No. 8 Texas A&M seeks rebound at home against No. 25 South Carolina

Above: Watch video interviews with Billy Kennedy and Admon Gilder after Friday's practice.

They’re ranked, they’ve lost back-to-back Southeastern Conference basketball road games, they were blown out in their last contest and are seeking redemption.

Obviously, the No. 25 South Carolina Gamecocks are a lot like No. 8 Texas A&M.

The Aggies (18-4, 7-2 SEC) have lost consecutive road games and on Thursday night were embarrassed in a 77-60 loss at Vanderbilt. But on Saturday they aim to bounce back at Reed Arena, where they haven’t lost this season.

Coach Billy Kennedy knows that even at home the Aggies will face a stern challenge from South Carolina (19-3, 6-3), which is also seeking redemption after getting blown out at Georgia last Wednesday.

“South Carolina is similar to Vandy. They’ve got their backs against the wall,” Kennedy said. “They’ve got to get some wins. We only play them once. We want to bounce back. We haven’t lost two games in a row all year, so it’s a good test for us.”

The Aggies failed miserably in their last test. They shot just 36.8 percent from the field against Vanderbilt while allowing the Commodores to shoot 50.8 percent and convert 13 three-point goals.

Perhaps it’s a blessing that the Aggies have less than 48 hours between games. No doubt, they’re eager for a chance at redemption.

“There’s some positives with that for sure,” Kennedy said of the quick turnaround. “We look at it as one game. Late (Thursday) night as we were getting beat pretty good I was thinking about resting guys.

“It’s a big game for us. It’s at home. We can play better. We haven’t played our best basketball yet, but we can play better than we did the other night.”

South Carolina has also had its issues on the road. The Gamecocks are 1-3 in their last four games away from Columbia.

They’re dangerous, though.

Five players boast double-figure scoring averages. Michael Carrera, a 6-5 senior forward, leads the Gamecocks with with a 13.8 average, while junior guard Sindarius Thornwell averages 12.1 points.

And typical of a Frank Martin-coached team, the Gamecocks have an aura of toughness. They lead the Southeastern Conference in rebounding and are fifth in scoring defense.

However, the Aggies are more concerned with themselves. Leading scorers Jalen Jones and Danuel House combined for just 14 points and hit only 3 of 21 field goal attempts in the loss to Vanderbilt.

In contrast, 6-10 freshman center Tyler Davis shot 50 percent from the field, but only took six shots.

“Now, it’s the second round of SEC play. We’ve got to counter,” Kennedy said. “They’re going to double (team) Jalen and double Tyler and we’ve got to make the right play. We didn’t make the right play last night, but Vandy had a lot to do with it.”

The right play might be finding a way to get the ball to Davis more often.

“He’s so big he’s getting fouled and not finishing some plays,” Kennedy said. “But we’ve got to do a better job of getting him the ball more.”