Texas A&M is in dire need of a win after losing five consecutive games, including a heartbreaking 70-68 setback to No. 18 South Carolina on Wednesday.
The Aggies (15-13, 6-9 SEC) hope their fortunes change Saturday when they play at Georgia (15-13, 5-10), which has lost eight of its last nine.
Head coach Buzz Williams doesn’t have all the answers but admires the way the Aggies battled back from a 13-point deficit to nearly pull out the win. South Carolina won on a layup with three seconds remaining.
“We’ve lost five games in a row, but I hope I’m the model of how to handle adversity,” Williams said in a postgame interview. “I’m not saying I have all the answers, but the togetherness of our guys speaks to their parents and to how they fought. They want to win for each other and want to win for the program, but there is not an easy answer when you’ve lost five in a row.”
While the Aggies are searching for answers, the Bulldogs aim to bounce back after a 67-66 loss to LSU on Tuesday.
Noah Thomasson scored 16 points and is averaging a team-best 13.0 points per game. Jabri Abdur-Rahim, who is second in scoring (12.3), said Thomasson is typically Georgia’s first scoring option.
“When Thomasson has it going, we try to feed him as much as we can because we know how good of a scorer he is,” Abdur-Rahim told reporters in a postgame interview.
For A&M, Wade Taylor IV is the top scorer at 18.7 ppg, and Tyrece Radford, coming off his first double-double of the season (19 points, 10 rebounds), ranks second in scoring (15.3). Henry Coleman III eclipsed the 1,000-point mark against South Carolina and is averaging 9.8 ppg.
The Aggies haven’t had it easy on the road, posting a 4-6 record, and face a Bulldogs team that is 11-5 at home.
