NCAA Tournament Preview: Texas A&M Dances with Green Bay in NCAA Tournament

No. 3 Texas A&M looks to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament when they take on No. 14 Green Bay Friday night in the first round of the west region.

The Aggies (26-8) hope to go on a deep run in the “Big Dance” after making the tournament for first time since 2011. Meanwhile, the Green Bay Phoenix (23-12) play in the tournament for the first time in 20 years after winning the Horizon League Conference Tournament title.

Senior guard Daniel House leads the Aggies averaging 15.5 points per game. House had 32 points on 10-23 shooting in Texas A&M’s loss to Kentucky in the SEC Tournament title game.

“To have one of your best players (House) play at his best… (senior guard) Alex Caruso played well, (freshman guard) Admon Gilder… To have that experience for the NCAA Tournament is going to be a big benefit for us,” said Aggies head coach Billy Kennedy.

Many college basketball fans were surprised to see that the Aggies were seeded higher than Kentucky even though the Wildcats defeated the Aggies for the SEC Tournament title. Kennedy believes his team deserves a 3 seed but he was surprised to see Kentucky ranked lower.

The Aggies go into the tournament averaging 75.9 points per game where they rank 114th in the country. Their bread is buttered on defense, where Texas A&M holds their opponents to 65.0 points per game – ranked 31st in the country.

Green Bay, on the other hand, comes in scoring at will – they rank sixth in the country in scoring offense with 84.2 points per game.

Texas A&M joins Kentucky and Vanderbilt as the only teams representing the SEC in the Tournament, though the Commodores were eliminated by Wichita State in a First Four game earlier this week.

Tip-off between Texas A&M and Green Bay is set for 7:20 p.m Friday night.