 71-60 loss at Georgia on Tuesday despite 19 points from Jamarii Thomas and 18 from Collin Murray-Boyles.
Murray-Boyles leads the team in scoring (15.2 ppg), rebounding (8.9 per game), steals (1.6 per game) and blocks (1.3). Thomas is second in scoring (13.1) and averages a team-high 3.2 assists.
South Carolina never led in Tuesday’s loss and shot just 41.2 percent from the floor, including making just two field goals over the final 10:53 of the first half. The Gamecocks also committed 17 turnovers and continue to rank last in the SEC in turnover margin (-2.3).
“Guys have to step up and play better; that’s the bulk of what our turnovers are,” South Carolina coach Lamont Paris said.
Four of the Gamecocks’ past six losses have been by five points or less. That stretch includes a three-point loss to then-No. 2 Auburn and a one-point setback to then-No. 5 Florida.
“I’ve been around a lot of really, really good teams — elite teams, relative to the whole country,” Paris said. “And I’ve also been around some bad teams. So I know what a bad team is. And if this was a bad team, you can’t accidentally (play ranked teams tight). You just can’t. This league is too good. It’s the best the league has ever been.”
–Field Level Media
