Pac-12 woes continue despite Ags’ late rally
No matter how sweet the serenade, should a Pac-12 team come calling on Texas A&Mto play basketball in coming seasons, the Aggies need to run for the hills. Or at least turn around and head east to the mostly safe haven of the Southeastern Conference.
All three of A&M’s defeats this season have been to teams from out west, including Saturday’s 6763 loss to No. 19 Arizona at Toyota Center.
The Wildcats (10-2) led 65-45 with 4:32 left in the game before the Aggies (73) closed the deficit to 65-63 with 22 seconds remaining, setting the stage to an entertaining finish to an otherwise lopsided game.
“The more disciplined team won,” A&M coach Billy Kennedy said. “They were efficient on offense and made us have to guard them the whole (30-second) clock. Defensively, they forced 14 turnovers, and our toughness with (the ball) wasn’t very good.” All about preparation
Kennedy said the reason stemmed from what has been taking place back in the practice gymnasium at College Station.
“You practice better, you train yourself in practice to go hard when you don’t feel like it,” he said of what it takes for the Aggies to win against a quality opponent like Arizona.
Kennedy also criticized his players for relying too much on their size down low, having dominated most of their opponents inside this season.
“We don’t block out well,” Kennedy said. “And when you go size against size, it hurts you.”
A&M, the reigning SEC regular-season cochampion, also has lost to Southern California and UCLA this season — the first at Reed Arena and the second at Anaheim, Calif. The Aggies have one more home game on Wednesday against Saint Francis before beginning SEC play at home against Tennessee on Dec. 29.
Dusan Ristic led the Wildcats with 18 points, while Tyler Davis had a game-high 21 for A&M.
“It’s all about preparation,” Davis said. “That’s on me, being a team leader. Your preparation is going to show all the time, and it showed up today.” Almost, but not quite
In nearly overcoming most of the 20-point deficit against Arizona, the Aggies offered up a decent impersonation of their storied comeback in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, when they put together the largest last-minute comeback in NCAA history. A&M wiped out a 12-point deficit with 44 seconds remaining to defeat Northern Iowa 92-88 in double overtime at Oklahoma City and advance to the Sweet 16.
This time, the Wildcats had a 65-63 lead with 15 seconds remaining when Arizona’s Rawle Alkins coolly made two free throws to put the game out of reach.
“They fought to the end, and Tyler Davis is a load,” said Wildcats coach Sean Miller, who suits up seven scholarship players. “For the most part, we did a really good job on him, but when they really had to reach back and give it that last run, he was almost too much to handle.”
Almost. Again. And why it might be best for the Aggies to avoid the Pac-12 moving forward.