Saturday, March 1
Gainesville, Fla.
7:30 PM
Texas A&M
at
Florida
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
F/C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
Photo by: Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics
No. 12 Aggies Face Road Ranked Challenge vs. No. 3 Gators
Feb 28, 2025 | Men's Basketball
GAINESVILLE – The No. 12 Texas A&M men's basketball team (20-8 overall / 9-6 vs. SEC) takes its penultimate road trip of the regular season for a 7:30 p.m. tilt with the No. 3 Florida Gators at the Stephen O'Connell Center on Saturday.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
As of 2/28
LAST 10 GAMES VS. FLORIDA
+ SEC Tournament, Tampa, Fla.
* SEC Tournament, Nashville, Tenn.
NEED-TO-KNOWS
WADE WATCH: Wade Taylor IV needs 35 points match 2022 Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bernard King's 22-year old career scoring record of 1,990 set from 1999-2003.
Taylor's next 3-pointer will match Josh Carter's school record for 3's in conference games only of 139, set from 2005-09.
Taylor will be looking for his 100th career double-digit scoring game against the Gators. He has scored 10 or more points in 99 of 135 career games.
COLEMAN COMPILER: Graduate forward Henry Coleman III is the only player in school history with more than 1,200 points, 750 rebounds and 130 steals. He also within seven dishes of hitting the 100 plateau in career assists.
SINCE SNAPPING: Since breaking out of an ugly seven-game losing streak in 2022 with a 56-55 win over Florida at Reed Arena (2/15/2022), Texas A&M has emerged as one of the winningest programs in the SEC with 78 wins in that span, trailing only Tennessee (84), Alabama (82) and Auburn (79). Nationally, the Aggies' win total rank in that span is tied for No. 22.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Five of the Aggies' six wins vs. AP Top 25 opponents have come away from Reed Arena, including three in true road games - at No. 17 Oklahoma (1/8), at No. 16 Ole Miss (1/22) and at No. 15 Missouri (2/8). Other ranked wins away from home were vs. No. 21 Creighton (11/27 in Las Vegas) and vs. No. 11 Purdue (12/14 in Indianapolis).
DRAWING FOULS: Among all D1 players averaging fewer than 20:00/G, Pharrel Payne ranks No. 2 in FTA/G with 4.6 (min. 20 games played).
ONE OF A KIND: A&M is D1's only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (No. 7), offensive rebounds (No. 1) and rebound margin (No. 5).
BEST BENCH: Texas A&M's bench leads the SEC in KenPom's "bench minutes" metric at 39.7% (No. 22 nationally). The Aggie reserves average 27.0 points/G, while making 45.8% of their FGA.
STINGY ON DEFENSE: The Aggies rank No. 7 in KenPom.com's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 92.9, which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
LAYMAN'S TERMS: In more common statistical measures, A&M is one of 19 D1 teams holding opponents to less than 40.0% from the field. Opponents hit just 39.9% of their FGA vs. the Aggies, which is No. 18 nationally. Similarly, the Aggies allow 21.7 FGM/G (No. 11) on 54.4 FGA/G (No. 34).
SHOOTERS SHOOT: The Aggies average 6.3 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools
DEFENDERS DENY: A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.0 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by 1.7 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (54.7).
SUM OF PARTS: Texas A&M is one of three SEC teams averaging more than 40.0 rebounds/G for the full season (No. 3 with 40.9/G), and are doing it with only Andersson Garcia ranked among the league's top 20 at No. 20 (5.9/G).
Among the 17 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M and Tennessee State are only schools without a player averaging 6.0+ rebounds/G.
TREND BULLETS
TV/RADIO
- Gainesville, Florida will also be the site of ESPN's College GameDay on Saturday.
- In the Buzz Williams era, the Aggies hold a 5-2 advantage over UF, which includes the only victory in Gainesville ever - a 66-63 triumph on 1/4/2023 that resulted in SEC POTW honors for Julius Marble (17 pts, 6 rbs, 3 o-rbs).
- Last season, the teams split a pair of meetings with the Aggies edging the Gators, 67-66, in BCS (2/3/24) and UF returning the favor in the semis of the SEC Tournament, 95-90 (3/16/24).
