Defensive dominance of Dexter Dennis is no surprise to Billy Kennedy

When Billy Kennedy was the basketball coach at Texas A&M, he recruited star players — Alex Caruso, Tyler Davis, Admon Gilder, Robert Williams — who helped the Aggies make strong showings in the NCAA Tournament.

A player he could not recruit may help the Aggies do it again.

You probably already know how Kennedy, now an assistant coach at Wichita State, recommended Texas A&M to Dexter Dennis, who last season played at Wichita State.

A&M was among about six teams Dennis was considering in the transfer portal. So, he sought Kennedy’s advice.

“I did everything I could to try to keep him here because he was a good player for us, and he’s a good kid,” Kennedy recalled earlier this week. “He called when he was going through the (transfer portal) process and asked my thoughts. I told him (Texas A&M) was a great place, a great program, and I had a lot of great memories from there.”

Kennedy’s endorsement might seem surprising.

He was fired one year after guiding the Aggies to a Sweet Sixteen appearance in 2018. Some coaches might not speak well of a program that had recently terminated them.

“I had a great experience at A&M,” said Kennedy, who coached eight seasons in College Station. “I’m thankful for the time I had there and the people that impacted me. (There’s a) Lot of good people there, so I don’t have any ill feelings toward the place.”

In fact, Kennedy is sending his oldest daughter, Anna Kate, to Texas A&M. She’ll be a freshman next year.

So, he wasn’t just taking the high road when he recommended that Dennis consider A&M.

That endorsement wasn’t the only reason Dennis chose A&M, where he’s become a defensive force on a surging team bound for the NCAA Tournament.

It was a factor.

“He didn’t sway me this way,” Dennis said. “He gave me some honest opinions about this place. I definitely took that into consideration because he didn’t have to tell me anything.

“He gave me some thoughts on coach Buzz (Williams) and some of the coaches he knew on staff. He had nothing negative to say. He thought this place would be great for me, and it has been.”

And Dennis has been great for A&M.

He’s averaging nine points per game. His 79.7 free throw percentage is A&M’s third highest. He’s tied with Henry Coleman III for the A&M lead in rebounds. He leads in blocked shots with 17.

Dennis scored 17 points in victories over LSU and Missouri. He had 14 in a victory over Arkansas. He has scored in double figures in 10 SEC games.

His biggest attribute, however, often cannot be measured by stats.

Dennis, who was the American Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year last season, typically guards the opponent’s best player.

His defensive pressure often forces the opponent into taking a poor shot or passing off. Opponents that Dennis guards often score below their average. He’s a major reason — perhaps the primary reason — A&M is ranked an impressive 54th in the country in scoring defense.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Dexter Dennis’ omission from the SEC’s All-Defensive team was laughable as he was instrumental in the Aggies’ resurgence in 2022-2023.

Kennedy expected as much.

“He was really good for us, so I’m not surprised,” he said. “He was good offensively, too. He can make a shot. He can drive to the basket and finish.

“But he was an elite defender, one of the best I had ever coached.”

Incredulously, Dennis was left off the Southeastern Conference all-defensive team. Not that he cares.

“A lot of people think defense mainly is steals and blocks,” Dennis said. “They don’t look at all the other stuff. I don’t really care. As long as my teammates, my coaches, the Texas A&M basketball community and the fans appreciate it, that’s fine with me. What somebody else thinks doesn’t really matter. As long as we keep winning games.”

Of course, the Aggies have kept winning games. They’ve won eight of their last nine. That includes victories over Alabama, Tennessee and Arkansas — which are No. 2, No. 3 and No. 18 in the current NET rankings.

The Aggies aim to maintain that winning streak in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Then, they will look to keep winning in the NCAA Tournament.

Some NCAA projections have A&M as high as a No. 5 seed. A strong showing in the SEC Tournament could improve that seeding.

Dennis said the Aggies don’t spend much time discussing projections.

“I think sometimes before we got in, everybody was looking at each other saying, ‘What do you think? What do you think?’” Dennis said.

“I was just kind of telling them just don’t worry about it. Let the critics do their thing. Let’s just keep winning ball games.”