Texas A&M @ Harvard preview

Despite a very limited schedule thus far, Texas A&M may be scrambling for players when it takes on Harvard in the opening round of the Orlando Invitational on Thanksgiving. The Aggies saw two players -- freshmen Andre Gordon and Emmanuel Miller -- go down with recent ankle injuries and leading scorer Jay Jay Chandler has been sidelined since having his wisdom teeth removed last week.

Freshman guard Cashius McNeilly has been sidelined with an injury all season and TJ Starks, who averaged 12.3 points and a team-high 3.5 assists in 2018-19, left the program this week. Coach Buzz Williams told reporters his team, which has been off since a 56-52 win over Troy on Nov. 20, has been practicing with six scholarship players. The Crimson have had injury issues of their own but welcomed back leader Bryce Aiken from a calf issue two games ago and saw him go off for 32 points in Friday's 82-74 win at Holy Cross. Senior forward Seth Towns, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, has yet to make his debut for coach Tommy Amaker's team.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, ESPN2.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M (3-1): Senior forward Josh Nebo led the way against Troy with season highs of 14 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Senior walk-on Mark French, who had a total of 18 points in 24 appearances over his first three seasons, broke out for 12 versus the Trojans. Senior guard Wendell Mitchell was limited to eight points on 2-of-13 shooting in the win and he is hitting 26.3 percent of his shots from the field for the Aggies, who entered Wednesday tied for 302nd nationally with a 39.9 percent showing as a team.

ABOUT HARVARD (4-2): Sophomore guard Noah Kirkwood is the only player other than Aiken (25.0) averaging in double figures in scoring with a 10.8 mark, and Kirkwood leads the team with four assists per contest. Senior forward Chris Lewis has at least seven rebounds in four of his five games and tops the squad with 7.6 per game while shooting 61.8 percent from the floor. Junior guard Rio Haskett is 0-for-2 from 3-point range over the last two games after going 10-for-15 through his first four.

TIP-INS

1. The winner meets either Maryland or Temple on Friday, as does the loser in the consolation side of the bracket.

2. Texas A&M entered Wednesday 329th in assist-to-turnover ratio with just 39 assists against 60 turnovers.

3. The Aggies and Crimson have never met.

PREDICTION: Harvard 73, Texas A&M 68