A&M remains committed to identity vs. high-scoring Georgia

Click here to view Texas A&M’s Thursday press conference.

Having had a week of rest, Texas A&M now hopes to take five.

The Aggies (16-4, 6-1) sit atop the Southeastern Conference basketball standings after their 92-69 thrashing of South Carolina last Saturday.

Next, they face a five-game gauntlet against Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Missouri and Vanderbilt — all with at least 14 victories. Those five games figure to determine the level of success the Aggies attain in the SEC race.

Florida, Vanderbilt and Alabama are all in the top 20 of the NCAA’s latest NET rankings. Georgia is 34th, and Missouri is 73rd.

The vital stretch begins with a noon tipoff on Saturday at Georgia (16-5, 4-4). The Aggies are seemingly fortunate to have had a week off.

A&M coach Bucky McMillan is fully aware of what the next two weeks entail, but — like all coaches —he’s focusing on the task at hand.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

In McMillan’s first year in Aggieland, Texas A&M already resides in the top-10 in points per game (91.8).

“I’m always just one game at a time,” he said. “But probably before that, I just think how we can play well? That’s kind of how you give yourself the best chance.

“Like, I’m not even thinking about Georgia. I’m thinking about us more than anything. How can we play as well as we can? Then the rest kind of takes care of itself.”

McMillan acknowledged that he tuned into SEC games on Wednesday night to get a good look at future opponents.

“I was watching all the teams last night, though. Like all of them,” he said. “The teams we have coming up.  All good teams. All different. You know, they play very different. But for us to have our best chance, we’ve just got to play well.”

That hasn’t been a problem. The Aggies have won nine of their last 10 games. The only loss in that span was in double overtime at Tennessee.

A&M has a history of success against Georgia. The Aggies have won the last five over the Bulldogs.

While last year’s 69-53 A&M win over Georgia was like a demolition derby, this matchup could resemble more of a NASCAR event.

Both are up-tempo teams, which are ranked among the nation’s top 10 in scoring offense. Georgia is second with a 93.0 average, while A&M is seventh at 91.8.

A&M averages 11.4 goals from 3-point range. Georgia averages 9.4. A&M forces 15.4 turnovers per game. Georgia forces 15.2

Georgia has four players averaging in double figures. Guard Jeremiah Wilkinson leads the way with a 17.1 average, followed by guard Blue Cain (13.3), guard Marcus Millender (12.0) and forward Kanon Catchings (10.5).

Meanwhile, A&M forward Rashaun Agee averages 13.7 points to lead five players in double figures, including guards Rubén Dominguez (12.9), Rylan Griffen (11.6), Pop Isaacs (10.4) and Marcus Hill (10.1).

But Agee says the similarities end there.

“They don’t do what we do,” he said. “I would say they’re a starter of how we do things. Once we first got here and everybody learned how to do it… how to play our game.”

He added: “They get up sometimes and press press sometimes, but they don’t do it how we do it. We’ll just let the game show.”

McMillan said average fans probably wouldn’t notice a difference in the teams’ styles of play.

“They play fast,” he said. “To the naked eye, it’s similar in ways, but there’s also differences in our approach with certain things and their approach with certain things. But to the naked eye, it will look like a fun up-tempo basketball game.”

That’s fine with the Aggies. That’s what they do.

“We know who we are,” McMillan said. “We’re going to have to play hard and unselfish at all times. If we do what we’re supposed to do, we’ll be successful. We control what we can control, and we control the factors that lead to winning basketball.”