- Since the Aggies joined the SEC in 2012-13, the two teams have split 16 total meetings. 8-8.
- UF leads the all-time series, 10-9, that dates back to the first meeting on 1/2/92 when Lon Krueger's Gators beat Tony Barone's first Aggies squad, 73-46, in Gainesville.
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
| Statistic | Florida | Rank | Texas A&M | Rank |
| Scoring Offense | 83.6 | 10 | 73.9 | T-183 |
| Scoring Defense | 67.1 | 54 | 66.7 | 47 |
| Scoring Margin | 16.5 | 6 | 7.3 | 76 |
| Field Goal % | 46.7 | 84 | 42 | 316 |
| Free Throw % | 71.3 | 207 | 69.5 | 262 |
| 3-Point % | 35.1 | 118 | 30.6 | 329 |
| Free Throws/G | 14.4 | 139 | 16.9 | 22 |
| 3-Pointers/G | 9.7 | 34 | 6.9 | T-257 |
| FT Attempts/G | 20.1 | 126 | 24.4 | 14 |
| 3-Point Attempts/G | 27.6 | 37 | 22.6 | 175 |
| FG% Defense | 39.4 | 14 | 39.9 | 19 |
| 3-Point % Defense | 29.2 | 8 | 32.7 | 132 |
| Fouls/G | 16.5 | T-145 | 17.1 | T-205 |
| Rebound Margin | 8.1 | 10 | 9.2 | 6 |
| Off. Rebounds/G | 13.86 | 13 | 15.89 | 1 |
| Def. Rebounds/G | 28.11 | 9 | 25.04 | 153 |
| Rebounds/G | 41.96 | 3 | 40.93 | 8 |
| Assist/Turnover Ratio | 1.48 | 34 | 1.01 | 271 |
| Turnovers Forced/G | 12.57 | 134 | 13.82 | 56 |
| Effective FG pct | 0.543 | 60 | 0.478 | 320 |
LAST 10 GAMES VS. FLORIDA
| Date | Opponent (RK) | Result | TAMU | Opp |
| 02/11/2017 | @Florida (17) | L | 62 | 71 |
| 01/02/2018 | Florida | L | 66 | 83 |
| 01/22/2019 | @Florida | L | 72 | 81 |
| 02/12/2020 | Florida | L | 61 | 78 |
| 02/15/2022 | Florida | W | 56 | 55 |
| 03/10/2022 | +Florida | W | 83 | 80 |
| 01/04/2023 | @Florida | W | 66 | 63 |
| 01/18/2023 | Florida | W | 54 | 52 |
| 02/03/2024 | Florida | W | 67 | 66 |
| 03/16/2024 | *Florida | L | 90 | 95 |
* SEC Tournament, Nashville, Tenn.
NEED-TO-KNOWS
WADE WATCH: Wade Taylor IV needs 35 points match 2022 Texas A&M Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Bernard King's 22-year old career scoring record of 1,990 set from 1999-2003.
Taylor's next 3-pointer will match Josh Carter's school record for 3's in conference games only of 139, set from 2005-09.
Taylor will be looking for his 100th career double-digit scoring game against the Gators. He has scored 10 or more points in 99 of 135 career games.
COLEMAN COMPILER: Graduate forward Henry Coleman III is the only player in school history with more than 1,200 points, 750 rebounds and 130 steals. He also within seven dishes of hitting the 100 plateau in career assists.
SINCE SNAPPING: Since breaking out of an ugly seven-game losing streak in 2022 with a 56-55 win over Florida at Reed Arena (2/15/2022), Texas A&M has emerged as one of the winningest programs in the SEC with 78 wins in that span, trailing only Tennessee (84), Alabama (82) and Auburn (79). Nationally, the Aggies' win total rank in that span is tied for No. 22.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Five of the Aggies' six wins vs. AP Top 25 opponents have come away from Reed Arena, including three in true road games - at No. 17 Oklahoma (1/8), at No. 16 Ole Miss (1/22) and at No. 15 Missouri (2/8). Other ranked wins away from home were vs. No. 21 Creighton (11/27 in Las Vegas) and vs. No. 11 Purdue (12/14 in Indianapolis).
