Some Kentucky-Texas A&M basketball pregame notes

With Wednesday night being a late 8:30 p.m. tip-off, here are some pregame notes before Kentucky faces Texas A&M at Reed Arena in College Station.

▪ Mike Morgan will be on play-by-play with former Missouri All-American Jon Sundvold on color for the SEC Network on the UK-A&M telecast.

▪ According to ESPN, Kentucky is a seven-point favorite over Texas A&M.

▪ Texas A&M will wear throwback uniforms against UK at Reed Arena.

▪ Kentucky is No. 5 in the latest kenpom rankings. The Cats are fourth in adjusted offensive efficiency and 27th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

▪ Texas A&M is 60th in the latest kenpom rankings. The Aggies are 88th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 47th in adjusted defensive efficiency.

▪ Kentucky is 10th in the NCAA NET rankings. Texas A&M is 51st.

▪ Texas A&M is ninth nationally in defensive turnover percentage. The Aggies are turning opponents over on 25.4 percent of their possessions. A&M forced 20 Missouri turnovers in last Saturday’s win at Mizzou. UK is 48th in turnover percentage at 16.6.

▪ Texas A&M is 344th in the nation in free throw shooting at 63.6 percent. Texas A&M’s leading scorer is Quenton Jackson at 12.9 points per possession. Jackson is shooting 85.5 percent from the foul line. But seven A&M regulars are shooting less than 70 percent — Henry Coleman 65.7, Hassan Diarra 61.3 percent, Wade Taylor 61.1 percent, Marcus Williams 60.6, Manny Obaseki 58.8 percent, Tyrece Redford 53.3, Ethan Henderson 45.5 percent.

▪ On the plus side, Texas A&M has taken 76 more free throws than its opponents. The Aggies are 214-of-335 from the foul line. Aggies’ opponents are 190-of-259 for 73.4 percent.

▪ Kentucky has taken 43 more free throws than its opponents. UK is 195-for-265 at the foul line for 73.6 percent. Opponents are 157-of-222 for 70.7 percent.

[Kentucky basketball schedule and results]

[Texas A&M basketball schedule and results]

▪ Henry Coleman III has been an impact transfer for the Aggies. The Richmond, Va., native is a 6-foot-8 forward who came from Duke. Coleman is averaging 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while shooting 62 percent from the floor. Coleman scored 27 points in A&M’s season opener against North Florida. He scored 23 at Georgia. And he was the team’s leading scorer in A&M’s last two games, scoring 18 points teach against Ole Miss and Missouri.

▪ Texas A&M missed its first 13 shots in its 67-64 win at Missouri last Saturday. The Aggies were down 12-0 before finally scoring nine minutes into the first half. Trailing by as many as 11 points in the second half, Buzz Williams’ team shot 57.1 percent in the second half to rally for its eighth straight win.

▪ The Aggies are 36th in the nation in three-point percentage at 37.4 percent. Andre Gordon (25-of-51) is shooting 49 percent from three. Jackson is shooting 38.9 percent (21-of-54). Radford is shooting 35.1 percent (13-37) while Williams (25-of-72) is at 34.7 percent.

▪ Kentucky is shooting 36.1 percent from three-point range. Kellan Grady is 48-of-105 from three for 45.7 percent. TyTy Washington is 23-of-56 for 41.1 percent. Davion Mintz is 23-of-60 for 38.3 percent.

▪ Grady was 2-of-10 from beyond the arc against Georgia and Vanderbilt. He bounced back to make four of his seven three-point attempts against Tennessee. Mintz is 10-of-15 from three over his last three games. Washington is 9-of-17 from three over his last six games.

▪ Washington was named CBS Sports Freshman of the Week after scoring 28 points in the win over Tennessee and 15 last Tuesday at Vanderbilt.

[ESPN leaves Kentucky signees out of new Top 10]

▪ The Aggies have six transfers on the roster. Coleman played sparingly last year at Duke before moving to College Station. Williams was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year last season at Wyoming. Henderson transferred from Arkansas. Jalen Johnson transferred from Mississippi State. Radford transferred from Virginia Tech. Javonte Brown transferred to A&M from Connecticut. He’s a 7-foot redshirt freshman.

▪ At 6-foot-2, Radford is Texas A&M’s leading rebounder at 5.4 per game. UK’s Oscar Tshiebwe is averaging 5.2 offensive rebounds per game. Tshiebwe leads the nation in total rebounds at 14.9 per game.

▪ Kentucky leads the nation in offensive rebound percentage. The Cats are claiming 40.2 percent of their offensive rebound opportunities. A&M is 49th in ORP at 32.8 percent.

▪ Tshiebwe did the 94 feet segment with Jay Bilas.

▪ This is a homecoming game for UK point guard Sahvir Wheeler, who grew up in Houston.

▪ Texas A&M Coach Buzz Williams has taken eight teams to the NCAA Tournament. He made the Big Dance five times at Marquette and three times at Virginia Tech.

▪ Williams four years ago on UK coach John Calipari: “It’s the best job in all of basketball at any level and I don’t think there will ever be another head coach do a better job at the best job than Cal.”

▪ Kentucky will be the first ranked team that the Aggies have played this year. UK is 1-2 against ranked teams with the win over then No. 22 Tennessee and losses to then No. 21 LSU and then No. 9 Duke.

“I think this win will be a big win if we beat Kentucky,” said A&M’s Gordon. “We don’t have a lot of Quad 1 or Quad 2 wins, if any. This will put us on the map a little more. I think it will be good for our team and our program to get this win, and it will only help us out in the SEC.”

▪ ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has Texas A&M as the “first team out” in his NCAA Tournament Bracketology report. Lunardi has Kentucky as a No. 3 seed.

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