2 Texas A&M players listed as ‘probable’ before facing Vanderbilt

Texas A&M (17-6, 7-4 SEC) will play No. 19 Vanderbilt on the road three days after losing 86-85 at home to Missouri on Wednesday. They came back from a nearly double-digit deficit in the final minutes to take the lead, but after giving up 56 points in the paint, Missouri’s offense was too much to handle, sending the Aggies to their third straight conference game loss.

The bleeding needs to be “stopped,” first-year head coach Bucky McMillan said simply after the loss, and he and his team must move on to the next challenge, knowing that Vanderbilt’s high-flying offense is very similar to the Aggies’ explosive scoring ability, while both teams are shooting better than 35 percent from beyond the arc. However, Texas A&M’s defense failed to make key stops, especially late in the game.

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Vanderbilt doesn’t have much of a size advantage, which is good news for the Aggies, who were bullied in the paint against both Florida and the Tigers. Still, the Commodores are shooting nearly 50 percent from the field, and while star guard Duke Myers will miss his fifth straight game, there’s little chance that leading scorer Tyler Tanner, who averages 18.9 points per game, will slow down.

With the exception of senior transfer forward Mackenzie Mbabaco, who is out for the rest of the season, Texas A&M’s roster has remained healthy all year, but the latest injury report after Wednesday’s game showed both senior forward Zach Clemens and senior guard Rylan Griffin are “possible” to play against Vanderbilt, giving them a 75% chance of playing against the Commodores on Saturday.

After Wednesday’s loss, ESPN rankings expert Joe Lunardi released his updated NCAA Tournament rankings, which dropped the Aggies to the No. 9 seed to face No. 8 seed Iowa. A losing streak late in the season could be detrimental to any team’s playoff chances, and while the Aggies have built a solid resume, losing a fourth straight game could drop them to a tenth seed or lower.

Texas A&M has seven wins in conference play and needs to win its remaining home games and at least one and possibly two road games to qualify for March Madness.

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Texas A&M will face No. 19 Vanderbilt on Saturday at 12:00 noon (CT). The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.