No. 6 Tennessee Basketball at No. 7 Texas A&M: How to Watch, Prediction, Preview

After a midweek open date, Tennessee basketball is back in action on Saturday afternoon as they prepare to face Texas A&M in College Station.

The Vols and Aggies are both ranked in the nation’s top 10 and are currently battling it out for a top four-seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament. Here’s everything to know about the matchup.

More From RTI: Three Things To Watch For — Tennessee Basketball at Texas A&M

How To Watch — No. 6 Tennessee (21-5, 8-5 SEC) at No. 7 Texas A&M (20-6, 9-4 SEC)

• Start Time: noon ET/11 a.m. CT
• Location: Reed Arena
• Watch: ESPN. PxP: Dave Pasch, CC: Fran Fraschilla
• Online Streaming: Watch ESPN
• Radio (Knoxville): The Vol Network/The Vol Network App

Betting Lines

FanDuel Sportsbook

• Tennessee -1.5 Texas A&M
• Over/under 131.5

KenPom

• Tennessee -1 Texas A&M
• Over/under: 127

What Tennessee HC Rick Barnes Said About The Aggies

On what stands out about Texas A&M

“Well, again, rebounding (is) the first thing and the fact that they play extremely hard and well coached. They know their system. They know what they want to play. And you know, I’ve known Buzz for a long time and his teams always compete at the highest level. They (are) best in the country rebounding wise. You look at that. Drive the ball hard. They want to pick the mismatches they want to go after and that’s what they’re going to do. But just great effort from start to finish.”

On what makes them a great rebounding team

“One, they’re big and they recruit guys that can do it. So that’s one thing that’s one of his, I would just guess is his philosophies in recruiting. Because you go back and look at his teams and teams have always done that and he’s got guys that have a real knack for it. And guys that, again, you give he and his staff great credit in getting those guys to buy into that role and that’s what they do.”

On the physicality of the game, them being built similarly

“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. No doubt about it. I mean, you go back and look at the league, I mean, it’s become a really, really, really good defensive league. Really good rebounding league because coaches understand it. When teams are trying to keep you from scoring that you got to try to get to the glass. And so when coaches know you’re trying to get to the glass, you put an emphasis on we gotta block them out. We got to get them to take a tough shot. So you look at our league this year, then a lot of teams started driving the ball hard and say, okay, we got to get to the free throw line. We got to find a way to score. So you need to get back, get your defense set. That’s important. So yea, I think regardless of who you’re playing, I think we go into to games expecting a really physical game some way somehow.”

On Zakai Zeigler vs. Wade Taylor IV matchup

“Well two guys that have impacted their programs in just an enormous way. When you think about what Zakai has done here. There’s no doubt that Texas A&M feels the same way about Wade Taylor IV and what he’s done in his career. And two guys that have made just tremendous impacts in their programs and they’ve done it for a long time. Which I think is really more impressive, the fact that they made those kind of impacts from the time they really walked on campus.”

Probable Starters

Prediction

If Tennessee is going to make a legitimate push for a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, they need to win this game. A win at Texas A&M would be the best of Tennessee’s season to date.

The Vols are every capable of getting a win. Texas A&M doesn’t overwhelm its opponents with talent or offense and Tennessee is very capable of winning games that get mucked up.

But with Tennessee going on the road and Texas A&M coming off a loss, my pick is for the Aggies to get the win.

Texas A&M 70, Tennessee 65