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No. 22 Aggies Host Auburn in Rare Reed Matchup vs. AP No. 1 TeamNo. 22 Aggies Host Auburn in Rare Reed Matchup vs. AP No. 1 Team
Craig Bisacre/Texas A&M Athletics
Men's Basketball

No. 22 Aggies Host Auburn in Rare Reed Matchup vs. AP No. 1 Team

The No. 22 Texas A&M men's basketball team faces off against the top-ranked Auburn Tigers in a rare home matchup against the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Reed Arena.

Game Notes vs. AUBURN Opens in a new window Preview: Buzz Opens in a new window Preview: Henry Opens in a new window
BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION – The No. 22 Texas A&M men's basketball team faces off against the top-ranked Auburn Tigers in a rare home matchup against the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 at 8 p.m. on Tuesday at Reed Arena.
  • It is the fourth time the AP No. 1 team will visit College Station and the first time during the Buzz Williams era at Texas A&M. Other visits by the AP No. 1 were Kansas on 2/15/10 Kentucky on 1/10/15 and Tennessee on 2/2/19.
  • In the Buzz Williams era, the Aggies has faced the AP No. 1 once - a 75-58 road loss to Auburn on 2/12/2022.
  • A&M leads 15-7 in the all-time series with Auburn, dating back to the first meeting on Dec. 22, 1961 - a 62-50 Aggie win in Houston.
  • Auburn won last year's meeting with a 66-55 win on its home court (1/9/24).
  • Since Texas A&M joined the SEC in 2012-13, the Aggies hold a 12-5 advantage over Auburn, including a 5-2 edge at home.
  • In the Buzz Williams era, the Aggies are 5-2 vs. the Tigers, including a 2-0 record at Reed Arena.
 
PROMOTIONS FOR AUBURN VS. TEXAS A&M
  • Senior Night: Pregame recognition of 8 seniors and 3 team managers.
  • Aggie Basketball adidas Shirt Giveaway: Available for the first 500 fans to the game in the Fan Zone.
  • VetTix: Texas A&M Athletics is working with Vet Tix to provide complimentary tickets to Aggie home athletic events across venues for the 2024-25 academic year. Military personnel can claim free tickets via https://www.vettix.org/
  • A&M Student Early Entry: The North AND South entry of Reed Arena will open at 6:30 p.m. for ANY A&M student. All doors will open to all fans at 7 p.m.
  • Fan Zone (North Entry): Tent setup with TVs, music, games & more! For ALL fans starting at 7 p.m.



 
STATISTICAL COMPARISON
Statistic Auburn Rank Texas A&M Rank
Scoring Offense 85.4 4 73.8 T-190
Scoring Defense 68.8 82 67.4 56
Scoring Margin 16.7 5 6.3 92
Field Goal % 48.5 21 41.8 320
Free Throw % 74.7 87 69.4 269
Free Throws/G 15.8 66 17 21
FT Attempts/G 21.1 78 24.5 13
3-Point % 37.1 38 30.6 325
3-Pointers/G 9.4 47 6.9 T-267
3-Point Attempts/G 25.3 77 22.4 T-184
FG% Defense 40.4 26 40.2 21
3-Point % Defense 29.4 9 33.2 162
Fouls/G 18.5 314 17.1 T-207
Rebound Margin 5 39 8.7 8
Off. Rebounds/G 12 74 15.86 1
Def. Rebounds/G 25.93 79 24.93 T-155
Rebounds/G 37.93 55 40.79 6
Assist/Turnover Ratio 1.82 4 0.97 294
Turnovers Forced/G 12.07 177 13.72 56
Effective FG pct 0.56 25 0.476 322
As of 3/2
 
LAST 10 GAMES VS. AUBURN
Date Opponent (RK) Result TAMU Opp
02/18/2017 Auburn W 81 62
02/07/2018 @Auburn (8) W 81 80
01/16/2019 Auburn (14) L 66 85
03/04/2020 @Auburn (17) W 78 75
01/02/2021 Auburn W 68 66
02/12/2022 @Auburn (1) L 58 75
03/11/2022 *Auburn (4) W 67 62
01/25/2023 @Auburn (15) W 79 63
02/07/2023 Auburn W 83 78
01/09/2024 @Auburn (16) L 55 66
* SEC Tournament, Tampa, Fla.
 
AGGIES vs. AP No. 1
Texas A&M seeks its first-ever victory over the No. 1 team in the AP Top 25 poll vs. top-ranked Auburn.
The highest-ranked win in program history was the 67-61 triumph over No. 2 Alabama on 3/4/23.
An Aggie victory would be the highest ranked win of Buzz Williams' 18-year career with games vs. No. 1 at Marquette (vs. Duke in 2010, at Syracuse in 2012), at Virginia Tech (vs. Duke in 2019 NCAA Tournament) and Texas A&M (at Auburn in 2019).
 
