SEC Basketball Preview/Prediction: Texas A&M at Vanderbilt

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Texas A&M visits Vanderbilt on Saturday in a key SEC basketball matchup. Look inside for a preview of the game along with a prediction of the game’s final score.

By 14Powers Hoops

Team Statistical Comparison

	FG%	3PT%	FT%	ORB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TO
Texas A&M	0.388	0.234	0.681	122	457	138	86	50	195
Texas A&M OPP	0.381	0.289	0.695	141	459	168	89	32	182
Vanderbilt	0.471	0.393	0.670	135	480	194	106	62	184
Vanderbilt OPP	0.448	0.361	0.725	139	483	172	81	35	208

Statistical Leaders

Texas A&M Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Josh Nebo	11.8	49	43	0
Savion Flagg	11.1	53	19	19
Wendell Mitchell	7.7	30	26	14
Jay Jay Chandler	6.9	24	30	12
Andre Gordon	6.7	30	8	6
Quenton Jackson	6.0	22	28	6
Emanuel Miller	4.4	23	11	0
Mark French	2.2	9	5	5
Yavuz Gultekin	1.9	7	5	0
Jonathan Aku	1.5	8	4	0

Texas A&M Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Josh Nebo	35	59	94	7.8
Emanuel Miller	21	57	78	6.0
Savion Flagg	17	44	61	4.7
Wendell Mitchell	3	38	41	3.2
Quenton Jackson	6	29	35	2.7
Jonathan Aku	12	20	32	2.5
Jay Jay Chandler	6	26	32	2.5
Andre Gordon	4	22	26	2.4
Yavuz Gultekin	7	16	23	2.3
Mark French	1	11	12	0.9

Vanderbilt Scoring Leaders

PLAYER	PPG	FGM	FTM	3PTM
Aaron Nesmith	23.0	105	52	60
Saben Lee	16.6	83	48	18
Scotty Pippen Jr.	10.8	42	54	13
Maxwell Evans	7.1	35	15	14
Dylan Disu	6.0	26	13	19
Jordan Wright	3.9	20	11	3
Ejike Obinna	3.5	18	9	0
Matthew Moyer	2.1	11	5	3

Vanderbilt Rebounding Leaders

PLAYER	OR	DR	TR	RPG
Dylan Disu	16	63	79	5.6
Aaron Nesmith	11	57	68	4.9
Clevon Brown	22	32	54	6.0
Saben Lee	9	44	53	3.8
Maxwell Evans	10	32	42	3.0
Scotty Pippen Jr.	9	33	42	3.0
Ejike Obinna	18	23	41	3.2
Matthew Moyer	6	24	30	2.1
Jordan Wright	11	16	27	1.9
Oton Jankovic	1	2	3	0.5
Braelee Albert	1	0	1	0.5

NCAA RPI

Texas A&M: 157

Vanderbilt: 114

Texas A&M Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Jay Jay Chandler	G	6′-4″	180	JR	Katy, TX
1	Savion Flagg	G	6′-7″	223	JR	Alvin, TX
2	TJ Starks	G	6′-2″	208	JR	Dallas, TX
3	Quenton Jackson	G	6′-5″	171	JR	Los Angeles, CA
5	Emanuel Miller	F	6′-7″	213	FR	Scarborough, ON
10	Everett Vaughn	F	6′-10″	237	FR	Bellaire, TX
11	Wendell Mitchell	G	6′-3″	183	SR	Rockdale, TX
12	Mark French	G	5′-8″	162	SR	Frisco, TX
13	Cashius McNeilly	G	6′-4″	191	FR	Scarborough, ON
15	Jonathan Aku	F	6′-10″	245	FR	McKinney , TX
20	Andre Gordon	G	6′-2″	185	FR	Sidney, OH
21	Zach Walker	G	6′-4″	195	SO	Deer Park, TX
25	Bakari Simmons	F	6′-4″	210	FR	Chicago, IL
31	Luke McGhee	F	6′-10″	250	SO	San Antonio, TX
32	Josh Nebo	F	6′-9″	245	SR	Houston, TX
35	Yavuz Gultekin	F	6′-7″	201	FR	Cumberland, MD

