Kennedy expects "wounded animal" Tuesday in Texas A&M

OXFORD - Texas A&M enters Tuesday night’s game against Ole Miss with four consecutive losses, leading coach Andy Kennedy to expect the Aggies will adopt a distinctive mentality.

“They’re going to have a ‘wounded animal’ mentality, I’m sure,” Kennedy said Monday on the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball coaches’ teleconference. “They’ve not had the results I’m sure (Aggies coach) Billy (Kennedy) and his staff and his team would’ve liked.”

The No. 13 Aggies (18-7, 7-5 SEC) — who play host to the Rebels (16-9, 6-6) at 8 p.m. (ESPNU) — hadn’t lost consecutive games this season before their poor stretch, which includes three consecutive losses to South Carolina, Alabama and LSU by a total of nine points.

Despite the Aggies’ struggles, Andy Kennedy sees Texas A&M as a challenging opponent because of its experience. Three of the Aggies’ top four scorers (Jalen Jones with 16 points per game, Danuel House with 15.8 and Alex Caruso with 8.3) are seniors.

Kenpom.com projects Ole Miss to lose 78-67, giving the Aggies an 84 percent chance of winning. The Rebels have lost both games they’ve played in College Station.

The Aggies also have beaten quality opponents in Baylor, Gonzaga, Iowa State and Texas this season and are 13-1 this season. However, they’ve lost five consecutive games in conference play with the victory against Iowa State breaking up the streak.

“I just think they’re going to be on edge,” Kennedy said. “They’re a very good basketball team, and we know we’re going to have to be on top of our game to give ourselves a chance. As you watch them on tape and you try to find weaknesses, they just don’t have many.”

Contact Daniel Paulling at dpaulling@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @DanielPaulling on Twitter.