San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Aggies fall with turnovers, poor shooting
COLLEGE STATION — The explanations ran from disengagement to lethargy. The Aggies couldn’t quite put their collective finger on what went wrong at home on Saturday against No. 17 Missouri — but at least they pointed that inquiring finger right back at themselves.
“We weren’t engaged as we usually are in practice,” A&M guard Andre Gordon said of the issues leading up to the Aggies’ 68-52 loss to the Tigers in Reed Arena. “… It’s all about the little things for us.”
The Aggies’ prior disengagement apparently led to a lack of get-up-and-go when they needed it most against the fresh-legged Tigers.
“Missouri didn’t really do too much to change up our game plan or anything like that,” A&M guard Jay Jay Chandler said. “(The Tigers) just stayed consistent with their energy throughout the whole game. We had some lapses as a team where our energy wasn’t where we needed it to be.
“We’re going to have to come in next week and try to fix that, because we can’t have lapses in energy if we want to win games throughout our conference schedule.”
The Aggies in their second season under coach Buzz Williams dropped to 7-5 overall and 2-4 in SEC play. The previous two games of the Tigers (8-2, 2-2) had been postponed following multiple COVID-19 cases within the program.
“We were trying to make sure we kept punching back,” Missouri forward Jeremiah Tilmon said of
the Aggies leading for much of the first half. “Normally when we play it tends to go back and forth, but we wanted to make sure we (kept) the lead.”
The Aggies were coming off a 56-55 comeback victory at Mississippi State on Wednesday when they erased a 10-point halftime deficit. On Saturday, however, Missouri easily built on its 27-24 halftime lead, going up by as many as 18 over the final 20 minutes.
A&M guards Quenton Jackson and Chandler were a combined 4 of 19 from the floor, with Jackson missing all seven of his attempts
from the field.
“It’s hard when you have perimeter players who don’t score (in a game) and take multiple shots,” Williams said of the Aggies’ inability to threaten the Tigers from mid-range or further. “That’s hard to overcome, and that’s why our offense has to help our defense when it comes to things like turnover rate.”
The Aggies committed 17 turnovers, including five by forward Emanuel Miller, compared to 14 by the visiting Tigers. A&M’s 17 turnovers were still only their sixth most this season, and they entered
Saturday’s action last in the SEC in assist to turnover ratio (.7).
“Even if we just get a shot, that at least gives us a chance to get a foul call,” Williams explained of turnovers killing opportunities on the offensive end. “It gives us a chance at an offensive rebound. As much as we need to score more points, a portion of what would help us be able to do that is if we could get more shots, instead of turning the ball over.”
Gordon led the Aggies with a career-high 19 points, including making all three of his 3-point attempts. Guard Dru Smith paced
Missouri with 15 points and was one of three Tigers to score in double figures.
The Aggies play at Vanderbilt on Wednesday and stay on the road at Mississippi on Saturday, so their schedule does not get any easier. They don’t play in Reed Arena again until Jan. 26 against LSU. A&M will be aiming for revenge after LSU defeated the Aggies 77-54 on Dec. 29 in the SEC opener.
A&M did receive some good news this weekend concerning a transfer. The Aggies announced the signing of freshman Javonte Brown, a 7-footer from Toronto who briefly played at Connecticut in the fall.
“Javonte is a very talented, physical player with great size,” A&M associate head coach Jamie McNeilly said. “… He’s a young man who’s excited to put in the work to get better daily. His presence around the rim will impact our program upon arrival.”
Brown should be eligible to play starting in the fall. He played in only two games for the Huskies before opting to transfer.