LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Texas A&M men's basketball team makes the first trip to Rupp Arena of the Buzz Williams era for a 1 p.m. matchup with the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.

• After five straight games vs. first-year SEC head coaches (all wins), the Aggies face a UK squad led 30-year coaching veteran John Calipari.
• Two of Texas A&M's four total wins over UK have been at Rupp: 73-69 on 1/22/1978 and 83-71 on 1/12/2013.

 
TRENDS & STREAKS:

• Texas A&M has opened SEC play with a 5-0 record for the second time in program history. The only other Aggie squad to start SEC play with five straight wins was the 2015-15 team.
• Transfers have been key in the 5-0 SEC start with Dexter Dennis (Wichita State) slashing just shy of a double-double (11.6 pts/9.6 rebs) and Julius Marble (Michigan State) averaging a team-best 15.6/g.
• The Aggies have won nine straight SEC regular season matchups dating back to 2021-22, which is the longest since joining elite league. It's the Aggies' longest in any conference since an 11-game streak against Southwest Conference foes more than 40 years ago (last two of 1978-79 and first nine of 1979-80).
• In the 5-0 SEC start, the Aggies have trailed for a combined 5 minutes and 25 seconds. The Aggies have not trailed in the past 107 minutes and 36 seconds dating back to a 14-13 lead by Missouri at the 12:24 mark of the first half on 1/11.
• The Aggies are allowing an average of 20.2 first-half points in SEC play, while limiting opponents to 26.4 FG% / 17.9 3-PT% in the first stanza.
• The Aggies' seven-game winning streak is the team's longest since closing out the 2021-22 regular season with four victories and winning three games to reach the 2022 SEC tournament final.
• Texas A&M and Alabama go into the weekend tied for the longest active winning streak by a SEC team (Nation's 8th-longest active win streak).
• The Aggies have used the same starting lineup (Coleman III, Dennis, Marble, Radford and Taylor IV) for the last seven games.
• During the 7-game win streak, Tyrece Radford is team's leading scorer at 14.3 points while hitting 52.2% of his FGs and 37.5% of his 3-pointers. In the 11 games prior, Radford was slashing 10.8 pts/31.5%/27.5%.
• In the 'straw that stirs the drink' category, Wade Taylor IV leads the team in points, 3-pointers, free throw %, assists and steals.

 
FIRST HALF CLAMPS:
Texas A&M has limited its past two opponents to a combined 30 points in the first half -- 18 at South Carolina and 12 vs. Florida.

• In research dating back to 1996-97, the combined 30 first-half points allowed vs. SC and UF is the fewest in back to back games. Similarly it's the first time that the Aggies have allowed fewer than 20 first-half points in consecutive games (since at least 1996-97).
• In fact, the Aggies have been consistently stingy in the first half of its five SEC games, allowing just 101 points (20.2 avg) and limiting shooters to 26.4% on FGs and 17.9% on 3-point tries.

 
First Half Defense vs. SEC Opponents
Team                            FG/FGA (Pct.)            3FG/3FGA (Pct.)         Pts.
at Florida (1/4)             9-24 (.375)                 2-10 (.200)                  23
LSU (1/7)                       8-28 (.286)                 4-14 (.286)                  23
Missouri (1/11)             7-23 (.304)                 1-10 (.100)                  25
at S. Carolina (1/14)     7-24 (.292)                 2-11 (.182)                  18
Florida (1/18)               2-26 (.077)                 1-11 (.091)                  12
Total                             33-125 (.264)             10-56 (.179)                101
 
IN SEC GAMES ONLY:

• Julius Marble ranks No. 9 in scoring at 15.6/g and No. 3 in FG% at 53.4%.
• Dennis Dennis ranks No. 2 in rebounding at 9.6/g and No. 2 in defensive rebounds at 7.0/g.
• Wade Taylor IV is tied for No. 4 in assists at 4.0/g and ranks No. 7 in assist/turnover ratio at 1.33. He is hitting 93.8% of the FTA (tNo. 2).
• Henry Coleman III is tied for No. 3 in offensive rebounds at 3.0/g.
• Boosted by a 48-16 rebounding advantage vs. South Carolina, the Aggies lead the SEC with a 12.6 rebounding margin.
• The team ranks No. 2 in scoring defense, allowing just 57.6 pts/g. The Aggies are the only team to allow fewer than 300 points in SEC games (288 points).
• The Aggies rank No. 3 in scoring margin at +15.4 and tied for No. 4 in scoring offense at 73.0 pts/g.

