Northern Kentucky continues its opening week travel with a trip to College Station, Texas, to face off with the Texas A&M Aggies. NKU comes into this one as heavy underdogs, and this is just one of those matchups where you just come in hoping to gain some positive bits from your team and get out healthy. There’s a reason they call them buy games. NKU, like most mid-majors do, is funding a lot of their athletic budget with games like this. The good news for the Norse is they come in after an excellent start to the season after going 2-0 in South Dakota.

The game tips off at 8:00 ET and can be watched on SECN+, which is ESPN+.

Texas A&M

The Aggies are 1-0 after a 97-66 victory over Alabama State.

PJ Haggerty led five Aggies in double figures with 22. The starting lineup was (Points/Rebounds/Assists, other stats):

• Haggerty: 22/3/0, tied team high 3 turnovers
• Jalen Shelley: 14/12/3, 1 steal, 3 turnovers
• Cade Phillips: 7/5/0, 2 steals, 2 blocks
• Mackenzie Mgbako: 12/5/1, 2 steals, 2 blocks
• Jordan Pope: 17/2/1, 3 steals

Rotation:

• Tyshawn Archie: 11/8/3, 2 steals
• Jalen Reece: 2/1/3,
• Zach Clemence: 4/0/1
• Jamie Vinson: 6/2
• Lukas Walls: 0/0/1

Arrchie was the clear sixth man, playing 20 minutes. The other 4 played between 10-13 minutes on Tuesday. A&M appears to be a team who is very much so reliant on their starters.

Tuesday, A&M shot 48% from the field, 35% from deep, and 60% from the free throw line (they took 48 attempts). They drew a total of 32 fouls on Alabama State while committing just 18. The Aggies committed 11 turnovers while forcing a staggering 25.

They actually lost the rebounding battle 44-43, so if there’s a hope for the Norse Friday, it’s related to their ability to do a couple of different things well, starting with rebounding.

Keys to the Game:

Fouls: NKU has committed 22 and 24 fouls during their first two matchups, allowing opponents to shoot 24 and 21 free throws per game. They have to play better on defense without fouling.

Rebounding: The Norse won the rebounding battle 39 to 33 and 29 to 26. However, there haven’t been a ton of missed shots, especially Wednesday evening. The Aggies struggled on the glass Tuesday. The Norse will look to take advantage of that weakness.

Shooting: NKU followed up their opening night 4-21 three point performance with a solid 9-14 performance Wednesday. Not only did they make more shots, they made it a point to find clear looks and pass up bad looks for even better ones. They’ll need to avoid settling for the contested 3’s to stay in this one.

Pace: NKU likes to play fast, however, Texas A&M is faster. The Norse would actually be best served with slowing this game down a bit. When a team comes in as significant underdogs, as the Norse will do, upsets don’t happen by trying to run with the team who likes to run. They come by slowing the game down and making the game “ugly”.

The Norse need to look to keep this an interesting game, and not get blown off the court. However, the most important thing tonight is continuing to gain chemistry, and staying healthy.

Prediction: Texas A&M 95 NKU 72