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FAYETTEVILLE — Texas A&M’s surprising rise to the top of the SEC as the race reached its midway point has the league talking more and more about “Bucky Ball” as the Aggies face a critical stretch this week.
First-year Coach Bucky McMillan rotates players in and out with abandon as the Aggies run full-court pressure defensively and lean on the three-point shot and sixth-year forward Rashaun Agee on offense.
The result is a 7-1 SEC record and a half-game lead over defending NCAA champion Florida as the Aggies (17-4) get set for a week that will test them like none yet.
Texas A&M will travel to Alabama, which is coming off a 100-77 loss on Sunday at Florida, for a 6 p.m. game Wednesday.
Then the big one: A Saturday showdown at 7:30 p.m. at Texas A&M’s Reed Arena against the Gators, who have seemingly found their stride with seven wins in their last eight games.
As the SEC Network crew pointed out, many eyes across the conference will be on the Aggies this week to analyze the legitimacy of Bucky Ball.
McMillan did an interview with the SEC Network on Saturday afternoon while on the team bus. The Aggies had to drive to Birmingham, Ala., to fly home after a 92-77 win at Georgia due to weather conditions.
“We’ve got great depth to our team, we can shoot the ball and we’re older,” McMillan said to describe the Aggies hot start in SEC play.
Voters in the Associated Press top 25 poll haven’t shown a total buy-in to the Aggies yet, as they remained outside the poll as the highest team receiving votes after No. 25 Tennessee.
McMillan, a native of Birmingham, Ala., was coaching in the high school ranks in metro Birmingham only six seasons ago. He led Mountain Brook High School to three Class 7A championships and two Class 6A titles in 12 years while building a 332-74 record. McMillan was named the boys basketball Coach of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association after Mountain Brook’s 34-3 season in 2017-18.
The Birmingham-Southern graduate moved to the college ranks but stayed in his hometown to take the top job at Samford in 2020, and he quickly turned the Bulldogs into a Southern Conference power. McMillan, 42, earned got his big shot last spring when Texas A&M Athletic Director Trev Alberts hired him to replace Buzz Williams.
“He’s an innovator as a coach, and he has a smart and analytics-driven approach to the game,” Alberts said at the time.
Texas A&M leads the SEC during conference play in field-goal defense at 41.6% and three-point shooting at 36%, despite taking the second-most most three pointers (253) behind Alabama (272).
The Aggies are tied atop the SEC with Tennessee at 7.88 steals per game in conference play, and their scoring average of 84.5 is fourth, behind only Florida (88.0), Arkansas (86.1) and Alabama (85.9).
Golden rules
Florida followed through on Coach Todd Golden’s vow the Gators would beat Alabama with a convincing 100-77 takedown of the Crimson Tide on Sunday.
Speaking early last week on his weekly Gator Talk radio show, Golden said “we’re going to beat them anyways” if Alabama was to have 7-footer Charles Bediako available for the game.
“That lit a fire under us,” Florida forward Thomas Haugh said after ABC analyst Jimmy Dykes asked about Golden’s claim. “We were going to go out there and back up his words.”
Sunday’s ABC broadcast replayed Golden’s prediction several times, and the crew of Dykes, Karl Ravech and Dick Vitale discussed the Bediako situation repeatedly on air.
Bediako chose to forego the rest of his college eligibility when leaving his name in the NBA Draft after the 2022-23 season at Alabama. He was not taken in the draft but has signed three two-way professional contracts and played parts of three seasons in the NBA’s G League.
He was issued a temporary restraining order in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Jan. 21 for immediate eligibility. The judge’s ruling came hours after NCAA President Charlie Baker said Bediako and other players who have signed NBA contracts would not be granted college eligibility.
The Crimson Tide are 1-2 since the order was given, but his legal challenge faces a hearing on Friday. The case also has been moved away from Judge James H. Roberts, an Alabama booster who issued the order. The hearing is scheduled the day before Alabama travels to Auburn for an in-state showdown.
Florida fans heckled Bediako when he fouled out late in the game, chanting “G-League reject” as he headed to the bench. Bediako started the game, played 24 minutes, and tallied 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks.