 
TOP 10 TAYLOR:
Sophomore guard Wade Taylor IV, the 6-foot do-it-all dynamo from Dallas, Texas, ranks in the top 10 in the SEC in a wide array of statistical categories:
 
Statistic                  Average              SEC Rank
Points                      15.2                    No. 8
Assists                     3.7                      No. 7
Assist/TO Ratio       1.57                    No. 10
Steals                      1.8                      No. 8
Free Throws            73 total               No. 5
FT Attempts            89 total               No. 8
FT%                         82.0%                 No. 4
3-pointers               2.2                      No. 8
3-point attempts    109 total             No. 7
 
Little Big Man:
Despite generally being one of the shorter players on the court, the 6-foot-2 Tyrece Radford makes a huge impact in the paint.
NCAA "Major Conferences" Offensive Rebounds Leaders (6' 2" or shorter)
Rk     Player, School                                        Ht.          ORebs
1.      Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M                  6-2          1.9
         Posh Alexander, St. John's                     6-0          1.9
3.      Erice Reed Jr., Mississippi State             6-2          1.4
4.      Deivon Smith, Georgia Tech                  6-1          1.4
5.      Jahmir Young, Maryland                        6-1          1.2
 
SEC Rebounds Leaders (6' 2" or shorter)
Rk     Player, School                                        Ht.          Rebs
1.      Tyrece Radford , Texas A&M                 6-2          5.3
2.      Trae Hannibal, LSU                                6-2          4.6
3.      Meechie Johnson Jr., South Carolina    6-2          4.1
4.      Mark Sears, Alabama                             6-1          4.0
5.      Wendell Green Jr., Auburn                    5-11        3.6
 
MARKED IMPROVEMENT:
Tyrece Radford is getting to the line and hitting the freebies at a significantly higher rate in his fourth season as a collegian.

• After averaging only 2.5 free throw attempts per game for the first three years of his career, Radford is making 5.2 trips to the charity stripe per game in 2022-23.
• Radford has already hit 76 free throws in just 18 games. His previous high season total was 56 from his freshman season at Virginia Tech (56-of-81) when he played 32 games. 
• Radford's 80.9 FT% is markedly improved from last year when he hit 67.1% from the line. Radford's three-year FT% entering 2022-23 was 70.6%.

 
SEC Free Throw Leaders
Rk        Player, School                                FT Made
1.         Wendell Green Jr., Auburn             87
2.         Rick Council IV, Arkansas               79
3.         Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M          76
4.         Colin Castlelon, Florida                  74
5.         Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M          73
            Brandon Miller, Alabama               73
80% Free Throw Shooters in the SEC
Rk        Player, School                                FT-FTA        FT %
1.         Wendell Green Jr., Auburn             87-103        .845
2.         Matthew Murrell, Ole Miss            54-64          .844
3.         Brandon Miller, Alabama               73-87          .839
4.         Wade Taylor IV, Texas A&M          73-89          .820
5.         Terry Roberts, Georgia                   54-66          .818
6.         Julian Phillips, Tennessee               65-80          .813
7.         Tyrece Radford, Texas A&M          76-94          .809
8.         Mark Sears, Alabama                     66-82          .805
 
Random notables:

• Since trailing Northwestern State for the first 21:35 of the 12/27 meeting, by as many as 15 points at one point, the Aggies have trailed just 7:43 since over next 257 minutes and 54 seconds.
• Dexter Dennis' 16 rebounds vs. Florida on 1/18 was the most by Aggies vs. a SEC opponents since Robert Williams had 16 vs. Missouri on 2/8/2017. Interestingly, Texas A&M Radio Network analyst John Thornton had 17 rebounds against Baylor on 2/14/1974.
• Easily the Aggies' most prolific shooter from deep, Wade Taylor IV has improved his 3-point % by nearly .10 from last year. Taylor is hitting 36.7% in 2022-23 after making 27.8% as a freshman.
• The Aggies' starting lineup has a definite Pelican State flavor with at least two Louisiana natives in it for every game so far this season - Tyrece Radford (Baton Rouge) and Dexter Dennis (Baker).
• The Aggies have used the same starting lineup (Coleman III, Dennis, Marble, Radford and Taylor IV) for the last seven games (all wins). For the season, the fivesome is 8-1 with the lone loss coming to Boise State on Dec. 3.
• The defensive-minded duo of Andersson Garcia and Andre Gordon have been the first players off the bench in five of the last six games.
• The Aggies' 2022-23 roster was bolstered by the addition of six newcomers in the offseason -- five transfers and one scholarship freshman. Headlining the group was Dexter Dennis, who was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year at Wichita State in 2021-22, and Julius Marble, who helped Michigan State advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Both have earned spots in the starting five.
• A nugget in the Jan. 12, 2021 Associated Press recap of Virginia Tech's win over Duke included legendary head coach Mike Krzyzewski describing Radford's 18-point, 12-rebound, 6-assist effort in the victory: "The kid Radford was the best player on the court. Double-double, but his intensity, how hard he played really helps their team immensely."

 
FOLLOW THE ACTION:

• The game will be televised by ESPN with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Jimmy Dykes (color) on the call.

• The matchup airs on the Texas A&M Radio Network or locally on 1620 AM/94.5 FM with Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton calling the action.