Texas A&M brings seven-game winning streak to Rupp Arena
Kentucky made a significant turn in the right direction this week with wins over Tennessee and Georgia; however, the Cats’ next big test is right around the corner. On Saturday, Texas A&M comes to town riding a seven-game winning streak. The Aggies are 13-5 this season, 5-0 in SEC play. Last night, they beat Florida 54-52 to keep their conference record unblemished. Texas A&M’s 52 points are a season-low, well below their 74.9 scoring average.
Texas A&M led Florida by 11 at half, holding the Gators to only 12 points on 7.7% shooting. Florida made only two field goals in the first half, but came alive in the second, opening with a 12-4 run to narrow the gap. Tyreece Radford broke away for a dunk that gave the Aggies a 54-49 lead with four seconds left. Florida’s Myreon Jones responded with a three to cut the lead to two, but his contested buzzer-beater came up well short, preserving the Aggies’ winning streak. It was a wild finish.
Saturday will be Buzz Williams’ first trip to Rupp Arena with the Aggies. In December 2017, he brought Virginia Tech to Lexington for a 93-86 loss. Williams is 0-2 vs. Kentucky with Texas A&M, both losses happening in College Station. In his postgame interview with SEC Network last night, Williams said he’s looking forward to returning to Rupp — even if the Cats are surging.
“This will be the first time since we’ve lived here that we’ve played at Rupp. We’re excited. Obviously, they’re playing at an incredibly high level over the last seven days and as much flack as Coach [John Calipari] gets, there should be more flowers delivered to him for the job that he does in regard to the mammoth job that Kentucky is. The way that he’s rallied his team, winning in Knoxville, who’s arguably one of the best teams in the country, and then the dominating performance that they had last night, so we’ll have our hands full for sure.”
If the Cats can pull off a win on Saturday, it will be their second-best of the season resume-wise. The Aggies are No. 55 in the NET Rankings, putting Saturday’s game ahead of the win over Michigan in Quad 2. Of course, the win over Tennessee is Kentucky’s best, sitting atop Quad 1.
Buzz Williams shares moment with SEC Network’s Patric Young
Before talking basketball with the SEC Now crew after the game, Williams shared a special message with Patric Young, the former Florida star turned analyst who was paralyzed from the waist down in a car accident last year. Young has been open about his recovery, sharing his progress in physical therapy on social media. Williams thanked him for being an inspiration to his players and us all, a very cool moment.
“I’ve talked to our team about it 72 times,” Williams said. “That’s more important than the game.”
As someone who is also moved by Young’s story, I encourage you to follow him on social media. Earlier this month, he shared a video of himself walking on a treadmill with the help of some very sophisticated braces that has over half a million views on Twitter.
This video of his return to the SEC Now set in November will also tug at the heartstrings.
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