Vanderbilt Roster

No.	Name	Pos.	HT	WT	Class	City-State
0	Saben Lee	G	6′-2″	183	JR	Phoenix, AZ
1	Dylan Disu	F	6′-9″	220	FR	Pflugerville, TX
2	Scotty Pippen Jr.	G	6′-1″	170	FR	Los Angeles, CA
3	Maxwell Evans	G	6′-2″	190	JR	Houston, TX
4	Jordan Wright	G	6′-5″	226	FR	Baton Rouge, LA
5	D.J. Harvey	G	6′-6″	235	SO	Bowie, MD
10	Drew Weikert	G	6′-0″	170	SO	Nashville, TN
13	Matthew Moyer	F	6′-8″	229	JR	Gahanna, OH
14	Isaiah Rice	G	5′-11″	195	JR	Indianapolis, IN
15	Clevon Brown	F	6′-8″	232	SR	San Antonio, TX
20	Trace Arbuckle	G	6′-2″	170	JR	Carmel, IN
21	Jon Jossell	G	5′-9″	160	SR	Arcadia, OK
24	Aaron Nesmith	F	6′-6″	213	SO	Charleston, SC
42	Quentin Millora-Brown	F	6′-10″	229	FR	Lorton, VA
50	Ejike Obinna	F	6′-10″	243	SO	Enugu, Nigeria
55	Oton Jankovic	F	6′-10″	212	FR	Napa, CA

Scouting Report

Texas A&M (7-6, 1-1 SEC) defeated Ole Miss 57-47 on Tuesday in College Station. The game was an epic defensive battle. With a little over 9 minutes remaining in the first half the score stood at just 11-11. From this point on to end of the half the Rebels would out-score the Aggies 18-8 to take a 29-19 lead to the locker room. However, the Aggies took a 34-32 lead on a jump shot by Wendell Mitchell with 12:11 remaining in the game. An Andre Gordon 3-pointer with 4:35 remaining in the game put A&M up by 10. The Aggies would go on to lead by as much as 13 points in the final minutes of the game. Both the Rebels (26%) and Aggies (18%) were terrible from 3-point range. The difference in this game was at the free throw line where A&M made 16 of 19 attempts (84%) to Ole Miss’ horrendous 4 of 7 attempts (57%). Forward Josh Nebo led the Aggies in scoring with 17. The 6-foot-9 Nebo was an impressive 5 of 5 from the field and 7 of 9 from the line.

Forward Josh Nebo leads the Aggies in scoring (11.8 ppg) and rebound (7.8 rpg). Six-foot-7 guard Savion Flagg is the team’s second leading scorer (11.1). A&M’s biggest strength is its defense. The Aggies currently limit opponents to just 60.4 points a game. That’s third best in the SEC. Texas A&M is second in the conference in field goal defense (38.1%) and fourth in 3-point defense (29%). The Aggies, however, are last in the SEC in scoring offense scoring just 57.8 points a contest. They are 14th in the league in both field goal accuracy (38.8%) and and 3-point accuracy (23.4%). The Aggies rank at or near the bottom of the SEC in most of the other SEC statistical categories.

Vanderbilt (8-6, 0-1 SEC) fell to Auburn 83-79 on Wednesday night at Auburn. The two teams traded leads early but Auburn led at the half 42-38. In the second half the Tigers seemingly had the game under control with a 14-point lead with 7:59 remaining. However, four 3-pointers by Vandy in the final five minutes of play led to the game being tied at 79 with just under a minute to play. Auburn players hit 4 of 4 free throws in the final minute to escape with a win. Vanderbilt guard Saben Lee led all scorers with 27. He was 3 of 3 from 3-point range. Auburn’s Isaac Okoro paced the Tigers with 23. The key stats in this game were second chance points: Auburn 23, Vandy 0. The Tigers also out-rebounded Vandy 39-28. Vandy’s Aaron Nesmith was 4 of 6 from 3-point range.

Vandy’s Nesmith is the leading scorer in the SEC. He’s also the most accurate 3-point shooter in the conference hitting true on 52.2% of his attempts. Lee is the team’s second leading scorer (16.6 ppg).

Vandy is kind of the inverse of Texas A&M statistically. The Commodores are tied at 12th with Georgia in scoring defense allowing 73.4 points a contest. Although the Commodore struggle at stopping opponents from scoring, they do get steals and are fourth in the SEC in that stat category (7.6 spg). Vandy is fifth in the league in scoring (79.2 ppg). The Commodores shoot both well from the 3-point range (1st, 39.3%) and field goal range (2nd, 49.2%). Vandy is 13th in the league in rebounding margin (-0.2) but a better 3rd in turnover margin (+1.6) and assist to turnover ratio (5th, 1.1).

This game should be interesting with a tough defensive team playing a high scoring offensive team. Last week A&M was able to pull a win at home using their strong defense and home court advantage. This week it may be harder playing hot shooting Vandy on the road. Look for the Commodores to end their SEC losing streak on Saturday.

Texas A&M-Vanderbilt Prediction

Vanderbilt 73, Texas A&M 68

Saturday‘s game tips off at 3:30 p.m. ET. TV: SEC Network.