Texas A&M Aggies vs. Penn St. Nittany Lions Pick & Prediction NOVEMBER 23rd 2023

Henry Coleman III is putting on a dominating display to start the season for No. 12 Texas A&M.

Coleman will look to post his fourth consecutive double-double when the Aggies face Penn State on Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the eight-team ESPN Events Invitational at Kissimmee, Fla.

Texas A&M and the Nittany Lions are both off to 4-0 starts as they participate in the three-game event held over four days just south of Orlando.

As for Coleman, he is the first Texas A&M player to record three straight double-doubles since Tyler Davis did it twice during the 2017-18 season.

He also might be the person least interested in the streak.

“You know, I’m not really paying much attention to it honestly,” Coleman said. “Yeah, I see it when my mother and my dad text me, but we’re just trying to keep getting better each and every day. I’m trying to help the team on the glass, so we can be one of the best rebounding teams in the country. I just try to be efficient and effective when it comes to scoring around the rim.”

Coleman ranks third on the Aggies with a 13.3 scoring average while collecting a team-best 11.0 rebounds per game. He is shooting 70.4 percent from the field after making all seven shots and contributing a season-high 19 points to go with 10 rebounds during a 74-66 home win over Oral Roberts on Friday.

“I think he’s completely locked in on how he can help our team,” Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams said. “I think he’s very aware of what he can do physically with his voice, mentally, emotionally, to help our team. He hasn’t had three consecutive games at any point in his career at the level that he has. He’s been so good.”

Penn State is in transition mode under new coach Mike Rhoades, the former head man at VCU and Rice.

The Nittany Lions routed visiting Morehead State 74-51 on Friday as Qudus Wahab has a season-best 14 points to go with 12 rebounds. Kanye Clary also scored 14 points.

The competition has been light with Penn State winning by an average of 24 points. So Rhoades is pointing to this tournament to get a barometer on his club with the Aggies up first and the second opponent being either Butler or 2023 Final Four participant Florida Atlantic.

“We have our hands full with Texas A&M, one of the best teams in the country and they have a heck of a coach,” Rhoades said of Williams. “We know we have our hands full this whole week.

“I said it the other day, we’re moving up in weight class and we need to be ready to play.”

Clary is averaging a team-best 17.5 points for Penn State, which has racked up 43 steals in its first four games.

The Nittany Lions forced Morehead State into 29 turnovers. Rhoades allowed that rattling a veteran Texas A&M squad will be tougher.

“They have a solidified culture,” Rhoades said. “They know how they’re going to play no matter who they play against and go about it their way. They are an established program.”

The two programs met in the first round of last season’s NCAA Tournament and No. 10 seed Penn State blasted the seventh-seeded Aggies 76-59. Texas A&M won the other four meetings.

–Field Level Media