No. 13 Texas A&M begins its 2024-25 season Monday night against UCF (6 p.m., ESPN+). Here's a look at the matchup:
No. 13 Texas A&M (21-15, 9-9 SEC in 2023-24) projected starting lineup
C: Pharrel Payne (10 points per game, 6.1 rebounds per game at Minnesota in 2023-24)
PF: Solomon Washington (7.4 PPG, 5.7 RPG)
SF: Manny Obaseki (7 PPG, 1.4 RPG)
SG: Zhuric Phelps (14.8 PPG, 4.1 RPG at SMU)
PG: Wade Taylor IV (19.9 PPG, 4 assists per game)
Projected key reserves
C/F Henry Coleman III (8.8 PPG, 5.6 PPG)
F Andersson Garcia (6 PPG, 9.1 RPG)
F/G Jace Carter (6.9 PPG, 4.7 RPG)
F Hayden Hefner (5 PPG, 1.7 RPG)
F/G CJ Wilcher (7.7 PPG, 1.5 RPG at Nebraska)
UCF (17-16, 7-11 Big 12 in 2023-24) projected starting lineup
C: Elijah Hulsewe (4.4 PPG, 4 RPG at Bethune-Cookman)
F: Benny Williams (5.4 PPG, 4.1 RPG at Syracuse)
G: Keyshawn Hall (16.6 PPG, 8.1 RPG at George Mason)
G: Jordan Ivy-Curry (17.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG at UTSA)
PG: Darius Johnson (15.2 PPG, 3.3 RPG)
Key reserves
G Dior Johnson (29.7 PPG, 5.1 RPG at Clarendon CC)
G Mikey Williams (Redshirted in 2023-24 after transferring from Memphis)
G Deebo Coleman (5.9 PPG, 2.9 RPG at Georgia Tech)
C Rokas Yocius (8.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG at La Salle)
G Tyler Hendricks (2.1 PPG, 1.1 RPG)
How A&M enters this one
The Aggies return the vast majority of their scoring from last year (seven of their top eight scorers), losing only G Boots Radford -- no small loss, to be sure. But the Aggies went looking for athleticism in the portal and added Pharrel Payne from Minnesota and Zhuric Phelps from SMU to step into the lineup immediately.
The Aggies were dominant on the boards last year and have all-world rebounder Andersson Garcia back along with Phelps and Henry Coleman III back to help in that category, but they need to improve their shooting. Phelps is a slasher who gets to the basket well, but he doesn't shoot three-pointers with consistency. The Aggies are hoping from better numbers from Wade Taylor, Hayden Hefner and Jace Carter, along with new arrival CJ Wilcher, to improve the inside-out game.
The Aggies are going to be able to get to the basket. Putting Solomon Washington and Manny Obaseki in the starting lineup gives them explosiveness at all five spots. They're going to be able to defend, because Buzz Williams teams are built on defense. It's just a matter of how well they shoot.
How UCF enters this one
It looks like they'll be without their best returning player, G Jaylin Sellers (15.6 PPG, 3.6 RPG, honorable mention All-Big 12), who was injured in an exhibition game two weeks ago. If he can't go, that stings for sure.
Johnny Dawkins didn't like the makeup of his team from last year, when they averaged 71.7 points a game. So he has 11 new players, nine of which came out of the transfer portal. They've certainly got some size (Hulsewe and Yocus are 7-foot and 6-foot-10, respectively) and some guys who look like they can score the ball. What they don't have is any real time on the court together in games that matter. Against an Aggies team that can put five returning players out there with 15 starts or more if they want to, that could be a real difference.
