At this stage of the season, it is all about NCAA Tournament seeding for a team like the Kentucky Wildcats. Mark Pope's squad improved to 19-10 on the season and a dazzling 10-6 in SEC play with a dominating home victory over Vanderbilt this past weekend. Kentucky was already projected to be a No. 7 seed in last Friday's Bracketology update, but it could improve that even more down the stretch.
When looking at what Kentucky needs to do on the road at Texas A&M on Tuesday night, the Wildcats need to fight fire with fire. Under head coach Bucky McMillan, the Aggies live and die by the mantras of Bucky Ball. His Aggies play at a frenetic pace under his direction. They attempt a ton of shots in this system, especially from distance. Texas A&M ranks top 50 in the country in both key statistics.
As far as Kentucky is concerned, the Wildcats play at a more methodical pace than Texas A&M. Kentucky's team strengths lie in rebounding, distributing, and blocking shots. The Wildcats make their opponents earn their buckets a bit more consistently than Texas A&M does. But with the Aggies allowing 15.3 fast-break points per game, that is something Kentucky can take advantage of vs. A&M.
So with a road victory over Texas A&M and a home win over Vanderbilt, a No. 6 seed could be in play.
Kentucky must play with more pace to keep Texas A&M at bay on Tuesday
It may seem counterintuitive to play into another team's game plan, especially at their place. However, Kentucky does seem to have the necessary strengths to take advantage. When they have the ball, they can dictate tempo a bit more freely. In the event that the shots are not falling from distance for the Aggies, Kentucky needs to push the ball in transtion to get some easy buckets to be had from it.
Of course, playing with more pace could accentuate a growing issue for Kentucky offensively. This team is starting to have issues with turning the basketball over. If Kentucky is inherently reckless on offense, that could in turn play right into Texas A&M's hand. While the Aggies play with more pace to overcome some talent deficiency issues, Kentucky needs to maintain its focus throughout this one.
In the end, we are talking about two likely tournament teams out of the SEC at this point in time. Kentucky is comfortably in the field of 68, while Texas A&M was one of Joe Lunardi's last four byes from Friday's Bracketology update for ESPN. The Aggies are behind Georgia and Missouri, but ahead of arch rival Texas and Auburn in what was an incredibly tight cluster in the middle portion of the SEC.
Right now, Kentucky will need to play with enough confidence to win this one on the road differently.