Louisiana State @ Texas A&M preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 23, 2018 ) Texas A&M 65, Louisiana State 77

LSU rides a nine-game winning streak and the momentum from the Miracle at Mizzou into College Station to visit Texas A&M on Wednesday in an SEC game. The No. 19 Tigers trailed Missouri by 14 with 2:14 to go in regulation before winning 86-80 in overtime Saturday as junior guard Skylar Mays spearheaded the frantic regulation rally and freshman guard Ja'vonte Smart took the baton in OT with a pair of 3-pointers.

‘It shows the guts this team has, how connected we are,” Mays told reporters after scoring nine of his career-high 24 points consecutively during the late surge. “Playing from behind for that long (15 minutes in the second half) isn’t easy to do. We could’ve easily wilted. We just stayed together. That’s what you have to do on the road.” The Aggies snapped a three-game losing streak with a 65-53 victory over Kansas State on Saturday for their second win in eight games behind 22 points - all in the second half - from junior guard Wendell Mitchell, who has scored at least that many in three of his last four contests. "We need to just keep getting better,'' Texas A&M coach Billy Kennedy told reporters. "We're a young team. We're growing. As long as we're growing and getting better, it's going to prepare us to win games." LSU won both meetings last season, including 69-68 at College Station on guard Tremont Waters' bucket with 1 second left.

TV: 9 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT LSU (16-3, 6-0 SEC): Junior guard Marlon Taylor's first nine career starts have coincided with the winning streak as the community college transfer is averaging 7.3 points and 3.5 rebounds in 23.0 minutes this season - 9.0, 4.4, 30.3 as a starter. Waters, a sophomore, saw his team-best averages rise to 14.2 points and 6.2 assists after going for 17.3 and 7.3 over the last nine games. Freshman forward Naz Reid (13.2 points, 5.7 rebounds) has grabbed six, seven and eight boards, and scored 15, 15 and 14 in his last three contests while Mays averages 13.8 points - 14.6 in the past nine contests.

ABOUT TEXAS A&M (8-10, 1-5): Mitchell (11.9 points this season) is averaging a team-high 14.3 in SEC games and is 11-for-15 from 3-point range in his last two contests. Sophomore guard T.J. Starks (club-most 12.8 points) has recorded six assists in each of his last two games. Sophomore guard Savon Flagg (12.6 points, 8.1 rebounds) recorded 11 points and 12 boards versus Kansas State for his third double-double of the season and is shooting a team-best 42.9 percent from beyond the arc in conference.

TIP-INS

1. The Tigers are trying to go 7-0 in the SEC for the first time since 2005-06, when they lost to UCLA 59-45 in the Final Four.

2. Aggies sophomore G Jay Jay Chandler (8.8 points, 3.9 rebounds) missed Saturday's game with a sprained shoulder.

3. Waters recorded eight steals - tied for the second-highest game total in LSU history - in last season's 77-65 home victory over Texas A&M.

PREDICTION: LSU 75, Texas A&M 72