Now or never: Aggies must conjure March magic with SEC Tournament run

Texas A&M basketball coach Billy Kennedy must convince the Aggies that even from the No. 10 seed they could win the Southeastern Conference Tournament and earn a spot in the NCAA field.

His message: “You can.” His example: UConn.

Back in 2011, Connecticut won the Big East Tournament as the No. 9 seed and went on to defeat Butler for the national championship behind the spectacular play of point guard Kemba Walker.

“We need somebody to step up like Kemba Walker and carry the team like he did,” Kennedy said before the Aggies left for Nashville. “We’ve got some guys who are capable.”

Indeed, the Aggies (16-14) have a pair of All-SEC posts in Tyler Davis and Robert Williams as well as stalwart guard Admon Gilder to lead them.

But first-things-first.

UConn’s improbable run in 2011 began with a victory over DePaul. A&M hopes to start with a Thursday night victory over Vanderbilt (17-4), which already has posted two victories over the Aggies. The Commodores won 68-54 in College Station. They later prevailed 72-67 in Nashville in a contest which was tied with four minutes remaining. Vandy shot just 39.3 in that game, but A&M hit only 3 of 16 three-point attempts.

“We’re hoping we can guard them like we did last time and be efficient down the stretch,” Kennedy said. “I thought last game we really played well for about 35 minutes. The last five minutes they did a better job of executing. We weren’t able to get the ball inside.”

Capitalizing on its inside advantage is a major key for A&M. Sophomore center Tyler Davis scored 18 in the first meeting with Vanderbilt and had 25 in the second game. He and Robert Williams give A&M a decided edge in the paint, but obviously the Aggies must shoot better from three-point range. Tonny Trocha-Morelos was 0-for-6 behind the arc in Nashville.

But Davis maintains the bigger issue is containing Vanderbilt’s balanced-scoring attack. Gaurds Matthew Fisher-Davis and Riley LaChance, seven-footer Luke Kornet and forward Jeff Roberson all average in double figures and all are threats from three-point range.

“I’m more primarily focused on defense,” Davis said. “I know we’ll score against their defense, but we have to stop them from scoring.”

Williams agreed.

“(We have to) stop them in transition as far as threes and layups,” Williams said. “I feel they really hurt us in transition.

“Kornet is unbelievable. He can do everything … post up, shoot the three. He’s lights out.”

The lights could go out on A&M’s season if the Aggies don’t win. A loss would severely jeopardize their hopes of getting into the less-prestigious NIT.

“We owe them. They beat us twice,” Davis said. “We have a lot riding on this SEC Tournament. We know what it means. So we have to come out prepared and focused.”

The Aggies have appeared prepared in focused in recent games. They’ve won three of their last five. That includes competitive losses on the road against third-seeded Arkansas and at home against top-seeded Kentucky in which the Ags trailed by four with six minutes left.

“I think we’re playing well,” Kennedy said. “We’ve just got to execute well down the stretch and have a couple of guys step up and have high performance games for us to win, especially on the offensive end.”

Just like UConn did a few years ago.