AUBURN — The top-ranked Auburn Tigers are coming off a historic weekend on the hardwood, clinching the SEC regular-season title outright and leaving Rupp Arena with a 16-point victory over No. 17 Kentucky and their first win in Lexington in 37 years.
Now, one week remains for the SEC's best as a trip to College Station looms as the Tigers take on No. 22 Texas A&M on Tuesday night. With a win, Auburn could extend its program-record SEC road winning streak to 10 games and become just the second SEC team to go undefeated on the road in conference play in the last decade. A win would also secure a program-best 16 SEC wins and set another milestone with 28 regular-season wins, the most in program history.
"In our last seven games against Texas A&M, we're 2-5. So, obviously, this has been a tough matchup for us, as far as system matching up," Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. "But this one here, to go undefeated on the road would really be something in the SEC and especially in this particular year. So again, one win away from our most SEC wins in our history, the most wins overall. There's a lot of things that are available."
The Aggies have lost four straight entering Tuesday night's matchup as they are looking to rebound from an 89-70 loss to No. 3 Florida on Saturday. Texas A&M has also lost two straight on its home court to then-No. 6 Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
Wade Taylor IV leads the Aggies in scoring with 15.1 points per game and a team-high 4.6 assists. Zhuric Phelps joins him with 14.4 points per game as the only other double-digit scorer.
The Aggies, who hold the best record against Auburn of any SEC team since 2019-20, are known for their physicality. Texas A&M leads the country with 15.86 offensive rebounds per game and is the only team ranked in the top 10 nationally in offensive rebounding, total rebounds and rebounding margin.
"They rebound about 55% of the misses that they get around the basket and about 45% of the misses inside the foul line. Literally, they throw it up there anywhere inside 15 feet, and they get it back half the time. So, that presents you with a real challenge," Pearl said.
Defensively, the Aggies are the ninth-most efficient squad in the nation, according to KenPom.
"They switch a lot. They change things up between zone pressure and full-court, three-quarter looks. They'll drop back in man or zone. They try to confuse you as a play-caller. And I don't think we've done a very good job, offensively, against them." Pearl said.
For Auburn, the biggest news on the horizon is the status of point guard Denver Jones after his early dismissal from the Tigers' game on Saturday. Pearl noted after the game that it was a "bone bruise" issue but affirmed on Monday morning that Jones' injury was a "soft-tissue" injury instead.
"It's something that could hold him out, but it's not going to hold him out for long," Pearl said.
Pearl later added, "Denver Jones is so valuable to us. I can't even begin to tell you that. He's playing two positions and is our best defensive guard. For us to win that game (Kentucky) without him, that's incredible."
Luckily for the Tigers, freshman Tahaad Pettiford continues to shine on the big stage, coming off a 21-point outing. Pettiford has scored in double digits in every game Auburn has played against top 10 KenPom teams, excluding an 8-point performance against Tennessee in which the Tigers shot an abysmal 30.5% from the field.
"I think he has always been a point guard at heart with his leadership and running this ball club. And we have the ability to allow a two-guard to get into a lot of point guard actions. But what I did not want to put on a freshman was having to run the team and try to score. Just knowing that he's a brilliant scorer, let's see what we can do with other guys to let him do what he's great at. But then he demonstrated the ability to be able to do both," Pearl said. I did not want to put that on a freshman. And, of course, if I did, he would have been fine."
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