‘Same mistakes’ doom Aggies once again

Texas A&M's top player, Emanuel Miller, also has assumed the role of the Aggies' most candid critic. The sophomore forward believes he and his teammates require blunt analysis seven games into Southeastern Conference play.

“We're just repeating the same mistakes over and over,” Miller said. “At some point we have to learn from our mistakes and get better. At this rate, we're not seeing progression in our team — rather we're declining.”

Mississippi, which like A&M has had its travails this season, cruised past A&M 61-50 on Saturday in The Pavilion at Ole Miss. A&M (7-6, 2-5 SEC) has lost four of its last five games, with all the setbacks by double digits and by an average of 16 points.

The Rebels (8-6, 3-4), in taking advantage of multiple A&M miscues, used a 20-2 run covering the end of the first half and the first part of the second half to shove the game out of reach. The staggering Aggies turned over the ball on four consecutive possessions to close out the first half.

“I apologized to (the players) in the locker room, because I've got to find a way to help them,” A&M second-year coach Buzz Williams said. “Because it goes from bad to worse. And then we get stuck in the ‘worst' mode. And then it goes from bad to worse to ‘off the tracks' —and then we get stuck in ‘off the tracks.'

“We need collectively to start pulling back in the direction that we know we need to go in. Even if it doesn't go right, we still need to be pulling in that direction, and we're not good at that currently.”

Miller (18 points) was the only Aggie to score in double digits. A&M also shot eight free throws (making five), compared to 29 (making 18) for the Rebels. Guard Jarkel Joiner led Mississippi with 21 points.

The Aggies' 18 turnovers were still only their sixth highest total in 13 games. Guard Andre Gordon on Saturday coughed up the ball on six occasions, twice as many turnovers as any of his teammates.

Even worse, three of A&M's key seniors, Savion Flagg, Jay Jay Chandler and Quenton Jackson, did not score a point and were a combined 0 of 8 from the field.

“We're looking for anyone who can help us get the ball on the rim, and if they can get the ball through the net that's even better,” Williams said. “Regardless of age and regardless of experience, anybody who can help us score, we're in need of for sure.”

The Aggies had not played in a week, after their game scheduled for this past Wednesday at Vanderbilt was postponed because of multiple COVID-19 cases within the Commodores program. A&M returns to Reed Arena on Tuesday night against LSU, before playing at Kansas State on Saturday in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

“At some point we've got to put the Band-Aid on — at some point we've got to stop the bleeding,” said Miller, who added he's confident the Aggies will finally do so. “At some point we have to get together and say, ‘Enough is enough.'

“We've got to fight back. It's like a boxing match – we're getting stuck in a corner and we have to find some way to get out of that corner.”