Texas A&M Preview and Game Thread -- 11/20/2022

[JCT]

Sunday, November 20, 2022 3:30 p.m.
HTC Center, Conway, S.C.

Coming into the Myrtle Beach Invitational, the Loyola Ramblers had a lot to prove. With 11 newcomers and a second-year head coach (still the youngest in DI) entering a new conference, most observers thought LUC was in a pretty good place. The incoming freshmen were highly touted, there were two starters left over from an NCAA Tournament team with a KenPom ranking in the 30s, and there were some key bench performers ready to take on more minutes and prominent roles. Add some impressive transfers, and the thought was, "Wow, they're not going to miss a beat!"

The Myrtle Beach experience has really let the air out of those sails. Two somewhat shaky wins (43 turnovers, overtime at home) starting the season was worrisome; the two losses in the Myrtle Beach tournament have been demoralizing. There have been plenty of insightful and thoughtful comments on the message board on what and why things are out of whack for the Ramblers. But the main thing is there is widespread agreement that a lot of things aren't working well for the team right now. Perhaps going 0-2 on the trip might yield a shakeup similar to last season, when Jacob Hutson played a lot more minutes after the team dropped the first two games at Battle4Atlantis. Hutson responded with a career-high 26 against Arizona State.

Loyola's Sunday opponent in the last-place consolation game is the only team that might have had a worse trip to South Carolina, #24 Texas A&M. Last year, A&M reached the NIT final where they lost the title by one point after being snubbed for the Dance by the NCAA. And there was a lot of hype about Texas A&M over the summer and early fall. The Aggies arrived at Myrtle Beach 2-0, ranked in the AP Top 25, and sitting at 31 in KenPom. But after losses to Murray State (by nine points) and Colorado (by 28), they're now 60th in KenPom and they won't get back into the Top 25 unless they put together a lengthy winning streak.

Coach Buzz Williams is entering his fourth season on the sidelines at College Station, and needs a win badly to salvage something out of the trip and appease some agitated Aggiephiles. He's likely to start forwards Henry Coleman III (a 6'8" junior) and Solomon Washington (a 6'7" freshman). The guards are 6' sophomore Wade Taylor IV, 6'5" senior Dexter Dennis, and 6'2" senior Tyrese Radford. The Aggies' starters don't have impressive height, but they are athletic and run at high energy on offense and defense. And they go pretty deep into the bench-- 10 A&M players had double-digit minutes against Colorado, and 12 players saw eight minutes or more on the court. Some bigger bodies come in off the bench, including 6'9" Julius Marble, 6’6” guard Hayden Hefner, and 7’0” sophomore center Javonte Brown.

Taylor IV leads Texas A&M in scoring with 15.3 per game, and Coleman leads in rebounding with 6.3 per. Dennis is the best three-point shooter at 43.8%, but Taylor leads in made threes and shoots a nifty 42.8%.

The Ramblers have dropped from a KenPom of 70 when arriving at Myrtle Beach to their current 104. Loyola is trying to avoid its first three-game losing streak since Feb. 2017-- that's pretty impressive. Since the end of the 2015-16 season, Loyola's record has only dropped below .500 once-- for one day-- after a loss to Colorado State at the Cayman Islands Classic dropped Loyola to 3-4 on November 26, 2019. The next day, Loyola beat Old Dominion to reach .500, and finished the year 20-11.


Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... _Notes.pdf

Texas A&M game notes: https://12thman.com/news/2022/11/19/men ... icago.aspx

TV/Streaming video: ESPN+ https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... b0b708050d

Radio/Streaming audio: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=123&type=Live

Live stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=435067

Vegas odds: Texas A&M by 5.5

[Ramblerguy]

As always, Appreciate the preview. I hope I’m not the only one! Let’s see how this afternoon goes, hopefully showing progress over previous outings. It is understood that the quality of a brand is shown by its strength thru adversity. Fanbase needs to show that now more than ever.
Go Ramblers.

[ahunte1]

Why do I feel like I've watched the same game five times this year?

[Mudville21]

Another disappointing half. 12 turnovers, 2-10 from 3, and 6-14 from the line. We need to SLOW down.

[goramblers2011]

This is hard to watch.

[Blers42]

This is hard to watch.

Seems to be the trend this season.

[JCT]

21 turnovers, 32 points.

[ahunte1]

We are going to set a new Kenpom era turnover rate record unless we can somehow go 10 straight possessions without a TO.

Second time this year on the top 10 list for that stat.

[goramblers2011]

Every offensive possession just seems like a monumental struggle. There's no flow. Every pass looks like it could be deflected (and many of them actually are). Need some kind of identity.

[RAMBLOR]

Looking like we'll finish last in the A10. Just a complete implosion, and the team looks completely directionless, just no plan on offense, dribbling into nowhere and throwing bailout passes to nowhere. All blame is on the on coaching staff at this point.