Unbeaten Aggies take top 10 showdown
COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M coach Gary Blair dubbed the Aggies' current stretch of SEC basketball a “measuring bar” for the team's potential this season.
A top10 matchup in Reedarena let the Aggies know they're right ontrack for a crack at their first national title in a decade. No. 8 A&M defeated No. 10 Kentucky 77-60 on Thursday, outscoring the Wildcats 46-29 in the second half.
“A&M played hard and they pushedthe ball in transition,” Kentucky coach Kyra Elzy said. “Defensively, they were switching it up and they were physical. … They're a great team.”
The teams played before a limited-capacity crowd because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Aggies (11-0, 2-0 SEC) used a 14-0 run late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter to stay undefeated on the season, and hand the Wildcats (9-2, 2-1 SEC) their first loss since mid-december at Depaul in nonconference play.
Kentucky guard Rhyne Howard entered Thursday's action fifth in the SEC in scoring with 18.8 points per game, and she finished with a hard-earned 22 points. Elzy has repeatedly called Howard “the best player in the nation,” and in the first half she appeared capable of owning the title.
The game was tied 31-31 at halftime, with guard Jordan Nixon keeping the Aggies in the contest early by making A&M'S first five shots from the field.
“She hit the tough shots,” Blair said of Nixon's early output, “and I don't think the (Wildcats) were expecting that.”
Nixon and fellow guard Aaliyah Wilson each scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes for the Aggies, while Howard led all scorers in that span with a dozen points on 6-of-10 shooting.
A&m built a six-point lead head-
ed into the fourth quarter thanks to an 8-0 run to close out the third quarter. The aggies and their deep roster continue faring quite nicely without prolific scorer Chennedy Carter, who bypassed her senior season for the WNBA draft last April. The Atlanta Dream selected Carter No. 4 overall, A&M'S highest draft selection in history.
Carter made the WNBA allrookie teamin her first season and her 17.4 points per game ranked eighth overall in the league, but she has not been missed in College
Station thanks to perpetual balanced scoring from her former teammates.
Nixon on Thursday led the Aggies with a career-high 19 points, while Wilson scored 18 points and Ciera Johnson added 14.
“Jordan can score at will,” Wilson said.
The zeroed-in Aggies also made 18-of-19 free throws in earning the double-digit victory. A&mforward N'dea Jones added a game-high 12 rebounds.
“They know how to work through each other,” Howard said.
Added Blair: “We share the spotlight.”
The Aggies go back on the road for their next two games, at No. 13 Arkansas on Sunday and at LSUON Thursday.
“Every time we play them it's a dogfight,” Johnson said of the Razorbacks and focusing on only the next opponent. “We know it's not going to be easy.”
A&M returns home on Jan. 17 to face No. 14 Mississippi State — this time minus former Blair assistant Vic Schaefer running the show for the Bulldogs.
Schaefer, an A&M graduate, left MSU for Texas last offseason. The Aggies beat the Longhorns and Schaefer 66-61 in Austin on Dec. 6 in a nonconference game.
Blair and Schaefer helped guide A&M to its lone national title in basketball nearly 10 years ago, when the Aggies defeated Notre Dame onapril 5, 2011, in Indianapolis. Meantime the current Aggies on Thursday avenged a 76-54 loss to Kentucky last season.
“Give credit to (A&M) for playing defense,” Howard said, “but we did get a little gassed and we started taking quick outside shots.”