NCAA Tournament First Round: BYU Cougars vs. Texas A&M Aggies

In preparation for Thursday's BYU-Texas A&M first-round NCAA Tournament matchup, let's breakdown the specifics:

Guards

Texas A&M's Derrick Roland, Donald Sloan, and Josh Carter

vs.

BYU's Jackson Emery, Lee Cummard, and Jimmer Fredette

BYU’s trio of Emery, Cummard, and Fredette are all excellent three-point shooters, each shooting over 37 percent from downtown.

A&M's Carter is an excellent long-distance shooter himself, shooting nearly 41 percent, but there is a significant drop-off with Roland and Sloan, who shoot 35 and 25 percent, respectively, from the arc.

Cummard is probably the most versatile and talented player on either team, averaging 17 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game. He also brings nearly one block and steal per game, shoots 52 percent from the field, 38 on three-pointers, and 86.8 from the charity stripe.

Fredette has had a very solid season for the Cougars, leading the team in assists (4.2 APG) and coming in second on the team in points (16.2 PPG).

Carter is A&M’s leading scorer with 14 PPG (he'd only be fourth-best on the BYU squad), but you simply cannot ignore his deadly triple.

Sloan and Roland are both erratic on the offensive end, connecting on only 38.1 and 40.5 percent of their shots, respectively.

Big Men

Texas A&M's Bryan Davis and Chinemelu Elonu

vs.

BYU's Jonathan Tavernari and Chris Miles

These two frontcourt duos have very contrasting styles of play.

While Davis and Elonu are swatting machines, averaging 1.3 and 1.6 blocks per game, respectively (that’s a whole lot of facials in one game), Tavernari is BYU’s most three-point happy player. When he's hot from downtown, which he often is (he shoots 38 percent from beyond the arc), he is BYU’s most explosive scorer, but don’t ask him to block any shots on the defensive end.

Tavernari is actually a great rebounder in addition to his shooting abilities, as he pulls down just over 7 boards per game, but he is no match for A&M’s duo, who collectively pull down nearly 14 per.

Davis (52.7 percent from the field) and Elonu (66.7) are both very effective scorers, but not necessarily of the high-volume variety, as they average just over 20 PPG together.

Tavernari has more of a “live by the three, die by the three” approach to his game, as he's launched 216 on the season, which makes him less efficient but scary in terms of ceiling.

Miles is a fairly efficient scorer and a mediocre rebounder but a horrendous free-throw shooter (52 percent on the season).

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