DRAWING FOULS: Among all D1 players averaging fewer than 20:00/G, Pharrel Payne ranks No. 2 in FTA/G with 4.6 (min. 20 games played).
ONE OF A KIND: A&M is D1's only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (No. 7), offensive rebounds (No. 1) and rebound margin (No. 5).
BEST BENCH: Texas A&M's bench leads the SEC in KenPom's "bench minutes" metric at 39.7% (No. 22 nationally). The Aggie reserves average 27.0 points/G, while making 45.8% of their FGA.
STINGY ON DEFENSE: The Aggies rank No. 7 in KenPom.com's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 92.9, which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
LAYMAN'S TERMS: In more common statistical measures, A&M is one of 19 D1 teams holding opponents to less than 40.0% from the field. Opponents hit just 39.9% of their FGA vs. the Aggies, which is No. 18 nationally. Similarly, the Aggies allow 21.7 FGM/G (No. 11) on 54.4 FGA/G (No. 34).
SHOOTERS SHOOT: The Aggies average 6.3 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools
DEFENDERS DENY: A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.0 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by 1.7 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (54.7).
SUM OF PARTS: Texas A&M is one of three SEC teams averaging more than 40.0 rebounds/G for the full season (No. 3 with 40.9/G), and are doing it with only Andersson Garcia ranked among the league's top 20 at No. 20 (5.9/G).
Among the 17 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M and Tennessee State are only schools without a player averaging 6.0+ rebounds/G.
TREND BULLETS
- One key to the Aggies' improvement in defensive rebounding has been the play of SMU transfer Zhuric Phelps, who is averaging 6.0 defensive boards over his last four games, which is tied for fourth-most among SEC players in that span.
- Over his past five (or 10) games, Nebraska transfer CJ Wilcher is connecting on 50.0% of his 3-point shots. The sharpshooter has hit at least one 3-pointer in nine of his last 10 games while raising his season 3FG% to 42.2%, which is easily the best on the team.
- Among SEC players with at least 75 3FGA, Wilcher's 42.2% ranks No. 7.
- Of Wilcher's 96 FGA as an Aggie, just six have been inside the 3-point line.
- Wade Taylor IV is averaging 17.1 points over this last seven games with four games of at least 18 points and at least six assists.
- Taylor ranks fourth in the SEC in 3-point attempts/G at 7.5. His 2.5 treys/G rank tNo. 8 among SEC players. He has attempted four or more 3-pointers in 56 straight games.
- Taylor has reached 10+ points in 23 of 24 games, and 15 or more 16 times, in 2024-25.
- A&M pounds the offensive glass for a NCAA-best 15.9 offensive rebounds/G, which allows the Aggies to average 5.3 more FGA than their opponent for the full season. In SEC play, the M&W average 14.9 OR/G and shoot 6.3 more balls than their league opponents.
- Texas A&M hoops has rallied from a 15-point or more deficit to at least a tie six times in the past two seasons, including twice already in 2024-25. (Comeback history on page 4)
- Six of Texas A&M's game results have been decided by three points or less (3-3 record) and 14 games have been within one-possession after the under 4:00 media timeout (9-5). (Tight games history on pg. 4)
- Texas A&M has earned 40+ rebounds in 16 games, while just allowing 40+ opponent rebounds just three times.
- In a bit of an oddity, the Aggies shoot better from beyond the arc away from Reed Arena (33.1% in 13 road/neutral) compared to 28.3% in 15 home games. Even weirder, the Aggies have made 34.9% from deep in eight true road games.
- The Aggies are 15-3 when hitting least 65% of their FTA and 5-5 when connecting on less than 65%. Similarly, the Aggies are 15-5 when they earn 20 or more FTA.
TV/RADIO
- The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network, locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM or worldwide on the 12th Man Mobile App with Todd Kalas and Dr. John Thornton describing the action. It is also available on SiriusXM on channel 81.
- The game will be broadcast on SEC Network with Tom Hart and Ron Slay providing the description.
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