Tiger Tipoff Preview: Texas A&M

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The Missouri basketball team followed up its biggest win of the season with its biggest dud, getting blown out by Arkansas on Wednesday night 87-43. Saturday, the Tigers will try to bounce back with a matchup against Texas A&M.

The good news for Missouri is that the game will be played in Mizzou Arena, where the team has won its past four games, including upsets of Alabama and Utah. The bad news is that Texas A&M presents a tough matchup. The Aggies have started SEC play 3-0 and have won seven straight games overall.

Here is everything you need to know to get set for the matchup.

Missouri (7-8) vs Texas A&M (14-2)

WHEN: 2:30 p.m.

WHERE: Mizzou Arena

TV: SEC Network

RADIO: Tiger Radio Network (Mike Kelly, Chris Gervino)

SERIES: Texas A&M leads 21-19

KenPom Prediction: Texas A&M 72-66

1. Get Kobe Brown some help. On Wednesday, Arkansas' clear defensive game plan was to make someone other than Brown beat them. No one could. Brown couldn't get into a rhythm while facing constant double- and triple-teams, and the Missouri offense looked helpless as a result. Look for Texas A&M to mirror that defensive strategy. Missouri needs some players to pick up the slack and force the Aggie defense to respect them, which will in turn open up opportunities from Brown. The most glaring position that needs to play better is point guard. Cuonzo Martin said after the loss at Arkansas that Boogie Coleman let Arkansas bother him with pressure, which threw off the whole offense. Expect lots of on-ball pressure from the Aggies (more on that shortly).

2. Don't let A&M get hot from three. Texas A&M only needed 67 points to beat Ole Miss on Tuesday, but prior to that, the Aggies had scored at least 80 points in six games in a row. They did so primarily on the strength of their three-point shooting. Texas A&M shoots the three ball at a 28.3 percent clip, which ranks No. 18 nationally. Andre Gordon, Quenton Jackson and Wade Taylor IV all shoot 38.9 percent or better from deep. Missouri, on the other hand, comes in at 317th in three-point defense. It will be important for the Tigers to play better defense on the perimeter, because if the Aggies get hot from three-point range, Missouri has shown it doesn't have the shooters to keep pace. After making just two of 16 threes at Arkansas, Missouri sits 354th in three-point shooting on the year out of 358 Division I teams.

3. Take care of the ball. Texas A&M has had a ton of success turning its opponents over this season and getting easy buckets as a result. The Aggies rank No. 11 nationally in defensive turnover rate and fourth in steal rate. They have forced 17 or more turnovers in nine of 16 games on the year, including games with 28 and 33 giveaways forced (albeit against low-major competition). Turnovers haven't been an issue for much of the season for Missouri, but they sure were against Arkansas. The Tigers gave the ball away a season-high 23 times, which led to 26 Razorback points. Missouri can't afford to waste possessions and offer up easy scoring opportunities off turnovers against a Texas A&M team that plays solid half-court defense.

It's virtually impossible to know what to expect from Missouri after the team played arguably its best and worst games of the season in the past two outings. Perhaps returning home, where the Tigers have played well of late, will spark a performance more like we saw against Alabama. One ray of hope is that Texas A&M has surrendered offensive rebounds at a high rate this season, and Missouri has been good on the glass during its wins. But when one team is clearly better, we can't pick against them. Texas A&M has been better on both sides of the ball thus far this season. The Aggies are going to hit some shots, and we don't see Missouri being able to muster enough points to match them.

FINAL SCORE: Texas A&M 76, Missouri 68