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Staff WriterContact Ben Baby<footer class="article__author / article-content article-content--text / tertia-text--long" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.5; padding: 0px 1.66667em 1.5em; max-width: 35em; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Proxima Nova Regular", Frutiger, "Frutiger Linotype", Univers, Calibri, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "DejaVu Sans Condensed", "Liberation Sans", "Nimbus Sans L", Tahoma, Geneva, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">COLLEGE STATION -- Long after the rest of Texas A&M's men's basketball team cleared the court at Reed Arena after Monday's practice, freshman Jay Jay Chandler wanted to take one more shot.It was one of those throwaway attempts where the clunking sound indicated the shot was likely nowhere close to going in. But a couple days earlier and around the same spot Chandler was, LSU's Tremont Waters somehow drilled a desperation 3-pointer to give the Tigers a one-point win in College Station.
</footer>A&M hoped that game against the Tigers could give the Aggies some much-needed momentum and its first conference win heading into Tuesday's game at No. 21 Kentucky (12-3, 3-1 SEC). Instead, the Aggies are still searching for the answers to stop a 3-game slide in a topsy-turvy season
<figure class="embed embed--first-party clear article-content tertia-text--long figure--right gl-5of12 gm-half gb-full" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; font-size: 1.125rem; clear: both; max-width: 50%; padding: 0px 1.66667em 1.5em; float: right; line-height: 1.5; width: 400.8125px; position: relative; z-index: 5; min-width: 16.66667em; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: "Proxima Nova Regular", Frutiger, "Frutiger Linotype", Univers, Calibri, "Gill Sans", "Gill Sans MT", "Myriad Pro", Myriad, "DejaVu Sans Condensed", "Liberation Sans", "Nimbus Sans L", Tahoma, Geneva, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><iframe width="100%" class="dmn-embed" scrolling="no" height="525" style="box-sizing: border-box; width: 340.8125px; max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0px; display: block; padding: 0px; border-style: none; margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.298039) 0px 0px 0.25em 0.02777778em; min-height: 96px;"></iframe></figure>On top of injury problems with some of the team's top players, A&M coach Billy Kennedy has also had to deal with off-court issues that include suspensions and a bit of what he referred to as "immaturity."
It's going to take some growing up for the Aggies to regain their early-season form. Kennedy said he believes A&M now has a good handle on this year's group.
"From here on out, we expect them to be in good shape," Kennedy said. "The injuries compound everything and losing definitely compounds everything."
The culmination of suspensions and injuries derailed A&M (11-4, 0-3) after a historic start to the season. The former touches a little bit on the immaturity aspect Kennedy referenced on Monday.
Including games and A&M's final preseason scrimmage, five players have been suspended for a combined 15 contests because of unspecified violations of team rules.
Junior forward D.J. Hogg was the team's leading scorer before he was suspended for a three-game stretch that ended before last week's game against LSU.
Hogg, who scored 12 points and played all but four minutes of the last-second loss, owned up for his costly absence. In the two conference games he missed, which also included the absence of starting guard Admon Gilder, the Aggies were outscored by a combined 39 points"It was very frustrating, but it was a big mistake on my part," Hogg said of the suspension. "Just have to bounce back, can't carry where I left off."
The suspensions weren't the only signs that A&M had some growing up to do.
Kennedy referenced an unspecified instance a couple of games ago where at least one player wasn't too thrilled with coming out of the game.
"Guys are thinking they're going to play a lot of minutes, and all of a sudden, they get taken out of the game and not handling it well," Kennedy said.
Despite all of the injuries and unforced errors the Aggies have faced this season, Kennedy and Hogg both acknowledged there's still plenty of time to turn things around.
A&M is also expected to regain Gilder's services for this week's road games against ranked opponents. After A&M faces the Wildcats on Tuesday, the Aggies play No. 24 Tennessee (10-4, 1-2) on Saturday.
Earlier this year, many wondered if A&M could make a run at its first ever Final Four. It's going to take some maturation and good health the rest of the season for the Aggies to keep that hope alive.
"We've got a lot of basketball to play," Hogg said