Florida outscored Alabama 72-26 in the paint, committed a season-low 2 turnovers and finished with a 26-3 advantage in fast-break points. The Gators dealt the Tide their worst loss since 2023 and notched eight “kills,” which are defined as three consecutive defensive stops.
Halfway heros
As the SEC race crosses the midway point this week, it is time to project the league’s top awards.
Starting locally, Arkansas guard Darius Acuff Jr. seems like the leading candidate to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors. The Detroit native has tied an SEC record with six SEC freshman of the week awards. He is fourth in SEC scoring (20.3), first in assists (6.2) and first in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.04).
The SEC Player of the Year race would need to include Acuff, Auburn’s Keyshawn Hall, Florida’s Thomas Haugh and Rueben Chinyelu, Vanderbilt’s Tyler Tanner, Alabama’s Labaron Philon Jr., Texas A&M’s Rashaun Agee, Kentucky’s Otega Oweh. Ja’Kobi Gillespie of Tennessee and Josh Hubbard of Mississippi State could also be in the mix.
Texas A&M Coach Bucky McMillan might have the inside track on SEC Coach of the Year, through Vanderbilt’s Mark Byington could make a case, and Florida Coach Todd Golden has his team on the rise.
Chinyelu, who leads the SEC with 13 double-doubles and in rebounding at 11.3 per game, is the leading candidate for Defensive Player of the Year.
Newcomer of the Year would have many candidates, including Acuff and Agee, who has 10 double-doubles while playing for his sixth school in his seventh collegiate season.
Vols advance
Tennessee, much like Florida, is finding its groove after a bumpy start to conference play.
The Volunteers notched their sixth-consecutive win over Georgia with last Wednesday’s 86-85 overtime victory in Athens, Ga. They followed that with a 77-69 home decision over Auburn on Saturday for their third win in a row and fourth in their last five games.
Coach Rick Barnes’ club remains the only one in the SEC to take down Texas A&M, accomplished with an 87-82 final on Jan. 13.
Tennessee (15-6, 5-3 SEC) is slated to host Ole Miss at 6 p.m. Central on Tuesday, then will travel to Kentucky for a big game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
Switcheroo
Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, whose campuses were both hit hard in the winter storm two weekends ago, worked out a venue swap to accommodate the circumstances surrounding their two-game series.
With northern Mississippi suffering lots of downed power lines and loss of electricity, the Rebels agreed to move their Saturday home game against the Commodores to Nashville, Tenn., which also took a big hit from the storm.
The Commodores pulled out a 71-68 win on Saturday, their third in a row. Vanderbilt has responded nicely to their first three losses, which came after a school-record 16-0 start, capped by a 93-68 thumping at Arkansas on Jan. 20. Its win streak includes an 80-55 trouncing of Kentucky in Nashville.
Because of the venue switch with Ole Miss, Vanderbilt will play a third consecutive home game on Saturday against Oklahoma but will also conclude the season with three on the road, including the return game with the Rebels on March 3 or 4.
Bye weeks
Half of the SEC teams will have mid-week byes this week, so light, two-game slates are on tap for both Tuesday and Wednesday.
The teams with byes are Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri and Vanderbilt. Alabama, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M have already had byes. Kentucky, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas will all take mid-week byes next week.
Underwater
Four SEC teams are in danger of falling below .500 overall with a bad week. Mississippi State, Oklahoma and South Carolina all carry 11-11 records into the week, while Ole Miss at 11-10 could drop below .500 with losses at Tennessee and Texas.
Mississippi State will enjoy a bye before hosting Arkansas on Saturday. Oklahoma, riding an eight-game losing streak, plays twice this week, at Kentucky at 8 p.m. Wednesday and at Vanderbilt at 2:20 p.m. Saturday. South Carolina travels to Texas at 6 p.m. Tuesday before hosting Missouri at noon Saturday.
Ole Miss will be the second team in a row to take on a Big Orange week, traveling to Tennessee at 6 p.m. Tuesday and Texas at 1 p.m. Saturday. Auburn did the same last week, downing Texas 88-82 at home on Wednesday, then falling 77-69 at Tennessee on Saturday.
