No. 1 Tennessee reportedly won't be shorthanded for Saturday night's game at Texas A&M.

CBS College Basketball Insider Jon Rothstein reported Saturday morning, citing Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes, that junior guard Jordan Bowden is expected to play for the Vols (19-1, 7-0 SEC) against the Aggies (8-11, 1-6) for the 8 p.m. Eastern Time game (TV: ESPN) at Reed Arena.

Bowden did not play in Tennessee’s 92-70 win at South Carolina on Tuesday after a knee issue surfaced during morning shootaround at Colonial Life Arena.

Tennessee's Jordan Bowden (knee) is expected to play today against Texas A&M, per Rick Barnes. — Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 2, 2019

Barnes didn't have an update on Bowden's knee when he met with reporters at Pratt Pavilion Thursday afternoon.

“They’re still working on him,” Barnes said. “We’ll probably know more tomorrow. He’ll be fine. But how long, I’ll be surprised if he’s not ready to play (at Texas A&M) because he’s one that’s hard to keep out.”

Bowden is Tennessee’s fifth-leading scorer, at 10.9 points per game. He’s fourth in minutes (27.2), fifth in made field goals (67) and second in made 3-point field goals made (68), trailing only Admiral Schofield’s 39 made treys.



He’s shooting 46.2 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from the 3-point line.

Admiral Schofield scored a team-high 24 points to lead the Vols to a 92-70 win at South Carolina on Tuesday, with Bowden watching from the bench. Grant Williams added 23 and Jordan Bone had 19 points and nine assists. Lamonte Turner scored 13 while battling foul trouble.



The only win for Texas A&M so far in SEC play came on a buzzer beater at Alabama on Jan. 12. The Aggies have dropped conference games against Arkansas, Kentucky, Auburn, Missouri, Florida and LSU. A&M beat Kansas State at home last Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

In non-conference play, the Aggies dropped home games against both UC Irvine and Texas Southern.

Injuries have sideline Aggie guard Admon Gilder all season. Gilder averaged 12.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 32.0 minutes per game as a junior last season, shooting 39.5 percent from the 3-point line and 45.8 percent from the field.

“Billy Kennedy is as good of a coach as there is around," Barnes said on Thursday. "He’s had some tough luck, when you lose a guy you’re counting on in Admon Gilder. A guy that I’ve got a lot of respect for, a guy that was going to be one of their leaders. Now it makes other guys move into different roles. What stands out about them is a week ago they beat a team that I thought was playing as well as anyone in the country in Kansas State. And they handled them fairly easy.

"(Wednesday night) they were in the game right up until the very end with LSU. We know they are a team that will do some ball-screening and mix defenses. They have some other things they do playing off the elbows with their offense. Just the respect that we have to have for every opponent we play. And certainly they’re going to fight and battle. We’re going to have to be ready for that challenge.”