Texas A&M vs. AP No. 1 History
Date Opponent (RK) Result TAMU Opp
12/11/1971 at UCLA (1) L 53 117
1/22/1997 @Kansas (1) L 60 89
12/9/2006 *UCLA (1) L 62 65
1/16/2010 @Texas (1) L 67 72
2/15/2010 Kansas (1) L 54 59
3/12/2010 *Kansas (1) L 66 79
1/10/2015 Kentucky (1) L 64 70
2/2/2019 Tennessee (1) L 76 93
2/12/2022 @Auburn (1) L 58 75
Bold denotes home game at Reed Arena
* - Wooden Classic, Anaheim, Calif. (Honda Center)
+ - Big 12 Tournament, Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)
 
NEED-TO-KNOWS
MILESTONES TO WATCH:
  • Wade Taylor IV needs 24 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.
  • Henry Coleman III (798) and Andersson Garcia (795) are both within reach of 800 for their full careers, while Pharrel Payne (494) is nearing 500.
  • Coleman needs one victory to join the 90-win club at Texas A&M.
  • Hayden Hefner's next 3-pointer will be his 100 for his career.
SENIOR NIGHT IN AGGIELAND: Texas A&M will honor the careers of eight Aggies that will be playing their final home game on Tuesday: Jace Carter, Henry Coleman III, Andersson Garcia, Hayden Hefner, Manny Obaseki, Zhuric Phelps, Wade Taylor IV and C.J. Wilcher.
ONE OF A KIND: A&M is D1's only team ranked in the top 10 in total rebounds/G (No. 6), offensive rebounds (No. 1) and rebound margin (No. 8).
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 40.8/G), and are doing it without any single player ranked among the league's top 20 (Andersson Garcia ranks No. 22 at 5.8/G)
Among the 14 D1 teams averaging 40+ rebounds/G, Texas A&M and Tennessee State are only schools without a player averaging 6.0+ rebounds/G.
OFFENSIVE GLASS: Texas A&M leads the NCAA with an average of 15.9 offensive rebounds/G for the full season and leads the SEC with 14.9 o-rebounds/G in league games.
DRAWING FOULS: Minnesota transfer Pharrel Payne leads the nation in FTA/G with 4.6/G among all D1 averaging fewer than 20:00 minutes/G (min. 20 games).
 



TREND BULLETS
  • Despite allowing their last five opponents hit more than 41.0% of their FGA, the Aggies still rank No. 8 in KenPom.com's Adjusted Defensive Efficiency rating at 99.2, which is an estimate of the defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) a team would have against the average D-I offense.
  • In more common statistical measures, A&M ranks No. 21 nationally in FG% allowed at .402. The Aggies allow 22.0 FGM/G (No. 18) on 54.8 FGA/G (No. 43).
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • The Aggies average 5.4 more shots/game than their opponents in SEC play, which ranks No. 2 among league schools.
  • A&M limits its league opponents to just 53.9 FGA/G, which is the lowest average in the conference by 1.0 FGA/G over Vanderbilt (54.9).
  • Over his past five 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 11 of his last 12 games, including last five, while raising his season 3FG% to 42.0%, which is easily the best on the team.
  • Among SEC players with at least 75 3FGA, Wilcher's 41.9% ranks No. 8.
  • Of Wilcher's 100 FGA as an Aggie, just seven have been inside the 3-point line.
  • Wade Taylor IV is averaging 15.8 points over his last five games with three 18+ efforts and four games with at least six assists.
  • Taylor ranks fourth in the SEC in 3-point attempts/G at 7.5. His 2.4 treys/G rank No. 13 among SEC players. He has attempted four or more 3-pointers in 57 straight games.
  • Taylor has reached 10+ points in 24 of 25 games, and 15 or more 16 times, in 2024-25. He has exactly 100 games with 10+ points.
  • A&M pounds the offensive glass for a NCAA-best 15.9 offensive rebounds/G, which allows the Aggies to average 4.9 more FGA than their opponent for the full season. In SEC play, the M&W average 14.9 OR/G and shoot 5.4 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 four times.
  • In a bit of an oddity, the Aggies shoot better from beyond the arc away from Reed Arena (32.9% in 134 road/neutral) compared to 28.3% in 15 home games. Even weirder, the Aggies have made 34.4% from deep in nine true road games.
  • The Aggies are 15-4 when hitting least 65% of their FTA and 5-5 when connecting on less than 65%. Similarly, the Aggies are 15-6 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 Andrew Monaco and Dr. John Thornton describing the action. It is also available on SiriusXM on channel 106 or 190.
  • The game will be broadcast on ESPN with Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes providing the description.