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The 2017-18 basketball season nears an end as the Vanderbilt Commodores (11-17, 5-10 SEC) host the Texas A&M Aggies (17-11, 6-9 SEC) with a chance to escape the cellar of the SEC standings after Ole Miss lost earlier today. Today's game will tip off at 3:00 PM CT on ESPN2 and the WatchESPN app, with Beth Mowins and Jimmy Dykes as the commentators. Joe Fisher's call will be streamed on the Vanderbilt IMG Sports Network.
Earlier this season, Texas A&M was 11-1 and ranked #5 in the country. Now, they're 17-11 and on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The slide has been spectacular, complete with multiple suspensions, a dismissal, and a torn ACL. The Aggies have a likely lottery pick and another very good college player down low, but Billy Kennedy will probably have his guards and wing players fire up bad shots.
In other words, this is a game Vanderbilt can win, though the oddsmakers in Vegas still have A&M as a 1.5-point favorite; Ken Pomeroy's algorithm gives Vanderbilt a 44% chance of winning and predicts a 73-71 score in Texas A&M's favor.