As for teams nearing double-figure losses, only Texas (13-9) could join the others this week. The Longhorns host South Carolina and Ole Miss on the week. Auburn (14-8) is also nearing double-digit losses, but the Tigers only play once this week, enjoying a bye before hosting Alabama in the first of two hard-court Iron Bowl showdowns at 3 p.m. Saturday. The return game will be in Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a season finale on March 7.
Top players
Florida center Alex Condon, Texas A&M forward Rashaun Agee and Tennessee forward Nate Ament shared SEC player of the week honors announced Monday by the league office.
Condon and Agee were named co-players of the week while Ament pulled down the SEC freshman of the week award.
Condon, a 6-11 junior from Perth, Australia, averaged 17.5 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks in wins over South Carolina and Alabama. He tied a season high with 25 points against Alabama on Saturday, adding 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals.
Agee, a 6-8 sixth-year senior from Chicago, had 18 points, 15 rebounds and a career-high 7 assists in Texas A&M’s 92-77 win at Georgia on Saturday. Agee posted his 10th double-double of the season and the 30th of his career.
Ament, a 6-10, 207-pounder from Manassas, Va., averaged 20.5 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists in wins over Georgia and Auburn. He went 12 of 15 at the free-throw line against Auburn, marking the most free throws attempted and made by a Volunteer since 2019.
SEC top to bottom
RK. TEAM (PREV.);NET;RECORD;COMMENT
1. Texas A&M (2);35;17-4;67-1;Huge week at Bama, vs. Florida
2. Florida (1);12;16-6;7-2;On pace for historic rebound season
3. Vanderbilt (5);13;19-3, 6-3;3-game win streak after first 3 losses
4. Kentucky (4);28;15-7, 6-3;Huge statement win vs. Razorbacks
5. Arkansas (3);23;16-6;6-3;Response from 1st home loss?
6. Tennessee (7);21;15-6, 5-3;Vols clearly finding their synergy
7. Alabama (8);22;14-7;4-4;1-2 with Bediako back in town
8. Auburn (9);29;14-8, 5-4;Recent results reflect growth
9. Missouri (10);70;15-7;5-4;36.4% 3-point defense last in SEC
10. Texas (11);39;13-9, 4-5;49.5% FG shooting 2nd in SEC
11. Georgia (6);36;16-6; 4-5;3-game skid heading into LSU
12. Ole Miss (12);79;11-10, 3-5;At Tennessee and Texas this week
13. Miss. State (15);94;11-11, 3-6;Open week before Razorbacks
14. LSU (13);57; 14-8, 2-7;Dedan Thomas Jr. sidelined again
15. S. Carolina (16);105;11-11, 2-7;Only SEC team not in NET top 100
16. Oklahoma (14);80;11-11; 1-8;Losing skid has reached 8
The NET rankings, an acronym for NCAA Evaluation Tool, factor in game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses.
Game of the week
Florida at Texas A&M,
7:30 p.m. Saturday, SECN
The defending NCAA champion Gators, who appear to be rounding into postseason form, take on the SEC front-runner Aggies, whose “Bucky Ball” style is invigorating the fan base. The surprise team in the SEC, Texas A&M is alone in first in league play at 7-1 heading into Wednesday’s tester at Alabama at 6 p.m. Wednesday on SEC Network.
By the numbers
11 Scoring possessions out of first 12 by Kentucky while opening a 26-13 lead at Arkansas
20 Consecutive points scored by Texas A&M while building a 22-2 lead at Georgia on Saturday
102 Florida’s average score in the last five games against Alabama, all Gator wins
115 Years since Texas last played a game at Auburn prior to last Wednesday’s 88-82 win by the Tigers
‘Overheard’
“To come out and impose our will on them and beat them like we did on the glass … We scored 72 points in the paint.”
Florida Coach Todd Golden after a 100-77 win over Alabama
“At the start of the year we had zero continuity because they hadn’t played together, but now that they have, I don’t think there’s any game that we line up in and think, ‘Oh, we can’t play with those guys.’ … There’s no team I can see that if we play well that we can’t play with.”
Texas A&M Coach Bucky McMillan on the SEC Network
