A&M carries three-game heater into Black Friday clash with FSU
Good things have come in three.
That would be a trio of consecutive Texas A&M basketball victories, largely behind proficient 3-point shooting vs. Montana, Manhattan and Mississippi Valley State.
However, the Aggies (5-2) are about to be tested by a three-game road swing that begins on Friday afternoon against Florida State (5-1) in Tampa Bay.
The neutral site matchup tips at 4 p.m. CT from Benchmark International Arena.
“Every game is critical,” A&M head coach Bucky McMillan said on Tuesday. “We just got to put our best foot forward.
“We want to win these games. I don’t want to say anything other than that. To do that, we got to play good basketball, so what we got to do is focus on playing good basketball.”
All five of A&M’s non-conference victories have come against lower-level competition, as the Aggies are 0-2 vs. Power Five foes.
Previously, the Maroon & White fell at Oklahoma State on Nov. 9 and to Central Florida in College Station on Nov. 14. A&M’s average margin of defeat against the Big 12 affiliates was 18 points.
Needless to say, something must change vs. the ACC’s Seminoles.
“Some of these baskets we’re getting are good. Some are not as real,” McMillan said. “We’re going to have to continue to share the ball to get good baskets. We’re going to play three really good teams on defense where the coverage is going to be pretty tight.”
Since their last loss, the Aggies have received reinforcements from Mackenzie Mgbako, who most recently scored 19 of A&M’s 120 points in Tuesday’s thrashing of Mississippi Valley State.
Further, they’ve connected 41 times from 3-point range, including a program record 18 against Manhattan on Nov. 21.
Rubén Dominguez has led the 3-point barrage and now has 26 makes from distance to his credit.
Continued success from deep will likely be required against a high-scoring Florida State squad.
“It’s very critical,” Mgbako said Tuesday. “It’s very mental, and we've got to stay locked in mentally and make sure we’re on our Ps and Qs at practice.”
The Seminoles — led by Lajae Jones and Robert McCray V, who average 15.7 and 15.2 points per game, respectively — have reached the century mark twice against Alcorn State and Alabama State.
Further, FSU’s lone loss was a 78-76 decision against reigning national champion and arch-rival Florida in Gainesville.
“Critical games in terms of they’d be great wins, but we’ve got to be playing our best basketball,” McMillan said. “We’ve got to do things that are in our control as well as possible down there.”
This is the first of three straight resume-building opportunities away from Reed Arena for McMillan’s Aggies.
After Black Friday’s test with the Seminoles is the ACC-SEC Challenge at Pittsburgh on Dec. 2. Then comes a Dec. 7 trip to the DFW Metroplex for a neutral-site meeting with SMU.
A&M’s task will be to use the 3-ball to ward off bad things, which have also been said to come in threes.