Texas A&M @ Fairfield preview

Struggling Texas A&M hopes to salvage something from its trip to the Sunshine State when it meets Fairfield in the seventh-place game of the Orlando Invitational Sunday in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The Aggies dropped a 62-51 decision against Harvard in the first round before shooting just 22.4 percent from the field in a 65-42 setback versus Temple on Friday.

“One of the things that we talked about before was, kind of like football, time of possession,” Texas A&M’s first-year coach Buzz Williams told reporters Friday. “We wanted to win time of possession and too many times, we didn’t take that opportunity. Other than the last three minutes of the second half I thought our fight was much better. Lowest number of turnovers thus far this season, highest number of offensive rebounds this season. And I think in an unspoken way those are byproducts of how hard we were fighting.” The Aggies, who have won three of four games against mid-majors this season, are shooting just 35.4 percent from the field overall and 21.9 from behind the 3-point arc. That must improve against Fairfield, which has been competitive in the first two games of the tournament while losing to USC 54-47 and falling to Davidson 67-56 on Friday. The Stags, whose only win in seven games came in overtime against Holy Cross on Nov. 12, shot 27 percent from the field in the first round and rebounded to make 48 percent against Davidson, pulling within two with under four minutes left before being outscored 11-2 the rest of the way.

TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU

ABOUT TEXAS A&M (3-3): Junior guard T.J. Starks, who averaged 12.3 points last season, left the program earlier in the week after being suspended and the Aggies are looking for more scoring depth. Senior forward Josh Nebo is the only player averaging in double figures scoring (10.8) after totaling 22 in the tournament, and leads the team in rebounding (6.2) along with blocks (2.2) while shooting 60 percent from the field. Savion Flagg is second on the team at 9.7 points per game with a team best 13 assists and fellow junior guard Jay Jay Chandler (9.0) is close behind.

ABOUT FAIRFIELD (1-6): Junior guard Jesus Cruz has scored in double figures every game this season and leads the team at 16.4 per contest, but has connected on just 9-of-27 from the field in the tournament. Senior guard Landon Taliaferro is the only other Stag averaging in double figures scoring (14.0) after scoring 26 in the last two games while junior guard Taj Benning (9.0 points) tops the team in rebounds (5.6) and assists (3.0). Sophomore guard Calvin Whipple scored a season-high eight points against Davidson.

TIP-INS

1. Texas A&M senior G Wendell Mitchell (8.8 points) scored 17 against Harvard before being held to six by Temple.

2. Fairfield senior F Vincent Eze is 2-for-7 from the free-throw line in the tournament after coming in 10-for-12 on the season.

3. The Aggies won the only previous meeting 62-57 at Richmond, Va. in 1974.

PREDICTION: Texas A&M 74, Fairfield 58